Heartland Stories Radio

Bill Tracy is a Professor in the Department of Agronomy and Chair of the Masters program in Agroecology as well as Clif Bar and Organic Valley Endowed Chair in Plant Breeding for Organic Agriculture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Tune in to learn more about:

Sweet corn breeding; - Breeding for climate; - Why diversity of crops and perennials are important; - The experiments with perennializing of sweet corn; - Nixtamalized corn.

To learn more about Professor Bill Tracy go to https://agronomy.wisc.edu/bill-tracy/.

Dave Goulson is a Professor of Biology at the University of Sussex (England), who specializes in bee ecology. Professor Goulson has published more than 300 scientific articles on the ecology and conservation of bumblebees and other insects, plus seven books, including the Sunday Times bestsellers “A Sting in the Tale” (2013), “The Garden Jungle” (2019), and “Silent Earth” (2021). In 2015 he was named number 8 in BBC Wildlife Magazine’s list of the top 50 most influential people in conservation. In 2018, 2019 and 2020 he was named as a “Highly Cited Researcher” by Thompson ISI. He founded the Bumblebee Conservation Trust in 2006, a charity which has grown to 12,000 members and is a trustee of the Pesticide Action Network, as well as an “Ambassador” for the UK Wildlife Trusts, and president of Pesticide Free Scotland. Tune in to learn more about:

• His latest book “Silent Earth”, written in the tradition of Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking environmental classic Silent Spring, where he explains the importance of insects to our survival, and offers a clarion call to avoid a looming ecological disaster of our own making;
• His fascination about insects that started from an early age and why they are important to us and to our lives;
• Pollination facts, even coffee and cocoa need pollinators;
• The difference between bumblebees and honeybees, and the unknown fact that there are over 20,000 of known bees species;
• Neonicotinoids and their negative impact on soil, streams and bees;
• Insects as food - and how 80% of the world actually eat insects;
• Global warming and the impact on insects;
• His wish for each one of us is to welcome nature, to plant pollinator friendly flowers and not to spray any pesticides, as well as to buy local and organic food.

To learn more about Dave Goulson's work go to https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p126217-dave-goulson.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we are bringing you back this amazing episode about Cynthia Barstow and her organization Protect Our Breasts.

For Cynthia Barstow, Senior Lecturer of Marketing at Amherst Isenberg School at the University of Massachusetts and Founder and Executive Director of Protect Our Breasts, the fight against breast cancer is personal. In 2010, a routine mammogram led to her own breast cancer diagnosis—something faced by nearly 300,000 women each year. As her treatment began, so did a deep dive into breast cancer research, especially what causes the disease. Tune in to learn more about:

Her personal story of going through breast cancer and how the idea for her organization was born;

About the window of susceptibility, the period of developmental stages when a woman may be most vulnerable to environmental exposures, starting from the womb all through puberty;

About Protect Our Breasts, an organization that empowers women to make safer choices to protect their breasts during the most vulnerable periods of their lives and shares the conversation about chemicals in everyday products found on grocery shelves;

Why packaging is as important as the ingredients when it comes to toxins, as they can leak into the product;

The endocrine system explained;

How 85,000 synthetic chemicals have been introduced into the environment and only 7% have been tested for effects on human health;

About the

53 chapters of the organization in the USA, Canada, UK and India;

About how men can get breast cancer as well.

Cynthia's 'a-ha' moment that it’s younger women (up through their first full-term pregnancy) who are most susceptible to harmful chemicals and carcinogens that can lead to breast cancer later in life lead her to burst into tears. “Every day looking out on the sea of faces of those that I teach, those women were the ones that were susceptible. They were going through life believing it was their mother and their grandmother and their aunts, but it was them.” She realized that getting information to younger women about positive choices they could make to steer clear from certain ingredients in everyday products was more important than ever.

To learn more about her work and Protect Our Breasts go to: https://protectourbreasts.org/.

Kelly Ryerson is an environmental health writer, filmmaker, and ardent public health advocate. After alleviating her own chronic illness by eating a gluten-free and organic diet, she realized that toxins and chemicals were at the core of the explosion in chronic disease in the United States. Determined to make the issue of glyphosate’s impact on the microbiome more well-known, she began the blog Glyphosate Girl. She continues to focus on the ways in which our food system, soil, and microbiome have been corrupted by both the rampant use of toxic herbicides and the regulators who support the agricultural chemical industry. Tune in to learn more about:

Her own story of battling chronic/autoimmune disease and depression

Her A-ha moment when she found out that Roundup is being sprayed on wheat

Why she started the blog Glyphosate Girl, which covers the Monsanto cancer trials, glyphosate science, and glyphosate’s contribution to intestinal permeability.

The leaky gut and how glyphosate kills the "good bacteria" in the gut leading to so many health issues

Her reaction when she found out that glyphosate was detected in her daughter's baby tooth

To learn more about Kelly visit her blog: https://glyphosategirl.com/.

Piper Davis is a celebrated baker and partner at Grand Central Bakery, a regional chain of 10 cafes and artisan bakeries in the Pacific Northwest. An avid baker, cook and good food provisioner, she is the co-author of “The Grand Central Baking Book” and is Board Chair of the national nonprofit Chefs Collaborative. Tune in to learn more about:

• Piper’s childhood and her love of baking inspired by her mom - Grand Central Bakery founder, Gwyneth Bassetti;
• The artisan bread revolution;
• The power of deliciousness;
• About Grand Central Bakery and their mission to produce delicious food and treat their employees well;
• The tomato story and the challenges of purchasing local ingredients, from wheat to vegetables.