At the Iowa Farm Table Podcast

“Food is Medicine” is a popular term these days. But what does it mean and can it an opportunity for Iowa’s farmers?What if improving Iowans’ health could also create new opportunities for Iowa farmers? Food Is Medicine programs are gaining momentum, connecting patients with nutritious foods through healthcare providers. But their potential extends beyond the doctor’s office. In this episode, we explore how produce prescriptions could create new markets for Iowa-grown food, the challenges farmers face in diversifying beyond traditional commodities, and why food safety requirements, distribution infrastructure, and reliable buyers are essential to making it all work.Learn more by reading the transcript below or listening to the podcast in your favorite player. Previous episodes that are related to Food is Medicine are:* A Triple Win For Iowa: Will Iowa’s Legislature support Double Up Food Bucks?* Healing From the Ground Up: How to make Iowa healthier* Chickenizing the American food system: The loss of flavor and farms, and the Iowans pushing back.Subscribe to At the Iowa Farm Table for free to receive new posts in your inbox.Beth Hoffman: Food is Medicine. It’s a term floating around out there in the food-isphere.Used generally, it’s a concept—the idea that food can help you stay healthy and can often treat disease–especially when your disease is caused by your diet. For too long, we have put agriculture and healthcare into two separate silos. Now there seems to be real interest in connecting the dots connecting what we eat, how it is grown and our health.But the term Food is Medicine also now means a specific set of interventions that can be prescribed by a doctor, and in some places around the country, be covered by health insurance or Medicaid. Tufts University has a whole school now dedicated to it and there are trials taking place on the ground in something like 10 states, including Iowa.And as opposed to SNAP–the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program– Food is Medicine seems to be one of the most quickly growing and broadly appealing movements in decades. It even has the support of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.Jami Haberl: It really was trying to understand what the opportunities were to address individuals who are living with diet-related chronic health conditions. And we specifically started with diabetes.BH: That’s Jami Haberl, the Executive Director of Iowa’s Healthiest State Initiative, one of the groups in Iowa with a Food is Medicine pilot program. Today we are going to dive into “Food is Medicine,” quote, end-quote, what is going on in Iowa, the challenges with it, and how Iowa farmers might be able to benefit from the movement.I’m Beth Hoffman, journalist, author and farmer. And this is At the Iowa Farm Table, a production of the Iowa Food System Coalition, a group of more than 60 organizations dedicated to making our food system more just and sustainable.Ok, so here’s the basic way Food is Medicine currently works in Iowa. Again Jami Haberl.JH: Iowa Produce Prescription actually started as a pilot project, with healthcare providers and understanding what they were seeing with their patient population. And working with patients to understand what they were looking for.BH: In 2025, the percent of adult Iowans considered overweight or obese was more than 70% of the population. But doctors and clinics were seeing patients who did not have the means or perhaps, the knowledge, to eat healthier. So programs like the Produce Prescription were born, mostly funded by private groups and grants in Iowa. In other states, Medicaid waivers have also made public funds available to test the projects.JH: We’re trying to improve the health of those individual Iowans who are dealing with diet-related chronic conditions. And so, really making sure that they had a voice as to what they’re looking for, what maybe is missing, as options for them.BH: Each program is a little different, but in general there are three pathways that most food is medicine prescriptions follow. There are medically tailored meals, where prepared meals are delivered to a patient’s home. There’s medically tailored groceries–where a nutritionist chooses groceries specific to your condition. And then there are programs like Haberl’s that are known as Produce Prescriptions.JH: They receive $30 a month for produce to be purchased at participating farmers markets or grocery stores. In order to receive the next month’s prescription, they have to complete their nutrition education, answer a couple of questions, and then that prescription will automatically load onto the app.BH: The educational videos cover a wide range of topics. There are cooking demonstrations and recipes, and segments on how to navigate shopping in the supermarket. But, I asked Haberl, don’t most people already know that eating fruits and vegetables is good for you?JH: I think, yes, there’s an, there’s some baseline that we understand that fruits and vegetables are good for us. I think the translation to, how do I prepare those? What do they even taste like? What are the options? That has been a lost art, and this is con- continues to come up from patients. Patients who are sharing