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.

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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

  • Why playing with your food is serious business

    Sometimes, you just want to get your hands on some food and goof around. Don’t worry; it just means you’re human.  Sometimes, I cook when I’m hungry. Then there are those times I find myself heading into the kitchen with a strong drive for … well … nothing in particular. And I’m not even hungry. […]

    Carol Deppe Food

  • Killing a bison and eating it raw [VIDEO]

    My vegetarian girlfriend/camera operator refuses to watch this week’s video, so I won’t be insulted if you skip over it. I’ll be more impressed, though, if you watch. The slaughter is followed by a recipe for bison tartare. When you’ve seen the farm, and the butchering process, raw is a non-issue. For those of you […]

    Daniel Klein Food

  • Ask Umbra Book Club: The history of ‘adulterated’ food and gross-food urban legends

    Give us this day our daily bread, as long as we know what went into it.Photo: LaCheryl PorterDearest readers, Last week, we kicked off our discussion of Bill Bryson’s At Home: A Short History of Private Life. You can catch up here. Let’s move our conversation into what is perhaps the heart of a house: […]

    Ask Umbra® Agriculture

  • Why is Trader Joe’s short-changing farmworker justice?

    Hey Trader Joe’s: respect the people who harvest the food you sell. Photo: Scott RobertsonOver the past two decades, Trader Joe’s has grown rapidly as bargain-hunting foodies swarmed into its outlets. The chain now runs more than 350 stores with sales topping $8 billion in 2009. The secret to its dazzling success? Fortune magazine describes […]

    Sean Sellers Agriculture

  • Victims of tainted peanut butter outbreak demand criminal charges

    Peanut Corporation of America execs knowingly sent out tainted peanut butter — that eventually killed people. Will they pay the price? Last Friday, I spoke at the Government Accountability Project Food Integrity Campaign conference. During the lunch break, food safety attorney and advocate Bill Marler hosted a press event with 10 family members of victims […]

    Michele Simon Food

  • Just how bad is aspartame?

    Aspartame in artificially blackened water — tasty.Photo: William HartzWhen I wrote about diet soda and and its health effects last week, I didn’t expect much of a reaction. I guess in the back of my mind, I was thinking, people still drink that stuff? Well, they do — by the bucketful. Overall, U.S. soda consumption […]

    Tom Philpott Food

  • With global grain prices surging, corn ethanol looking dumber than ever

    There’s nothing green about wasting corn for ethanol.Grist has been tracking rising food prices for some time — and we’re not the only ones. New York Times columnist and Nobel economist Paul Krugman has been writing on the subject, including some interesting analysis of the interaction of climate risk and food prices. Here’s a key […]

    Tom Laskawy Agriculture

  • Turning cows into steaks: inside a mid-scale slaughterhouse [VIDEO]

    Photo: Kate SommersThere are many levels of animal eaters, farmers, and processors in this country. Even among the green-minded, we have passionate vegans and rampant paleo-style carnivores. There are those who support large farms for their efficiency, and those who want every farm to have only an acre of produce, a cow, and five chickens. […]

    Daniel Klein Agriculture

  • Dear Obamas: Let’s move … on food policy reform

    Gardening is great, but food policy reform is even better.Photo: The White HouseMichelle Obama recently celebrated the first anniversary of her Let’s Move campaign to inspire healthier eating. But as the popular face of the Obama administration’s advocacy for healthy, nutritious food, the first lady has conveniently side-stepped several critical consumer food issues like organics, genetically […]

    Wenonah Hauter Food

  • Still drinking diet soda? Don’t be a fashion victim!

    Skinny Diet Pepsi: the latest fashion faux pas.At the just-launched Fashion Week in Manhattan, supermodels won’t just be sashaying down runways in mind-boggling frocks. They’ll also be accessorized with a new invention from Pepsi Co. — the “skinny can,” pictured at right, which (according to a press release) will “make its debut” in the cool […]

    Tom Philpott Food