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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Tell us your favorite local, sustainable sandwich shops
A couple of weeks ago, I penned a long tribute to the sandwich–specifically, locally owned sandwich shops that combine a high degree of cooking skill with a zeal for great ingredients from local farmers and producers. To me, these shops represent a nexus that joins skilled cooks, the surrounding farm community, and a broad swath […]
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Not aging fast enough? Drink a soda!
American as apple pie. But how bad for us is soda?Hoo boy. The American Beverage Association isn’t going to like this news one bit. Food companies now add significant amounts of phosphates to soda and other processed foods. And now researchers have found evidence that phosphates may accelerate aging (via Science Daily): High phosphate levels […]
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Cuba’s urban-ag revival offers limited lessons
Cuba’s flourishing urban agriculture comes with a strong dose of government control. This post originally appeared on Civil Eats. Many of us in the U.S. sustainable-food movement idolize Cuba’s experience in building a vibrant urban-farming sector. This idealization is due to the lack of information available on the Cuban system, as caused by the travel […]
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LaDonna Redmond
Art: Nat Damm LaDonna Redmond President, Institute for Community Resource Development; Founder, Graffiti and Grub Chicago, Ill. A decade ago, LaDonna Redmond found that her infant son had an array of food allergies. After doing research, she concluded the best diet for her family was organic whole foods. Trouble was, in her west Chicago neighborhood, […]
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Elena Rivellino and Dennis Stein
Art: Nat Damm Elena Rivellino and Dennis Stein Owners, Sea Rocket Bistro San Diego, Calif. At their Sea Rocket Bistro in San Diego, Elena Rivellino, 36, and Dennis Stein, 34, combine two of our favorite restaurant trends: budget-priced organic/local/gourmet and a devotion to sustainable seafood. They source their food exclusively from Southern California and Baja fisherpeople […]
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EPA intern offends sensitive meat-industry souls
Ironically enough, the people who cram animals together and stuff them full of dodgy feed are really, really sensitive. So please don’t say anything critical about meat.An iron-clad rule for government bureaucrats of all ranks: thou shalt not question the American habit of eating more than a half pound of meat per day. The folks […]
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Jamie Oliver on parents, nuggets, ‘luminous drinks,’ and school lunches
“Parents can be the most positive, powerful force in a country or they can be disgusting, backstabbing traitors. When little Johnny comes home and says, ‘I didn’t get my nugget today,’ it’s wrong to say ‘Oh, all right, darling,’ and give him some [expletive] horrible Lunchable and a pack of potato chips and a luminous […]
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Foreign Policy mag spotlights ‘peak phosphorous’
Where your food comes from: a phosphate mine in Florida run by the fertilizer giant Mosaic. Mosaic is two-thirds owned by Cargill, the globe’s largest agribusiness company, with interests in meat, feed, biofuels, and more. Photo: Susan Dracket, via FlickrAs Grist’s recent special series showed, our reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer has serious ecological, geopolitical, […]
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Coked-out Coca-Colla [sic]
High-fructose corn syrup in soda? Bad. Cocaine in soda? Depends on whom you ask. We all know Coca-Cola used to contain trace amounts of the narcotic back in the day, but, according to the UK Guardian via Fast Company, Bolivia’s kicking it old school with its coca-leaf containing soda, Coca-Colla (note the second L—I smell […]
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Why it matters that the FDA is beating USDA for control of food system
Small-scale food producers and farmers have been vocal about their concerns that the Senate will pass highly burdensome food-safety legislation. Equally worried, but much less vocal, is the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It frets over major gains by its arch-rival, the U.S. food and Drug Administration, over local food producers and small farms. USDA is […]