their personal stories saying, like, “I didn’t know that I could make my own dressing.” “I didn’t know brussel sprouts could taste so good.BH: Almost all Food is Medicine programs include an educational element for patients, like Haberl’s does. It’s the idea of teaching a person to fish, instead of just giving them fish.JH: How do we make it simple enough for them to see that, I can do this myself? And I think that’s some of what we’ve heard patients talk about, is ‘They’re giving me the knowledge, and they’re giving me the tools to actually do this myself,’ and maybe not ever having felt empowered to do it [00:28:30] themselves or having the knowledge to feel empowered to do it themselves.BH: After the patient is prescribed the produce and watched the video, they can then use the $30 to buy produce at a participating store or farmers market.JH: Or they can order a Capital City fruit box that was curated, that gave people choice to decide where and how they want to purchase their food.BH: The Produce Prescription is not the only Food is Medicine program in Iowa. The Iowa Community Hub, a group that connects people with programs across the state, sends patients pre-selected foods straight to their door, also with Capital City Fruit, a nationwide distributor of fresh fruits and vegetables that is headquartered in Norwalk, IA.Mike Schmitt works at Capital City Fruit, a 77-year old, third generation Iowa company. He’s the Health Account Manager.Mike Schmitt: It’s easier to say than Food is Medicine Account Manager.BH: Capital City Fruit is involved in several pilot programs across the country trying to work out the kinks in Food is Medicine. They were well positioned to take on the project because, the company knows how to aggregate, pack and ship produce directly to individuals.MS: We started selling on Amazon prior to COVID. We launched our own, web store, and that really gave us our start to this food is medicine, because we learned how to pack and ship things and get it right.But Capital City Fruit doesn’t only sell gift boxes or produce prescription boxes. They also supply restaurant and grocery store warehouses, and work with farms to grow the produce needed.MS: We see ourselves as supply chain managers, so we don’t just speculate and buy a bunch of stuff and try to sell it. We work with our customers on what they need, and then we source that so it’s fresh. So that translates to working with local farmers. If they don’t have the scale or the infrastructure to scale, then it makes it difficult to do that.BH: Food is medicine is one of many programs like Farm to School or those where farms supply food banks–that have the potential to incentivize farmers in Iowa to grow more food.Mike–I did see a stat, actually just yesterday, that … This is a public episode. 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This week’s story features Mary Skopec of Lakeside Laboratories, and Jodi Reese and Terry Langan of Nishnabotna Water Defenders. You can listen to the podcast above, or read the story below.Be sure to check out our other related podcasts on water quality, what we know about the relationship between agriculture and cancer, and ways to help improve our nitrate issues in Iowa.Mary Skopec: How do you get everybody to get in this boat and row in the same direction? I don’t know but everybody needs to get in that boat.Beth Hoffman: These are the wise words of a woman I’m going to affectionately call Iowa’s Queen of Water Testing, Mary Skopec. She is the Executive Director of Lakeside Laboratory in Milford, Iowa. And before that, she worked at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, where she, you guessed it, tested water.It was the early 2000s, when the Iowa legislature appropriated money for water quality monitoring for the first time.MS: I was able to jump in right away and start developing this statewide monitoring program for wetlands and lakes and rivers and beaches and all of that, and it was phenomenal.BH: Skopec tested 132 lakes around Iowa three times a year in the early 2000s, which gave the state critical information about our waterways. It might seem crazy to think about it now, but at the time, we knew very little about pollution in our state.MS: One of the things that we said is we want to know what’s there and what’s not there, because we have no idea.BH: But a large part of Skopec’s program was to also teach people how to test the water themselves. Because recruiting volunteers to test water, as we will see in this episode, is about much more than just testing water.I’m Beth Hoffman, journalist, author and farmer. And this is At the Iowa Farm Table, a production of the Iowa Food System Coalition, a group of more than 60 organizations dedicated to making our food system more just and sustainable.MS: I’d been in every little nook and cranny of the state doing water quality testing with volunteers, and really loved that.But let’s go back about 60 years to the 1960s. US waterways–lakes, rivers, streams–were in bad shape. For decades, centuries really, we had dumped everything and anything in the water, hoping our industrial messes would all just float away. But in 1969 the industrial waste in a river in Ohio, the Cuyahuga, caught on fire. People were shocked