The Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN)

This Story’s Impact 2 million monthly readers This article was produced in collaboration with Grist. It may not be reproduced without express permission from FERN. If you are interested in republishing or reposting this article, please contact [email protected]. Will Runion’s 736-acre cattle and hay farm is tucked into a horseshoe bend of the Nolichucky River in northeast Tennessee.

Oregon Rural Action conducts a rapid test on a jar of well water from Boardman, Oregon, in April 2023. The water tested above the federal standard of 10 milligrams per liter. Photo by Monica Samayoa/OPB, courtesy of Oregon Public Action. By Theodore Ross A rare thing happened yesterday that I want to share with all of you.

By This episode dives back into the issue of food waste, why it matters, and what you can do about it. But it’s also a behind-the-scenes conversation about reporting on the topic. Katelan Cunningham, the host of the Second Nature podcast, talks about why she pursued this story, what the biggest obstacles to her reporting were, and what you do when failing on food waste makes you feel guilty.

By IIn this episode, Helena and Theodore look at how efforts to allow states to ban soda and candy purchases for SNAP recipients may fizzle out — for now. We also unpack what the war with Iran is doing to fertilizer and food prices, and in Colorado, workers at one of largest meatpacking plants in the country go on strike. TRANSCRIPT TTheodore Ross: Welcome to Forked. I’m Theodore Ross, editor-in-chief of the Food and Environment Reporting Network.

By FERN senior editor Ted Genoways traveled to Colorado to report on a strike vote by the unionized workers at the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley. Many of these workers are from Haiti and are at risk of losing their work visas in the United States. Yet, given the opportunity to exercise their political power by voting, they’ve chosen to do so. It’s a moving act of basic democracy, and Genoways talks about how he reported it out.

Nick Ramsden, a migrant farmworker from South Africa, drives a tractor at Nelson-King Farms in Chatham, Mississippi. Photo by Terra Fondriest By Theodore Ross Our latest story at FERN, published in partnership with The New Yorker, examines a little-known population of temporary agricultural workers in the United States: White South Africans, many of them working in the Mississippi Delta.

This Story’s Impact 1.3M monthly web readers 2m social users In early February, more than 1,000 Haitian migrants employed at the unionized JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colorado, faced imminent deportation, as the Trump administration fought in federal court to revoke their temporary protected status. Many of the Haitians say they were brought to JBS as part of a human-trafficking scheme concocted by a supervisor in the company’s HR department.

By In this episode, Helena and Theodore do a … Roundup … of what people who don’t have time to come up with better nicknames are calling “glyphogate.” It’s an in-depth conversation about the power of Big Ag and why MAHA may not get the regenerative agriculture future they thought RFK Jr. promised. We’re also taking a close look at the Senate testimony of Casey Means, nominee for Surgeon General, and whether the “nation’s doctor” should be a wellness influencer.

The Lexington Livestock Market in Lexington, Nebraska, after Tyson Foods closed its beef processing plant there, sending shockwaves through the cattle markets. The Nebraska Cattlemen’s Association said the plant closure will reduce the state’s cattle harvest capacity by 15 percent. Photo by Mary Anne Andrei By Theodore Ross The high cost of beef is probably not breaking news for most readers of this newsletter. We see it in the stores and feel it in our wallets.

This Story’s Impact 21.1M monthly digital readers This article was produced in collaboration with The Guardian. It may not be reproduced without express permission from FERN. If you are interested in republishing or reposting this article, please contact [email protected]. On 21 November, at the end of the first shift at the Tyson Foods beef processing plant in Lexington, Nebraska, all workers were called to the lunchroom and told they no longer had jobs.