Editor’s desk: That’s a wrap 2016

• Samuel Fromartz

Year five of the Food & Environment Reporting Network comes to a close, but before we turn the page on 2016, we’d like to highlight a few stories, along with our partner outlets, that we are especially proud of. Enjoy your holiday reading!

INVESTIGATIONS

• Dick Manning put the race for the White House in the context of food and farming by looking at Iowa in election season. (Harper’s)

• Liza Gross investigated Sense About Science, a charity whose mission is to explain science to journalists, lawmakers and the public. What she found was a group that had a history of spreading doubt about scientific studies that undermined industry. (The Intercept)

• Stett Holbrook looked at water scarcity in Napa Valley, where wine-driven developments threaten to spoil the watershed. (Bohemian)

• Jocelyn Zuckerman continued her coverage of the palm oil industry, showing the long shadow the industry casts on one of the most ecologically diverse regions in the world. (Audubon). She then spotlighted how activists who oppose palm oil interests are being assassinated around the world. (The New Yorker)

NUTRITION & SODA

• Georgina Gustin spelled out how special interests skew government food guidelines on what you should eat. (EatingWell)

• Bridget Huber traveled to Brazil to see how that country is fighting back against processed food with progressive government policies. (The Nation)

• Huber later looked at how both sides enlisted immigrant shop owners in the battle over soda taxes; we produced an animated slideshow explaining the history of the soda debate and the big money behind it. (PRI’s The World)

FARMING

• Kristin Ohlson profiled a farmer who failed to qualify for crop insurance because he planted cover crops to nurture his soil. (Ensia)

• Lisa Morehouse reported on the devastating impact of a wildfire on a farming community in Northern California that already was suffering from drought. (KQED’s California Report)

• Alexis Marie Adams profiled an innovative program that nurtures pollinators and provides livelihoods in a low-income community in rural Arizona. (Scientific American).

• Ari LeVaux explored the technique of “dry farming” by maverick farmers who avoid all irrigation – and actually prosper during droughts. (National Geographic)

OCEANS

• Barry Yeoman scrutinized the battle between commercial and recreational fishers over the scarce Gulf red snapper, which is struggling to rebound after a devastating decline. (Texas Monthly)

We hope you will support our fact-based work with a last-minute holiday donation to help us reach our 2017 budget goal. If you give at the $100 level, you can get a copy of our anthology The Dirt, which includes some of the best stories from FERN’s first five years. We wish you a peaceful and restful holiday.

Photo by Paul Hilton