and it was one of the reasons the Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1970. Then in 1972, a bipartisan US Congress passed the Clean Water Act. Senator Edmund Muskie, a Democrat from Maine helped make it a reality.Muskie: As citizens, you know what dirty water is. You know when you cannot swim , you know when those tributaries you used to fish no longer have trout. You know that’s pollution. And I’m not sure you’re interested in the exact quantity of suspended solids or the oxygen demand in the river, but [what] you are interested in is getting an unhealthy environment healthy, getting a dirty river clean. And we share that goal. And the 1972 Clean Water Act is intended to achieve that goal.BH: Now, today…MS: Anything that’s coming from a pipe is regulated under the Clean Water Act.BH: The Act also mandated state governments monitor water sources and make a list of “Impaired Waters.” But once the testing began–scientists started to realize that the pollution was not just coming from pipes running out of wastewater treatment plants or factories.MS: in the 1980s was when we really started to think about nonpoint source pollution, pollution from farm fields, exposed dirt, and from development in cities.MS: Environmental groups around the country start saying, “Hey, states, what are you doing to meet the purpose of the Clean Water Act? [00:08:00] How are we going to address this thing that is not regulated?” And it really starts with some water quality monitoring, and that’s where I think in Iowa it was like, “We need to know the state of the state.”BH: Skopec was one of the people who helped us learn about the extent to which non-point source pollution impacts the state of Iowa’s waters.MS: We didn’t really know what to be looking for necessarily, so we just cast a very wide net. And through that time, we started to obviously see nitrate rising to the top, is one of those things that we were concerned about.BH: She began with 60 sites. Then the Des Moines Register pointed out that beaches were not monitored, and the program grew. It was clear that bacteria–blue green algae and ecoli–was also an issue.MS: We created a lake monitoring program that was looking at 132 lakes every year, three times a year. So those types of things really created a nice data set. Now, as much as that was a big improvement, I mean, there were still gaps in the program, right?BH: Skopec and the DNR team realized there was just no way that one person, or even one office, would be able to monitor all the water in Iowa for all of the things–nitrates, phosphate, ecoli, etc–that might be in it.MS: We created “IOWATER” which was a citizen-based water quality monitoring program. 10:45 And that’s where citizens came in, because if we’ve got 157,000 miles of streams, we’re never going to have enough [00:11:00] money to look at all those streams. But if we could have citizens do some level of testing, then communities can engage with improving their own issues.BH: Skopec spent 20 years at the helm of the Department of Natural Resources’ Iowater program, and trained more than 6000 people to test water. Then she came to her current job at Lakeside Labs, a campus owned by the state of Iowa. It’s used as a science laboratory for University students in state schools.MS: When you’re working in the DNR, you are trying to improve water quality every day as one person doing your research or doing your job, and Lakeside really helps me amplify that by a hundredfold every year. Because now I feel like I’m able to work with students that are going to- going to go out and do similar work.BH: But over the years too, something else shifted. Iowa’s pollution problems were brought closer to home.MS: I think nitrate is an interesting case because I think for a long, long time people were concerned about nitrate because of the Gulf of Mexico, hypoxic zone. I don’t think people in Iowa or the Midwest really resonated with–that’s our problem. It’s not local. It didn’t feel like it was our problem. Things don’t become your problem until they hit home. And so the emergence of cancer related data around nitrate has been a game changer because when it was just causing a little bit of algae growth in the Gulf, people weren’t so concerned. When it’s maybe causing thyroid cancer in your loved one or ovarian cancer, then it starts to be a game changer.BH: We have done several podcasts about the links between Iowa’s rising cancer rates and nitrates and other chemicals in the water. But after 18 years, In 2023 the Iowa legislature voted to cut funding for the 60 real-time sensors in the University of Iowa network. Private funding was found to run it temporarily, but volunteers around the state have now also stepped in to fill in some of the missing data points.I am Jodi Reese. I live in Griswold, Iowa. My name is Terry Langan, also of Griswold, Iowa.BH: Reese and Langan started the Nishnabotna Water Defenders, a volunteer group. But their story starts much more recently. Their town is near the New Cooperative–a cooperative that, according to its website, now owns 85 plants in Iowa. In March of 2024, the Red Oak facility had a major fertilizer spill. Or actually there were three spills at the same plant. Terry Langan explains.Terry Langan: There was the initial release of the fertilizer, and everything just flowed out all weekend long into the river. Then Monday morning, somebody got there and went, “Oh, no.” They called the city, who actually controls the pipe, and they shut the valve on the pipe and started trying to clean it up. Two weeks… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit attheiowafarmtable.substack.com

