What We Do
The Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN) is the first independent, nonprofit news organization that produces award-winning journalism on food, agriculture, and environmental health through partnerships with national and regional media outlets in text, audio, and video. FERN seeks to make the food system more sustainable and equitable through powerful journalism and storytelling.
At FERN, we report stories at the intersection of food and the environment which span the length of the national and global food supply system, from a farm or feedlot on one end to a plate or bowl on the other. Our journalism grapples with the consequences of how we produce our food, its role in society, what we choose to eat, and why.
FERN has always existed to “fill the gaps” in a media world that has increasingly lacked the capacity to cover important stories without strategic, financial, and editorial support from outside sources. It is from these gaps that FERN’s partnership model emerged. In that environment, the value that FERN provides in editorial expertise and financial support to existing outlets is self-evident.
FERN is a news organization and not a news outlet. That means that publishing is our expertise but not our purpose. Our website, social media outreach, audio and video platform, and newsletters – all of FERN’s highest-quality, independent publishing infrastructure – does not seek an audience as a means to itself but to engage with and attract partners. It is through the larger audiences of those partners that our journalism has the greatest impact. That is why at FERN, unlike conventional publishers, we don’t only ask ourselves, “How can we grow the audience for our journalism?” Instead we work with our partners to sustain and grow their audiences so that our work can reach far beyond the audience that is already passionate about FERN’s issues. We have done this since our founding. It has been the core of our stability for more than a decade.
The Food & Environment Reporting Network is based in New York City. It was founded in September 2010 by an initial team that included Samuel Fromartz, Tom Laskawy, Naomi Starkman, and Paula Crossfield. It began operations in January 2011.
We are funded through the generous support of our donors and current foundation supporters include The Schmidt Family Foundation, McKnight Foundation, the Woodcock Foundation, the BAND Foundation, the Maine Community Foundation, and Joyce and Irving Goldman Foundation.
If you would like to donate, you can do so here.
See our Staff and Board members bios.
We maintain a Code of Ethics for our reporters and staff.
Our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use are also available for review.
Annual Report
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
Recent 990s
FY2023
FY2022
FY2021
FY2020
FY2019*
2018
2017
2016
2015
Audited Financial Statement
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019*
Note: Audited financials are including in the Annual Reports for years 2012-2018.
*Short year/change in accounting period