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food insecurity

Rachel Cramer
/
Iowa Public Radio
This year’s recipient of the $500,000 award is Dutch scientist and humanitarian Huub Lelieveld. The World Food Prize Foundation's three-day event in Des Moines has drawn in scientists, philanthropists, farmers, heads of state and Hollywood actors – including one who played the ukulele.
  • The World Food Prize Foundation is marking four decades of honoring the scientists, farmers and policy innovators who feed our planet. On this episode, host Ben Kieffer is joined by Iowa Governor and two-time U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Vilsack now leads the foundation. We talk about what the World Food Prize’s 40th anniversary means for communities across the state and why global food security starts with places like Iowa. We also talk about the New World screwworm, the dismantling of USAID and more.
  • Fewer Iowans are enrolled in a federal food assistance program after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act changed eligibility requirements and the state narrowed the types of SNAP-eligible foods.
  • There are many Indigenous people in this country working on food sovereignty. The best known member of this movement is Chef Sean Sherman, founder and CEO of The Sioux Chef, which specializes in pre-colonization cuisine. Host Charity Nebbe talks with Sherman about his latest co-authored book, 'Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America,' and he will be speaking at the inaugural Iowa Culinary Conference on June 22 in Coralville. Also, the 50th Loess Hills Prairie Seminar takes place May 29-31, hosted by Monona County Conservation. This free event started in 1977 as a modest, back to nature event for local educators, and has now expanded to include dozens of activities for conservationists, families and beyond.