Please note an important mistake on the original post! As a state, Iowa missed out on $200 Million Annually (it is listed here as the total amount) on money that would have been allocated from IWILL had it been funded. That means roughly $3-4 Billion Dollars over the 16 years since voters voted for the fund.David Thoreson is an adventurer who has spent a large portion of his life at sea. He has learned critical lessons—in the Arctic and at his home of Okoboji—about how we impact the world around us. And, he knows first hand, we need to make important changes, now.In this special episode of At the Iowa Farm Table, Beth Hoffman combines Thoreson’s photography (and other images) with the usual audio podcast to create a video experience. In it she looks how and why agriculture in our state needs to improve, and the ways one community has done so.Below is a transcript of the podcast if you prefer to read.It profoundly changed my lifeDavid Thoreson: I something was happening–dramatic–but I was not mentally prepared for what I witnessed,Beth Hoffman: David Thoreson is an Iowan, an explorer and an avid conservationist. He witnessed firsthand something most of us have not.DT: It profoundly changed my life.BH Thoreson has experienced climate change in action–a story we will get into detail a little later. But he also knows what solutions to a warming climate look like, because he’s experienced that too–in his community of the Iowa Great Lakes, also known as Okoboji.I’m Beth Hoffman, journalist, author and farmer. And this is Season III of At the Iowa Farm Table, a production of the Iowa Food System Coalition, a group of more than 60 organizations in Iowa working to make the food system more sustainable and just.DT: I was a very active kid. I liked being outside…playing by the river all the time, making forts and building caves…And my grandfather loved sailboats and had a big library that was full of nautical books…I started developing a dream to go sail around the world as, really as a boy.BH: It took a while for Thoreson to figure out how to get on a sailboat. In the meantime, his adventurous spirit took him around the world as a young man.DT: I rebuilt a bicycle and toured around South Pacific islands and slept in huts with native village people and went to New Zealand. I rode 1,300 miles, and then hitchhiked through Australia. I kept doing adventures, and then at some point, I came back here to Okoboji in the ‘80s and started a freelance photography business based on conservation and outdoor photography.BH: Upon his return, Thoreson got more involved with his com b munity. He joined the city council and later, helped start the Dickinson County Water Quality Commission. Such activism was in his blood. His grandfather had been the president of Okoboji Protective Association, one of the oldest environmental groups in Iowa, started in 1905.DT People would come up here by train, and…they would camp on the lake shore. So you can you can understand that that wasn’t very sanitary as far as human waste. Then there was also the pressure of animals and farming on the lake shore.BH: People living on the lake realized early on that they needed an organization to deal with the water quality of the lake.DT: The water quality movement here in the lakes area has been very progressive, even ahead of state and national trends…And so part of the push early on was to form partnerships both with the local farming community and also with our neighbors…because we understood that as long as we could keep these lakes clear, that it drove the economy.BH: Conservation wasn’t just good for the flora and fauna, it was good for the economy. So the Association created a tax authority to raise money for water quality and recreational initiatives.Many Iowans have long supported a similar statewide initiative–the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund (also known as IWILL). Iowa voters overwhelmingly passed a ⅜ cent sales tax increase in 2010 that at this point would have generated more than $200 million for Iowa’s water and land. But the legislature never funded it.The Okoboji tax authority is a local version and a model for how a statewide program is supposed to work.DT: We’ve used a lot of the funds to purchase property to restore wetlands, and grasslands, and a lot of prairie around the lakes area.BH: But what the tax shows is that people can work together for a common goal–clean water. They even work together to make sure animal confinement stays away from the lake.DT: And we’ve done that strictly by peer pressure…W hen we hear of anything, we kind of get going and we do this in a bipartisan way. It’s something I call the Okoboji Model…When we need to do things to protect the lakes and the water, we work together to do it.BH: But even though his work at Okoboji was rewarding, that dream of sailing never left him.DT: I just really wanted to get on the ocean. But I’m from Iowa, you know?...I had heard of this farmer who lived up in Minnesota…His name was Roger Swanson.So I went up and he said, “Well, meet me in Cape Town a year from now.” ..So, I loaded up my backpack and all my camera gear and eventually found the boat and off I went, sailing across the South Atlantic Ocean. 