FERN’s latest report, out today in May/June issue of Eating Well magazine, looks at the growing issue of antibiotic resistance due to the routine use of antibiotics in livestock production.  Reporter Barry Estabrook, author of the New York Times bestselling book Tomatoland, details how livestock are fed a diet laced with low “sub-therapeutic” doses of [...]

In the Pacific, eight island nations have recently come together to protect the world’s last healthy tuna populations from the perils of the lawless sea, the first agreement of its kind, reports Shannon Service in FERN’s latest story, “The Saudi Arabia of Sashimi,” for Slate. This report follows a recent radio broadcast supported by FERN [...]

San Francisco’s bays are brimming with herring, a welcome sight after the fishery collapsed four years ago, according to the latest report by the Food & Environment Reporting Network for the San Francisco Chronicle. As The Chronicle’s Peter Fimrite reported on Jan. 24, warm water and lack of food caused a catastrophic population decline and, [...]

In the midst of the domestic energy boom, livestock on farms near oil-and-gas drilling operations nationwide have been quietly falling sick and dying, according to the latest report by Food & Environment Reporting Network. Elizabeth Royte wrote the cover story, “What the Frack Is in our Food,” for the December 17, 2012, issue of The [...]

The Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERNnews) is pleased to announce Susan West as its new Executive Editor. Since 1995, West’s consulting company, West Gold Editorial, has helped launch and improve publications and websites including Dwell, Cooking Light, ConsumerReports.org, and Discovery Communications. West has been the founding editor in chief of travel magazine Afar, executive [...]

In a new report out today, the Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERNnews) highlights how toxic blue-green algae–or cyanobacteria–is thriving in freshwater across the U.S., creating health risks. The story appears online at the Center for Investigative Reporting, The Atlantic and other news sites. “Every summer as temperatures rise, ‘blooms’ of cyanobacteria develop in lakes [...]

In the latest report by the Food & Environment Reporting Network, “As Common as Dirt,” produced in collaboration with The American Prospect magazine, reporter Tracie McMillan investigates how farm labor contracting – a ubiquitous, but relatively unknown, practice – often blatantly disregards labor laws governing wages, safety and health. She writes that it could be [...]

The appetite for journalism is stronger than ever, but the way we get our news is changing rapidly. The Internet offers us a flood of information and opinion, while crucial stories go underreported and traditional media continues to shrink. New non-profit journalism ventures have helped fill the gap, but are they the answer? How do [...]

In a new report, produced by the Food & Environment Reporting Network in partnership with California Watch, reporter Maria Finn looks into the sudden resurgence in the salmon population on the California coast and explores whether the current boom will last. This year 820,000 Chinook are expected to swim the Sacramento River, up from 114,741 [...]

More Americans than ever before, 50 million, are in poverty. One in seven people rely on the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, or food stamps. And they are not always the people you might expect. Formerly middle class families, veterans, college graduates and farmworkers are featured in our latest report, a photo essay [...]