A Crying Shame: Sonja Trom Eayrs on the Impact of CAFOS on Local Communities

Interlude

In this special episode of Canary in a Cornfield, I take a pause from our normal programming to reflect on two years of food systems, agriculture, and public health work at the Harkin Institute. I mentino some formative academic and professional stops in the U.S., Canada, and the UK, including work connected to Oxford’s Future of Food and LEAP programs, and my discovery that global research highlighted Iowa’s outsized role in environmental and diet-related harms. I also discuss how a 2024 conference tied to Industrial Farm Animal Production led to collaboration with the Iowa Environmental Council and Iowa philanthropists to fund the Environmental Risk Factors in Cancer in Iowa project, generating media coverage, statewide listening sessions, and shifting political debate around water quality, nitrates, and cancer. Links from the Episode: Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors in Iowa Report [https://www.iaenvironment.org/our-work/cancer-and-environmental-risk-factors-in-iowa/] Iowa’s Water Crisis - Nothing Will Change if Nothing Changes [https://harkininstitute.drake.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/103/2026/05/Iowa-Water-Quality-Crisis-Policy-Recommendations_web.pdf]report from John Norris and others Walter Willett Interview on the EAT Lancet Report [https://canaryinacornfield.substack.com/p/episode-14-walter-willett-on-the] Bob Martin Interview on the Pew Commission Report [https://canaryinacornfield.substack.com/p/episode-12-bob-martin-on-the-pew] Interim Findings Report [https://iphprp.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Interim-Progress-Report-Cancer-Driver-Project-Feb-2026-final-.pdf]funded by the General Assembly

The Pain Echo Chamber: Why Animal Welfare in Confinement Operations is Even Worse Than People Realized

This episode of Canary in a Cornfield focuses on an important methodological advancement in animal welfare science and it’s relevance for understanding the lives of animals in severely impoverished environments such as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), aka factory farms. I interview Dr. Cynthia Schuck, co-founder of the Welfare Footprint Institute, and we discuss how the Welfare Footprint Project translated global health-style quantitative methods to welfare assessments, which in turn has enabled comparisons across systems and cost-effectiveness analyses. Dr. Schuck described the Institute’s past and ongoing projects with industry, governments, and animal welfare organizations, with particular attention to the hog and egg laying hen operations that are prevalent in Iowa. And she explains how new research on the pain echo chamber demonstrates that barren, stressful confinement operations remove natural pain-suppressing mechanisms, amplify pain, and delay healing in animals. The unfortunate upshot of this research is that these extreme, barren environments are even worse for welfare than previously realized. The episode also comes at a time where members of the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced a Farm Bill that includes language designed to overturn the will of voters in California and Massachusetts, who overwhelmingly voted to pass laws that banned animal products that come from the most extreme confinement conditions. The new Farm Bill has a lot of objectionable features, and many anti-hunger groups [https://www.bread.org/article/snap-and-wic-two-vital-u-s-nutrition-programs/], family farm advocates [https://familyfarmers.org/?p=2722], health organizations [https://healfoodalliance.org/new-farm-bill-falls-flat-for-farmers-and-workers/], conservation organizations [https://www.nrdc.org/bio/lucas-rhoads/four-ways-house-farm-bill-would-weaken-pesticide-protections], and labor organizations [https://www.ufcw.org/press-releases/ufcw-urging-no-vote-on-farm-bill-in-house-agriculture-committee/] have come out strongly against it. Even many MAHA and right-leaning media outlets have expressed skepticism about it, including the Heritage Foundation [https://www.heritage.org/government-regulation/commentary/total-legal-immunity-dangerous-pesticides-stop-big-ags-scheme-now] and the Daily Caller. [https://dailycaller.com/2026/04/20/nside-swamps-new-farm-bill/] On this podcast, we’ve previously discussed the plan to overturn state welfare laws in our interviews with the ASPCA and Anna Pesek [https://canaryinacornfield.substack.com/p/episode-9-the-battle-over-animal], and with Angela Huffman of Farm Action [https://canaryinacornfield.substack.com/p/s2-e5-farm-actions-angela-huffman], and we’ve also discussed pesticide immunity with Emma Newton [https://canaryinacornfield.substack.com/p/s2-e7-pesticide-immunity-bills]. And of course Senator Harkin wrote an op-ed [https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/iowa-view/2025/06/05/joni-ernst-food-security-farm-protection-rebrands-eats-california/84034335007/] last summer opposing the efforts to overturn state’s abilities to set their own standards. A number of organizations, such as the ALDF [https://aldf.org/article/tell-congress-oppose-the-house-farm-bill/], have calls out asking people to tell their congressional representatives to oppose the Farm Bill and/or to support the bipartisan amendment to remove the language that attacks state animal welfare standards [https://aldf.org/article/tell-congress-oppose-the-house-farm-bill/]. Other relevant links mentioned in the episode: The Faunalytics study [https://faunalytics.org/public-acceptability-of-standard-u-s-animal-agriculture-practices/] showing extreme public opposition to intensive confinement conditions among U.S. citizens. And the Johns Hopkins University study showing that Iowans are in favor of banning the construction of new confinement operations [https://clf.jhsph.edu/projects/food-citizen/cafo-moratorium-poll-results-2019#:~:text=In%20Iowa%2C%2063%20percent%20of%20respondents%20think,banning%20construction%20of%20new%20and%20expanded%20CAFOs.]. A link to the Welfare Footprint Institute [https://welfarefootprint.org/] page. The Pain Echo Chamber paper. [https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/animal-science/articles/10.3389/fanim.2026.1736142/full]