6,000 miles, 38 days nonstop, was my first adventure on the ocean.DT: I sailed with him for 16 years. 45,000 miles around the planet and to both poles….And the more I got out there on the ocean, the more I started thinking about weather and climate systems. I used my water quality community knowledge here of Okoboji and watersheds, I met scientists who were working, and then I started photographing and documenting these things.BH: Thoreson made four documentary films for Iowa PBS about his travels. But it was his work on the last film that changed his life. On that trip he tackled the Northwest Passage–a lane from the Atlantic to the Pacific, along the Arctic Circle.DT: It had been a goal of mine to get through the Northwest Passage for 15 years.BH: He tried to sail it in 1994, but the ice blocked his way. Then the winter of 2007 was one of the warmest on record. He decided to try to sail the passage again that summer.DT: And so when I went up there that year, I expected to see lots of loss of ice But I was not mentally prepared for what I witnessed, to actually see the ice just disintegrate and melt and go away. We were able to go 6,694 miles all the way through in 73 days in one season, which was unheard of. It was a record, you know, like nobody had ever done this.DT: It was the most profoundly feeling of sadness…what I saw in those 13 years, from 1994 to 2007, I witnessed was a 40% loss of our entire North Pole ice on planet Earth. And if we were looking at another planet out there in our solar system and said, “Wow, look at what’s happening. This planet is losing their entire polar ice cap,” we’d be freaked out. But it’s our planet.BH: The issue with ice melting is that it took millenia to build up. Thick, sea ice, is white and reflects sunlight–in a process called albedo- which in turn helps cool our planet. It’s what keeps our planet at a temperature good for humans, and keeps our weather patterns stable enough to do basic things like grow food. Now there is very little of it left.DT: I’m almost in a panic mode every single day. It’s like my burden that I carry because I witnessed a planetary tipping point, and I just want to shout it out as loud as I can to the world, Like, “People,” like, “we’re destroying this beautiful thing, this gift that, that we’ve been given, you know, to live life on this planet.”BH: Witnessing the destruction of the planet has had a profound impact on Thoreson’s life. And yet so has the positive work he has seen in Okoboji. He has witnessed bi-partisan solutions to improving water quality, creating trails and reestablishing wetlands and prairie. But he also knows how much more we migh… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit attheiowafarmtable.substack.com

Welcome back to Season III of At the Iowa Farm Table!This week Beth Hoffman digs into pesticide drift with Amanda Severson (Grand View Beef), Joel Meyer (Meyer Agri-Air Inc), and Rob Faux (a farmer and communications at Pesticide Action and Agroecology Network). You’ll learn about how the laws around drift are determined and what happens when they are broken. And all in 16 minutes!The full transcript of the show is included below if you prefer reading to listening. You can also refer to it if you feel like you missed something said in the show. There are also links in the transcript (and in the resources list below) for you to see for yourself where data was found.The Iowa Food System Coalition has also done a series of interviews with Iowa’s federal and state candidates—and asked them all about what they’d do about pesticide drift. Watch the 2026 Candidate Conversations to hear their responses.Related Podcasts Mentioned in Episode* Drenched in Chemicals* Iowa, Farming and Cancer: What Do We Really Know?Transcript[Amanda Severson] I was sitting here at my desk. And there was somebody applying fungicide. I didn’t really think anything of it because they were flying back and forth, and it was loud and distracting, but they were over the field.[Beth Hoffman] Amanda Severson and her husband Knute own Grand View Beef, an operation in north central Iowa specializing in grass feeding and finishing beef.[AS] But then all of a sudden, I just watched as the plane looked like it was coming just straight at me, and he turned it off where he was supposed to, but you just kind of watched, like, this l- liquid whoosh come and land in my grass.[BH] She and her family experienced a pesticide drift incident in the summer of 2026.[AS] Our kids were actually outside. And I had to tell them, “Sorry, you got to come inside.” And then the next time they went out to the garden, I said, “I’m sorry, but you have to bring your cherry tomatoes in and we have to wash them now.”[BH] According to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (aka IDALS), there were 257 reported pesticide drift incidents in Iowa in 2025. That’s a number that has not really gone up or down significantly in about a decade. But Amanda Severson and her husband Knute decided NOT to report the incident.