All FERN Articles
As halibut decline, Alaska Native fishers square off against industrial fleets
Each year in mid-June, Father John, dressed in long black robes, heads to the small boat harbor on St. Paul, a tiny island of 500 souls in the middle of the Bering Sea. It’s the start of the fishing season, and the Blessing of the Fleet is a community affair, an opportunity to give best… » Read More
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National Geographic26 million visitors a month
A year later, food workers still experience waves of Covid-19
For weeks last spring, as the Covid-19 pandemic spread, the country was gripped by fear of potential food shortages. As speculation arose about widespread meat shortages, Americans started panic buying. Shoppers worried they would contract the virus from food shipped from countries with high infection rates. These concerns were never borne out. But they distracted… » Read More
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Which states are vaccinating food system workers?
As the Covid-19 vaccine becomes available across the country, the workers who pick, pack, process, sell, and serve our food have been placed in a range of priority groups. Food system workers can receive the vaccine in most but not all states. As of April 12 at 12pm ET, farmworkers are currently eligible to receive… » Read More
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At California pork plant, confusion and safety violations as Covid-19 spread
A coronavirus outbreak at the Farmer John pork processing plant in Los Angeles County began nearly a year ago. But it never went away. In recent months, as the county has become a Covid-19 epicenter, in part driven by outbreaks at manufacturing facilities, the cases at the Smithfield Foods-owned plant have more than doubled —… » Read More
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Feed the people
Just two blocks off Monument Square in Portland, Maine, downhill from the public library, sits a squat, gray flatiron building. Inside is a soup kitchen that has provided three meals a day, every day, to hungry Mainers in its oft-crowded dining room for more than 39 years. The staff is welcoming, the location is central,… » Read More
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More than 5 million page views a monthEater
Widely used neonic insecticides may be a threat to mammals, too
On an overcast January day in Estelline, South Dakota, Jonathan Lundgren zips his quilted jacket over a fleece, pulls down a wool cap, and crunches through the snow on Blue Dasher Farm to his barn, a milking parlor that he has kitted out as a biochemical laboratory. This story is part of our biodiversity initiative. In this… » Read More
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National Geographic26 MILLION VISITORS A MONTH
The tasting menu at the end of the world
In mid-August, as a largely uneventful tropical storm named Fausto was starting to wind down in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Baja California, a plume of moisture it spun off had metastasized into dry thunderstorms that were rolling across northern California, more than 700 miles away. Recently flattened by a record-setting heat wave, the region… » Read More
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9 MILLION PAGE VIEWS A MONTH5 MILLION SOCIAL USERS REACHEDEater
She stakes her claim
On a cold February morning in 2017, a half dozen or so women and several men gathered in the yard of a suburban home outside of Athens, Georgia, to learn how to kill and butcher a hog. The mood was both anxious and somber. Eventually, they would have hams and bacon, ribs and chops. But… » Read More
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VIRGINIA QUARTERLY REVIEWPublication was finalist for 2020 National Magazine Award for General Excellence
Mapping Covid-19 outbreaks in the food system
Since April 2020, FERN has been closely tracking the spread of Covid-19 at meatpacking plants, food processing facilities, and farms. This dashboard is home to our latest reporting on Covid-19 cases and food system workers, and is updated each weekday. According to data collected by FERN, as of April 12 at 12pm ET, at least… » Read More