Climate Food and Agriculture

The Counter
Amelia K. Bates / Grist
Special Series

Climate + Food and Agriculture

EDITOR’S NOTE

Grist has acquired the archive and brand assets of The Counter, a decorated nonprofit food and agriculture publication that we long admired, but that sadly ceased publishing in May of 2022.

The Counter had hit on a rich vein to report on, and we’re excited to not only ensure the work of the staffers and contractors of that publication is available for posterity, but to build on it. So we’re relaunching The Counter as a food and agriculture vertical within Grist, continuing their smart and provocative reporting on food systems, specifically where it intersects with climate and environmental issues. We’ve also hired two amazing new reporters to make our plan a reality.

Being back on the food and agriculture beat in a big way is critical to Grist’s mission to lead the conversation, highlight climate solutions, and uncover environmental injustices. What we eat and how it’s produced is one of the easiest entry points into the wider climate conversation. And from this point of view, climate change literally transforms into a kitchen table issue.

READ MORE

Featured

Grist / Eva Marie Uzcategui / The Washington Post via Getty Images; Joe Raedle / Getty Images; Getty Images
Grist / Eva Marie Uzcategui / The Washington Post via Getty Images; Joe Raedle / Getty Images; Getty Images

The people who feed America are going hungry

Climate change is escalating a national crisis, leaving farmworkers with empty plates and mounting costs.

Ayurella Horn-Muller Staff Writer

Latest Articles

  • FDA fights fish fraud

    Not only is eating fish not the most sustainable of food choices, it's likely a rip-off. If you're eating a pricey fish like cod or salmon, there's more than a one in five chance that it's something much cheaper. The FDA, though, is developing a new regulatory program to fight fish fraud. The agency is […]

    Sarah Laskow Food

  • Food Studies: What’s up with gluten?

    Food Studies features the voices of volunteer student bloggers from a variety of different food- and agriculture-related programs at universities around the world. You can explore the full series here. Gluten is what makes bread dought elastic enough to risePhoto: Three Points KitchenIt’s clear that Americans have an obsession with gluten. Just begin typing the […]

    Mitchell Mattes Food

  • An aging rust belt town becomes a laboratory for sustainability

    Environmental Studies professor David OrrPhoto: Lisa DeJongThis story is the first of two pieces excerpted from a feature story in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Read part 2 here and the full Chronicle story here. Oberlin, Ohio — This northern Ohio college town is barely a blip on a map, far away from national centers […]

    Scott Carlson Food

  • Don’t bug me, I’m eating [VIDEO]

    Join us on a bug hunt with David Gracer, an entomophagy (bug eating) expert who makes a pretty good case for making wider culinary use of insects. In a world of factory farms and genetically modified foods, catching your own eight-legged friends might just be the sensible way to go. And chances are, you eat […]

    Daniel Klein Food

  • Map shows how hard it is to escape McDonald’s

    Scientist and data visualization expert Stephen von Worley got curious how far it was possible to get from "our world of generic convenience." So he made up this map of the U.S., color-coded by distance to the nearest McDonald's. Conclusion: The fast food giant is basically breathing down your neck anywhere east of the Mississippi, […]

    Jess Zimmerman Food

  • Killing the competition: Meat industry reform takes a blow

    Four companies currently control 90 percent of all beef processing in the U.S. Photo: Compassion in World FarmingOne of the least-discussed but most promising attempts at food system reform was dealt a serious blow the other day. The USDA itself eviscerated its proposed reform to a set of rules which would have given a government […]

    Tom Laskawy Agriculture

  • Food Studies: Talking about race in school gardens

    Food Studies features the voices of volunteer student bloggers from a variety of different food- and agriculture-related programs at universities around the world. You can explore the full series here. A sign at the Edible Schoolyard“This is some slavery shit.” It was a sunny August morning, and we were hoeing, loosening up the dirt in […]

    Claire Stanford Food

  • Ethanol is making crap food more expensive than ever

    If you're a fan of Uno's pizza, O'Charley's, White Castle, or, god forbid, P.F. Chang's, you have only our government's stubborn love of ethanol subsidies to blame for the increasing cost of your favorite meals, report the gumshoes at Nation's Restaurant News. If you’re not a fan, though, don’t go celebrating with a delicious home-cooked […]

    Christopher Mims Agriculture

  • Michael Pollan and Maira Kalman on Food Rules [VIDEO]

    The latest, expanded edition of Michael Pollan’s book Food Rules has been brought to life by the illustrations of artist Maira Kalman. Pollan told Sarah Henry in a recent interview: I wanted to work on a more visual version of Food Rules to reach more people and continue the conversation that the first edition started. My wife and […]

    Grist staff Food

  • Incredible shrinking farmland

    Photo: Alicia Guy Joel Huesby comes from a long line of conventional farmers, but in 1994, he had what he calls an epiphany that led him to switch to organic farming. He’s of the mind that we’ll drive ourselves to extinction if we drive our farmlands that way first. “Conventional commodity agriculture, to my way […]

    Claire Thompson Agriculture