FERN’s partnership on the second issue of Switchyard, a new literary publication from the University of Tulsa, is a cause for celebration. It marks the first time that FERN has co-published an entire issue of a magazine, a rare opportunity to highlight the work that we do. Rarer still is the occasion to see so much space, care, and attention given to writing, reporting, and thought about food.

The print edition of Switchyard includes an opening essay by its editor, Ted Genoways, a longtime FERN contributor and a fitting partner for this project. It is worth quoting, to describe the ambitions of this issue and because it articulates so much of what we hope to do at FERN:

“[T]o gather a diverse group of writers … who could collectively look back at the effects of recent years but also look forward, imagining how we might rethink our relationship to food, the environment, to our collective health, and to the future of our warming planet.”

We hope you will read and share these stories.

Theodore Ross, Editor-in-Chief, FERN