Climate Food and Agriculture
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.
Featured
The people who feed America are going hungry
Climate change is escalating a national crisis, leaving farmworkers with empty plates and mounting costs.
Latest Articles
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USDA removes major barrier to Michelle Obama's salad-bar initiative
In response to an inquiry from Grist, the USDA has clarified that it will not oppose plans by a new public-private partnership, Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools, to install 6,000 salad bars in U.S. school cafeterias -- as long as they have a kid-sized sneeze guard.
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Ethanol is dead; all hail plant-based synthetic gasoline! [PODCAST]
In my latest podcast, I talk to Jim Thomas of ETC Group, my go-to source for cutting-edge information on the machinations of global agribusiness. He blew my mind on the topic of ethanol and the "new biomass economy."
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California sacrifices farm workers in favor of strawberries
California has approved the use of methyl iodide, a powerful neurotoxic pesticide that will affect those who harvest strawberries far more than those who eat them. How does that make you feel?
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Cherry guy will do his part to keep Brooklyn bees from turning red
The owner of a maraschino cherry factory is going to do what he can to keep neighborhood bees out of the sticky-sweet corn syrup they love too much.
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Congress passes the school lunch bill, but there's less to it than meets the eye
The House finally joined the Senate in passing child nutrition legislation. Sustainable-food advocates are cheering, but the new law won't transform the dismal nature of school lunches.
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Jon Stewart smacks Glenn Beck over food safety bill
The Daily Show comedian praises the Senate for passing (well, almost) the food safety bill, and mocks Fox for FDA fear-mongering. I wonder, maybe Glenn Beck doesn't want the FDA poking around in his business?
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Big Poultry ramps up its assault on the Chesapeake
You know how gigantic factory farms raise tens of millions of chickens a year on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, befowling what was once a dramatically productive wild ecosystem? Well, according to Tyson and Perdue execs, it's high time to set up hundreds more poultry factories there.
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Boulder rallies around improving its schools' food
Whether it's volunteering in the schools or writing checks to pay for kitchen equipment and training, Boulder residents have stepped up to make their school food revolution happen.
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Stunning new tool maps out factory farms near you
Food & Water Watch has launched a spectacular visual tool for illuminating the meat industry's shady dominance of the U.S. landscape. Try it out -- I did!
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USDA chief visits with Stephen Colbert, brings cheese
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack makes an appearance on the Colbert Report, parries the comedian's pointed policy questions, and delivers a strangely familiar cheese sculpture.
