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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While the FDA and EPA look away, noxious fumes from fake butter wreck lungs
Back in May, I drew attention to the remarkable fact that food-industry workers are literally dying from exposure to a key ingredient in microwave popcorn. The food additive diacetyl (responsible for that "buttery note" in nuked popcorn and also in margarine) emits a noxious fume when heated up — one that can literally destroy people’s […]
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‘Extreme localism’ in the New Yorker
Edible Media takes an occasional look at interesting or deplorable food journalism. Whatever else it has accomplished, the local-food movement has certainly conquered the appetites of New York’s influential food-media editors. Following the lead of Gourmet, glossy mags like Food & Wine and Bon Appetit now offer regular paeans to place-based eating. The New York […]
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Huge organic dairy farm skirted organic rules, agrees to behave
One of America’s largest organic dairies has agreed to alter its operations to comply with national organic standards after the U.S. Department of Agriculture threatened to remove its certification for skirting the rules. Aurora Organic Dairy, which sells milk under the label High Meadows and also makes milk for private-label brands including Wild Oats and […]
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Driving Us to Vegetarianism
Animal-rights groups say meat-eating worse for climate than driving With which instrument do you cause more greenhouse-gas emissions: your car key or your fork? It’s a question asked in an advertising campaign by the Humane Society, which, along with other big animal-rights groups, is striving to open consumers’ eyes to an oft-overlooked connection: the climatic […]
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… for real
It sounds like an unappetizing combination, I know, but it's for real: http://www.shrimp-petrofest.org/
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USDA brings the enforcement hammer down on nation’s largest organic dairy producer
This, fresh from the Cornucopia Institute, is big news: Tonight at 7:20 p.m. EST, August 29, the USDA issued an emergency news release announcing that they had sent a Letter of Revocation to the Aurora Organic Dairy. In lieu of revoking Aurora’s organic certification, the Agency has instead entered into a consent agreement requiring the […]
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Grass Backwards
Carbon dioxide contributing to un-grassing of grassland, says new study Thanks in part to rising levels of carbon dioxide, the world’s grasslands are turning into woody shrublands, says a new study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. When researchers artificially doubled CO2 levels over sections of the Colorado plains, they observed a fortyfold increase in […]
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Umbra on singles and CSAs
Hi Umbra! I’ve held back from joining a CSA because 1) I live alone and am worried about wasting food, and 2) I’m worried I’ll get so much oddball stuff, especially in the winter, that I won’t know what to do with it. I figure I can overcome No. 1 by seeking out some sufficiently […]
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Radiation breeding of plants is way better than it sounds
Think two wrongs don’t make a right? Meet radiation breeding, a method of modifying crops by zapping them with gamma rays. While “radiation” and “modify” are unpleasant words to many, “I’m not doing anything different from what nature does. I’m not using anything that was not in the genetic material itself,” says plant breeder Pierre […]
