Topic
Our Impact
U.S. Policy Traps Migrant Workers in Southern Mexico
In "Our Mango Republic," a collaboration with The Nation, Esther Honig explains how countless people have been trapped in Tapachula, a sprawling Mexican border town where many of the migrants take jobs in agriculture. They are helping to bolster the …
Drought-Stricken Indian Village Serves as Farming Model
In "The resurrection of Hiware Bazar," published with Grist, Puja Changoiwala explains how in the 1980s, the Indian village of Hiware Bazar had collapsed—ecologically, economically and spiritually. But today it is seen as a model for solving the nation’s farmer …
FERN Explains How Climate Adaptation in Bangladesh Went Bad
In "When climate adaptation goes wrong," published with The Guardian, Stephen Rober Miller details how in Bangladesh, rising waters ruined farmers' rice fields, so they switched to shrimp — and that's when troubles mounted. Read More
FERN Digs into the Climate-Friendly Status of the Wood-Pellet Industry
In “The controversial biofuel threatening British Columbia’s forests,” published with The Walrus, Brian Barth explores the province's booming wood-pellet industry, which is causing worry that old-growth ecosystems will be pushed to the brink. Read More
FERN Travels to Brazil to Report on Beef and Deforestation
In “Brazil’s Amazon beef plan will ‘legalize deforestation’ say critics,” published with The Guardian, Brian Barth and Flávia Milhorance explain that the beef industry’s hopes for a planned deforestation-free farming zone will tempt buyers back, but many fear it will …
FERN Finds That Fashion Could Help Save the Amazon
In “Can fashion help small farmers preserve the Amazon?,” published with The New Republic, Brian Barth and Flávia Milhorance help readers understand that though many downplay capitalist solutions to conservation, they have the potential to spark the wealth transfer needed …
FERN Wins a Second James Beard Award for Quinoa Coverage
We were gratified to learn in May 2015 that FERN won a second James Beard Foundation Award for our story, “The Quinoa Quarrel: Who Owns The Greatest Superfood?” Written by Lisa Hamilton, the story appeared with original photography, also by Hamilton, in Harper’s …
A Riveting Reminder of the Vietnam War’s Ongoing Fallout
George Black’s powerful cover story, “The Lethal Legacy of the Vietnam War,” in The Nation, showed how tons of unexploded ordnance, herbicides, and defoliants the U.S. dropped on Vietnam during the war continue to plague farmers there today. The piece, which …
FERN Takes Us into Spain’s ‘Micro-Reserves’
In “Europe’s butterflies are vanishing as small farms disappear,” published with National Geographic, Bridget Huber shows us that industrial farms and abandoned ones are both bad for butterflies. So researchers in Spain are trying to combat the trend, one 'micro-reserve' …
FERN Story Helps Push Chinese Tuna-Fishing Firm to Withdraw Its IPO Application
Shannon Service’s October 2014 story in The Guardian on the “shady dealings” of a massive Chinese tuna-fishing firm had real-world impact. Notorious for going after threatened species like Yellowfin and Bigeye, the China Tuna Industry Group was forced to withdraw its IPO application after negative media …
FERN’s Palm-Oil Expose Helps Force World Bank to Fix Policy
“Children Left Vulnerable By World Bank Amid Push For Development,” which was published on The Huffington Post in October 2015, is the latest installment of “Evicted and Abandoned,” a yearlong investigation into the hidden toll of World Bank-financed development projects on the …
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