Editor’s Desk: How partnering works for FERN
When we took the name Food & Environment Reporting Network, we really envisioned ourselves as a network. We wanted to work with many independent writers, distribute our work through many media companies, and get support from multiple funders and individuals. We always felt that our stories would have outsized impact if we joined with others rather than doing everything on our own.
Lately, the strength of that model has been evident, especially in the international sphere. We partnered with the International Consortium for Investigative Journalists on a story about the ravages of the palm oil industry in one Indonesian community; and for our most recent story we joined with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to tap the secrets of one of the world’s foremost experts on livestock grazing.
Why were FERN and Pulitzer interested in this story, “Allan Savory and the Science of Tracking”? Savory, who Judith Schwartz interviewed at his base in Zimbabwe, has had a major impact on how farmers and ranchers manage their livestock. His ideas about land management and the relationship of animals to the landscape has implications for issues as various as income generation in African villages and carbon sequestration on rangeland.
But interestingly, this story took another turn once we approached Discover Magazine as our publishing partner. The editors at the science magazine liked the story but were keenly interested in how Savory’s skill as an animal tracker had influenced his ideas about livestock. We agreed to go down this path, and Judith reported on various threads on tracking, which it turned out may be the world’s oldest science.
Tracking involves the close observation of animals within their habitat. That relationship can have profound implications not only for the health of the savanna, but also for the ways domesticated livestock can enrich (or denude) their surroundings, affecting soil health and even climate change. Judith talks about some of those implications in a Q&A with FERN’s Kristina Johnson in this post.
This story would have been impossible to accomplish outside of our partnership model, because everyone brought something crucial to the table. Come to think of it, the story itself followed a holistic approach of the sort Savory endorses. If you want to join us, please consider a donation. If you’re really a food and ag nerd (like us!), consider our daily Ag Insider that delivers the latest news and analysis on a wide range of these issues.