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Our Impact
National Magazine Award finalist: Switchyard Food Issue
The Switchyard Food Issue is a finalist for a 2024 National Magazine Award in the category of Single-Topic Issue. This is one of two National Magazine Awards for which FERN is a finalist in 2024. Read More
Louisiana Tribal Community Faces Climate Change
In "As climate change erodes land and health, one Louisiana tribe fights back," Barry Yeoman brings us to Dulac, Louisiana, where Devon Parfait, the new chief of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw, is getting reacquainted with a community …
Midwest Tribe Partners with Historical Nemesis to Halt Sacred Plant’s Decline
In "The future of wild rice may depend on an unlikely alliance," published in collaboration with The Nation, Nancy Averett explains that when University of Minnesota researcher Crystal Ng won a grant to study wild rice in Ojibwe waters, tribal …
Why California’s Farmworkers are in a Food Crisis
In "Extreme weather means less food for California's farmworkers," published in collaboration with WBUR's Here and Now, Teresa Cotsirilos explains that farmworkers who harvest the nation’s food are paid so little that they can’t always afford to eat. Now extreme …
FERN Digs Deep into GMO Corn Controversy
As Lourdes Medrano explains in "The deep roots of Mexico’s trade dispute with U.S. over GMO corn," the history of the current dispute between Mexico and the U.S. over genetically modified corn has roots much deeper than the presidential decree …
America’s Toxic Food Fight
In "How food became a weapon in America's culture war," a collaboration with The Nation, Brent Cunningham points to how food has been used as a front in the nation’s ongoing culture war, a proxy for larger issues of character, …
FERN Looks at Benefits of Free School Lunch Programs
The fight to keep school lunch free has largely shifted in California, Colorado, and Maine. But as Bridget Huber explains in "Why universal free school meals matter," published in collaboration with Mother Jones, in most of the country, cafeterias have …
Why Food-Security and Water-Security Go Together
Do you drink your tap water? Is it potable and ample? Can you cook food with it, and use it to mix infant formula and cereal? In "Why America’s food-security crisis is a water-security crisis, too," Lela Nargi discusses how …
FERN Looks at Importance of Seed-Saving
In "What seed-saving can tell us about the end of the world," a collaboration with Orion, Kea Krause explores the ancient practice of seed-saving, which appeared to become popular once again during the pandemic. Kea explains that as climate change …
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 …
FERN Partners with the Longest-Running Latino Radio Program
In April 2014 we established an important partnership with Latino USA, which airs on 141 NPR stations nationwide, with a wonderful story about a woman who singlehandedly changed the game on the sprawling and complex problem of food waste. Reporter Lisa Morehouse traveled to Nogales, …
We Look at the Reality of a Rapidly Approaching ‘Hunger Cliff’
In “With emergency SNAP benefits ending, a ‘hunger cliff’ looms,” published with Mother Jones, Bridget Huber details how anti-hunger advocates worry that the nation may be approaching a “hunger cliff,” as emergency SNAP benefits are ending even as demand at …
We Show How Local Food-Delivery Apps Faced Off with Big Tech
In “Big Tech’s food-delivery apps face a grassroots revolt,” published with Mother Jones, Dean Kuipers explains how restaurants got fed up with the exorbitant fees and other aggressive tactics from food-delivery apps like Grubhub and Uber Eats. So they took …
We Scrutinize the Science Behind Gluten’s Hype
In “Unraveling The Gluten-Free Trend,” published in EatingWell magazine in May 2014, FERN editor-in-chief Sam Fromartz investigates the science and controversy behind the “gluten-free” craze. He draws on the latest medical research to explain what we really know about gluten’s health effects, and how much …
FERN Asks Tough Questions About Urban Ag
In “Urban Farming Is Booming, But What Does It Really Yield?” reporter Elizabeth Royte explored whether community gardens and rooftop farms can really play a role in feeding our burgeoning population. With the help of leading researchers and growers across …
Critical Investigation Into a “Sacred Cow” of the Food Movement
One of our biggest hits of 2014 was also one of our most-important pieces, in terms of challenging conventional wisdom and taking on the food-reform movement’s sacred cows in a critical but constructive way. In November 2014, Slate published Tracie McMillan’s provocative …
The New Yorker Follows Our Reporting on Food Stamps
In August 2013, Slate (10 million monthly readers) published “SNAP Judgment,” in which reporter Jane Black explained why anti-hunger groups were protesting limitations on junk food purchased with SNAP, or food stamps. The story was subsequently syndicated to other print and online …
FERN Visualizes A Reformed American Diet
In September 2013 we published an infographic, based on new data, which showed how 127,000 fewer people would die of heart disease, and the nation would save $17 billion in medical costs, if Americans ate the recommended 4 1/2 cups of …
FERN grabbed the attention of policy makers when we broke the story on SNAP benefits being canceled at farmers markets
Jane Black and Leah Douglas, in a FERN collaboration with The Washington Post, broke news on how an electronic payment system for SNAP benefits at farmers markets was floundering. A key vendor in this chain overseen by the USDA was about to …
Our Reporting on Nutrition and Food Access
FERN Series