[AS] What Knute and I do here is already incredibly unique. There’s a lot of eyes on us, and not all of them positive, right? So we’ve always just kind of focused on, [00:11:00] let’s tell our story, let’s keep our heads down, do our best, love our neighbors and support them, and those are the ways that we can make small changes… 12:30 you just hate to, like, burn a bridge by being negative.Short music to transition[AS] You know, when, when spraying chemicals is the norm in a farm community- It’s really hard to be the one to say, “Are we supposed to be doing that? Is that okay? Can you change this?” Because none of the other neighbors are asking for it, it’s just us. So it gets a little challenging, knowing when to [00:20:00] speak up. 12:30 It’s such a hard call to make.[BH] The Severson’s are likely not alone. Many of us would rather not make waves with our neighbors, especially those of us who farm differently from the corn and beans most of our neighbors grow. Plus, it takes time and energy to figure out the laws, to do all the paperwork, and pay for the lawyers.[AS] I did try to look up after that happened, like what was the distance supposed to be and, I mean, because they just kind of [00:15:00] flew on our gravel road and did a pass. And I’m like, are they supposed to be leaving a buffer?.. I should do more research. But I think unfortunately we’ve normalized it. Like,... “Oh, well, we’re the weird ones, so we’re not going to complain. We’ll just keep quiet.”MUSIC[BH] I’m Beth Hoffman, journalist, author and farmer. And this is Season III of At the Iowa Farm Table, a production of the Iowa Food System Coalition. This week we’re talking about pesticide drift– how it happens and what can be done about it.But let’s start at the beginning–what is pesticide drift?According to IDALS pesticide drift is (quote) “the movement of pesticide dust or droplets through the air at the time of application or soon after, to any site other than the area intended.”The definition continues “Avoiding ALL off-site movement is the responsibility of the applicator. All pesticide applicators must always read and follow label directions, including checking supplemental labels for additional information. The Label is the Law!”The label is the law. But having a law and enforcing it are two different things, as we will hear.[Joel Meyer] The label is designed to give us direction[BH] That’s Joel Meyer, the president of Meyer Agri-Air Incorporated, an Agricultural Aviation company flying in its 33rd year. He is also a member of state and national industry groups. Meyer described to me what it takes to be able to spray pesticides by air.[JM] You have to have a commercial pilot’s [00:02:00] license first of all[BH] Then you have to prove that you can obtain the necessary insurance to fly on pesticides,[JM] To make sure that we can be insured for what we’re trying to do.[BH]…and then apply with IDALS for a license. It’s $75 for three years. There is a test…[JM] They want to know that you know how to wear, your PPE. You need to know how increments of measure of what they [00:05:00] are, from ounce, you know, all the way through the gallons…they want you to know what you can mix together, as far as products. They want to know that you understand wind and drift and how to read the label, how to comply with a label.[BH] Complying with the label is the basis of all pesticide laws. Labels detail everything from the wind speed a chemical can be applied in and the area (or buffer) between a water source and where spray is applied. Labels specify the size of the droplets that must be used, the height it needs to be flown on at and even the boom size to be used.[JM] We can’t daydream while we’re sitting in the cockpit of an aircraft. 23 if we’re not certain which way the wind is from, but we continue on and spray anyway, you’re going to be subject to drift. Flying over houses, that is something we’re very sensitive to, you know. But it’s still part of our job to choose the right pattern, to make that it works out right, that you’re going to cover that producer’s field as he is having us do, but we need to do it in a safe manner. That’s, that is what being a good steward’s all about.MUSIC[BH] It is of course critical that applicators–in planes and on the ground–apply pesticides safely. And yet, what does “safe” really mean?[Rob Faux] Now, I want to make this very clear. The key word here is about acceptable risk, not safety.[BH] Rob Faux is the communications manager for Pesticide Action and Agroecology Network.[RF] I’m also a steward of a small scale diversified farm in northeast Iowa.Beth: And you’ve also experienced firsthand the drift situation, correct?Rob: I have experienced the drift situation multiple times, in my position as a farmer and grower.[BH] Rob Faux was featured in Season I of At the Iowa Farm Table in an episode called Drenched in Chemicals. He was literally ‘drenched in chemicals’ while doing chores on his farm. He did report the incident, and years later, after lengthy litigation, he received compensation because his entire crop of vegetables and eggs was destroyed for the season.Since that experience, Faux has become an expert on the laws surrounding drift. And he pointed out to me that the US laws around pesticides do not ensure safety. What they do is try to minimize risk.[RF] The EPA’s job is to look at the existing research, assess what’s there, and then determine if there is an acceptable risk to benefit ratio to register the product for use.[BH] I did an entire podcast about how we assess chemicals in the US in order to ensure the risk is minimized–it was called Iowa, Farming and Cancer: What we Really Know This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit attheiowafarmtable.substack.com