The Importance of the IIHR Nitrate Monitoring Network for Local Communities with Tim Wagner

In this episode of Canary in a Cornfield, host Adam talks with Iowa water quality advocate Tim Wagner about nitrate pollution, public health, and the University of Iowa IIHR nitrate monitoring network. Wagner, raised on a north-central Iowa farm and formerly an agricultural specialist with the Izaak Walton League, connects his advocacy to conservation policy work and to losing his sister to a rare bladder cancer. He explains Decorah’s sensitive karst geology, where contaminants can rapidly enter aquifers, and describes a recent manure spill that led to fish kills, DNR fines, and nitrate readings well above the federal standard. With the state legislature having defunded the statewide monitoring network, Decorah’s Sustainability Commission secured unanimous city council approval to spend $17,000 to fund two continuous sensors. But this funding is only for one year and only covers one region, so Wagner emphasizes the necessity of statewide action along with citizen testing and engagement.

A Crying Shame: Sonja Trom Eayrs on the Impact of CAFOS on Local Communities

In this episode of Canary in a Cornfield, host Adam talks with Sonja Trom Eayrs, author of Dodge County Incorporated, a book about the rise of concentrated animal feeding operations in southern Minnesota and the corporate structure behind them. Sonja describes how a pyramid scheme of multinational meatpackers, integrators, and contract growers replaced independent farming, driving geographic clustering near meatpacking plants and creating massive manure, air quality, and water pollution impacts, including nitrate-contaminated wells and community health concerns. She recounts her family’s experience fighting proposed facilities through lawsuits and facing harassment, intimidation, and distorted local governance, which she connects to coordinated industry influence through Farm Bureau politics. Sonja also shares where CAFO expansion is moving next, emphasizes the importance of documenting abuses when they occur, and urges listeners to get informed, support advocacy groups, and “vote with your fork” by buying local food. Links from the episode: Order the book! [https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/bison-books/9781496234995/dodge-county-incorporated/] Land Stewardship Project [https://landstewardshipproject.org/] Higher cancer rates in counties with more CAFOs, study finds [https://www.thenewlede.org/2026/04/cafos-cancer-pollution/?fbclid=IwY2xjawQ81zhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEed_Fq-W9n6xxbEsuC6Cje7V0CNLwkYP-2bQMXi3VrhCFm-S33xwNa5eN-1qU_aem_k93DK78WckFithGGa5uwXA]

Improving Health and Resilience in New York City and Beyond with Rachel Atcheson

In this episode of Canary in a Cornfield, Adam speaks with Rachel Atcheson of Food Policy Pathways about her path from nonprofits to New York City government, including roles in the de Blasio and Adams’ administrations, and finally to founding an innovative new program for food systems leaders. Rachel describes how health experiences—including Mayor Adams’s experience reversing type 2 diabetes and her own health improvement —shaped their focus on healthier public food. She explains how coalition building and thinking strategically about New York City’s procurement power across schools, hospitals, jails, and older adult centers led to better health outcomes and dramatically reduced carbon emissions. She then talks about launching Food Policy Pathways to coach and place candidates into food-related government roles in order to expand effective policies nationwide. Links from the episode: Food Policy Pathways Website [https://www.foodpolicypathways.org/] A study showing 95% patient satisfaction after the new nutrition program in NYC Hospitals [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/15598276241283158]