Khalid El Khatib’s childhood in Iowa was defined by its potlucks. Despite having relocated to New York City where the culinary landscape could not be more different from his hometown, Khalid’s mother’s cheesy bread is still near and dear to his heart.

On today’s show, we are embracing the Bread Basket of America. Agriculture is the industry responsible for putting food on our tables. And, it’s also an economic engine for many parts of the Midwest.

We explore the business of food tours and what they have to offer to both locals and visitors alike. And, It’s not just the big cities that offer unique culinary tours.

In this episode, we meet some pioneers of the “pay what you can” café movement throughout the Midwest. In South Dakota, we visit Fork Real Community Café, where local lawyers dine along side the homeless.

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Art Cullen comes on to talk about the pressure of the hog industry on Iowa's environment, joined by Wisconsin Farmer Lisa Doerr. Support the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation here.

Hear from folks who were on the ground in Central Iowa during the Derecho storm in August. Despite Iowa’s history of weather extremes, the state struggled to bring relief to those affected.

Art Cullen, the Pulitzer Prize winning editor of Iowa's Storm Lake Times joins the show today to talk about the Democratic candidates whose panel he moderated recently at the Heartland Forum.

FERN reporter Leah Douglas attended the Family Farmers Rally in Storm City Iowa where 5 democrats tried to explain that they have a recipe to fix american agriculture. At least they are talking about it!

What did Ted Cruz get right that the 2020 field of Democratic Presidential candidates are getting wrong? The answer is his view that the Renewable Fuels Standard is failed policy in need of reform.