Jon Bakehouse is a corn and soybean farmer in southwest Iowa. He and his family were working to improve the sustainability of the farm over the years. But an unexpected health scare changed Bakehouse’s perspective of farming, andAbout this podcastThis episode is part of a partnership with the Practical Farmers of Iowa, a farmer-led nonprofit with more than 9,000 members that equips farmers to build resilient farms and communities. Through farmer-led education, on-farm research, financial support, technical assistance, business development and solutions-oriented policy work, PFI helps farmers try new ideas, solve problems together and build successful farm businesses.Every January, at the PFI annual conference in Des Moines, a ‘Conversation Coop’ (a room really) is set up, where attendees tell stories about food and farming. These stories are then stored with StoryCorp–a national story collection site–and at the Library of Congress. I got to thinking–there have to be great stories in that collection, stories that more people should hear. And so, with PFI and the story-teller’s permission, we have edited down the interviews and are sharing them with you here.To learn more about prairie strips, go to:https://www.iaagwater.org/prairie-strips-a-beautiful-tool-for-soil-preservation/https://www.cals.iastate.edu/news/2025/prairie-strips-can-rapidly-improve-soil-health This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit attheiowafarmtable.substack.com

Arlyn Kauffman, a row crop and egg farmer from southern Iowa, took a group of high school students to one of the nation’s largest agricultural shows, where major seed and chemical companies were showcasing their products.What he learned there changed his life.This episode is the beginning of an occasional series Beth Hoffman will produce in partnership with Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI).PFI is a farmer-led nonprofit with more than 9,000 members that equips farmers to build resilient farms and communities. Through farmer-led education, on-farm research, financial support, technical assistance, business development and solutions-oriented policy work, PFI helps farmers try new ideas, solve problems together and build successful farm businesses.Every January, at the PFI annual conference in Des Moines, a “Conversation Coop” is set up where attendees tell stories about food and farming. These stories are stored with StoryCorps, a national story-collection organization, and at the Library of Congress.Arlyn Kauffman recorded his story at the Conversation Coop in 2026.Stay in the LoopStay connected to the latest in Iowa’s food system news. Subscribe to the Iowa Food System Coalition newsletter for timely news, action alerts, and event updates, all focused on supporting local farms and communities.Please like and share this podcast if you enjoy it!Thanks for listening to At the Iowa Farm Table Podcast! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit attheiowafarmtable.substack.com

More than 70% of farms in the U.S. have been lost over the past 125 years. Today less than 2% of Americans call farming their profession.Yet, in a world with a changing climate and uncertain job market, many are looking to farming as a way to get back to the land, grow healthy food for their community, and discover a life full of meaning. But finding land and becoming a full fledged member of the family farm are essential first steps in the plan.Beth Hoffman explores how securing land for beginning farmers isn’t just about creating business opportunity. It’s about revitalizing rural communities by giving the next generation the opportunity to farm again. Thanks for listening to the At the Iowa Farm Table Podcast! Subscribe for free to receive new posts to your email inbox.VoicesCarly McAndrews—Trowel and Error FarmKristiana Coutu—Beginning Farmer Center, Iowa State UniversityJada Fife—Fife’s Fine Foods and Land Acquisition and Management Coordinator at SILTHannah Breckbill—Humble Hands Harvest, creator of Farmers Land Investment Cooperative, and Land Navigator.ResourcesNew Census of Agriculture reveals more farms, more farmers in IowaStay in the LoopStay connected to the latest in Iowa’s food system news. Subscribe to the Iowa Food System Coalition newsletter for timely news, action alerts, and event updates, all focused on supporting local farms and communities.Please like and share this podcast if you enjoy it! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit attheiowafarmtable.substack.com

We wanted to send a quick note of appreciation for all of our listeners! Thank you so much for your support.Please be sure to write a review of this podcast (especially if you listen outside of Substack). And sign up for the Iowa Food System Coalition’s Local Food Challenge taking place this summer.Have you ever wondered why U.S. tax payers often pay farmers NOT to farm? In this episode, we frame that question a little differently: have you ever wondered why U.S. tax payers don’t pay more farmers to provide ecosystem services for the health of our landscapes?150 years ago, prairie got in the way of Iowa’s European settlers. In order to farm, they had to till it up. Now, many Iowans are advocating for us to restore as much of it as we can.In this episode, Beth dives into the “why” of prairies with one of Iowa’s “Prairie Farmers,” Nicholas Lirio of Hocksey Native Seed.VoicesNicolas Lirio—Hocksey Native Seed and the Prairie Farm PodcastResourcesHistory of the Conservation Reserve ProgramHouse Farm Bill Falls ShortEnvironmental Working Group—Conservation DatabaseMusic Geoff HarveyMonumeStay in the LoopStay connected to the latest in Iowa’s food system news. Subscribe to the Iowa Food System Coalition newsletter for timely news, action alerts, and event updates, all focused on supporting local farms and communities. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit attheiowafarmtable.substack.com

Iowa has a cancer problem. We are one of the only states in the nation with a growing cancer rate, and have higher levels of certain kinds of cancers than do similar areas of the country.Many have put the blame on Iowa’s fields, while others say that legal pesticides are safe for us and the environment.In this episode we go down the rabbit hole to understand—how do chemicals become products on our shelves? Is a legal chemical safe? And what do researchers know about the relationship between chemicals and cancer?Thanks for listening to At the Iowa Farm Table. Please subscribe to receive our podcasts right to your inbox VoicesAudrey Tran Lam—Environmental Health Program Director, Center for Energy & Environmental Education, University of Northern IowaDavid Cwiertny—Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Director, Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination, University of IowaSeth Watkins—Pinhook FarmWeary Ramblers— Kathryn Severing Fox and Chad Elliott ResourcesHigher cancer rates in counties with more CAFOs, study findsU.S. chemical management system must be transformed to prevent harm, argue new policy papersREACH Regulation—European Commission on Energy, Climate change, EnvironmentCancer and Environmental Risk Factors in Iowa—Iowa Environmental CouncilEPA contact in IowaCancer in Iowa—Iowa Cancer RegistryInteractive Iowa Maps—Iowa Cancer RegistryInternational Study Reveals Glyphosate Weed Killers Cause Multiple Types of CancerStay in the LoopStay connected to the latest in Iowa’s food system news. Subscribe to the Iowa Food System Coalition newsletter for timely news, action alerts, and event updates, all focused on supporting local farms and communities.Lyrics to Reduce, Reduce, Reduce! by the Weary RamblersPesticides kill thingsThat’s just what they doThey wouldn’t be good at their jobIf they weren’t bad for youSo we need to spray more sparinglyOnly what we really needListen to Mother NatureShe loves diversityGot a few weeds?That’s alrightA little milkweed and some foxtailTheir just fineIf you’re sprayin’Just to sprayIt does more harm than goodIt costs more at the end of the dayWe gotta’ start doing something…there’s just too much to loseReduce, Reduce, Reduce what we useReduce, Reduce, Reduce what we useDon’t plant your crops on the water’s edgeGive ‘em ‘bout fifty feetOn the edge of every fieldGo ahead and leave the treesDoin’ these two things makes forA Healthier, happy homeFor the plants to grow and for the little critters to roamGot a few weeds?That’s alrightA little waterhemp and thistlesTheir just fineIf you’re sprayin’Just to sprayIt does more harm than goodIt costs more at the end of the dayWe gotta’ start doing something…there’s just too much to loseReduce, Reduce, Reduce what we useReduce, Reduce, Reduce what we use This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit attheiowafarmtable.substack.com

The Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program was slated to bring millions of dollars into Iowa, while supporting new farmers. Contracts were signed, fellows quit their jobs, and we were off to the races. Until suddenly, we weren’t. USDA abruptly pulled the funding in March with two days notice, deferring the dreams of new farmers like Lawrencia Rogers and eliminating the jobs created to help them.Please “like” this podcast or write a review! Share it with a friend too. VoicesLawrencia Rogers—FarmerJason Grimm—Executive Director of Iowa Valley RC&DKatie Das—State Coordinator at the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust (SILT)Breanna Horsey—Executive Director at SILTAt the Iowa Farm Table is brought to you by the Iowa Food System Coalition. Edited by John Hogeland and Tommy Hexter. Photo: Fellow Lawrencia and Farm Manager Malik doing tractor work at the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm. Courtesy Iowa Valley RC&D. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit attheiowafarmtable.substack.com