Commentary

A small scale crab fisherman drops a crab into the boat. (Photo credit: Matt Porteus, Getty Images)

Op-ed: Pacific Seafood Controls the Dungeness Crab Market, but Small Fishermen Are Fighting Back

July 11, 2023

A lawsuit in Northern California accuses Pacific Seafood of abusing its power as the dominant West Coast crab processor to lock in low prices and delay the season.

Op-Ed: Food Industry Giants Must Fix Their Plastic Pollution

By Ashka Naik

July 6, 2023

Plastic bottles for recycling are seen at a junkshop on April 11, 2023 in Manila, Philippines. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

Op-ed: Saving This Fish Means Saving Our Tribe’s Future

By Ron Montez Sr. and Jeanine Pfeiffer

June 28, 2023

Ron Montez Sr. stands at an impassible culvert on Adobe Creek, singing to hitch pooling in the waters below. (Photo credit: Jeanine Pfeiffer)

Op-ed: Black Women, Architects of the American Kitchen, Deserve a Rightful Place in the Sun

By Mecca Bos

May 24, 2023

A group of Black women lead a cooking class; a banner above the chalkboard reads,

Op-ed: How Federal Dollars Can Help Ease the Rural Water Crisis

By Michael Prado and Celina Mahabir

May 16, 2023

A resident of Porterville, California, carries a case of bottled water for use at home. (Photo credit: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images)

Op-ed: We Need a New Farm Bill—for My Iowa Farm and Beyond

By Wendy Johnson

April 5, 2023

Wendy Johnson at Jóia Food Farm in Charles City, Iowa (Photo credit: Tom Rafalovich (left) and Wendy Johnson (right).

Op-ed: Maryland’s New Governor Has His Sights Set on Ending Food Insecurity

By Anthony Nicome

February 2, 2023

Op-ed: Want an Agtech Revolution? Center Farmworkers’ Expertise

By Erik Nicholson and Alexia Estrada

January 23, 2023

Op-ed: Some Regenerative Farms Are Weathering California’s Unprecedented Rainfall

By Ryan Peterson

January 13, 2023

SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 09: In an aerial view, water floods a vineyard on January 09, 2023 in Santa Rosa, California. The San Francisco Bay Area and much of Northern California continues to get drenched by powerful atmospheric river events that have brought high winds and flooding rains. The storms have toppled trees, flooded roads and cut power to tens of thousands. Storms are lined up over the Pacific Ocean and are expected to bring more rain and wind through the end of the week. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Our Best Op-eds and Commentary of 2022

By The Civil Eats Editors

December 29, 2022

Indian farmers shout anti-government slogans during a protest against new farm laws in December 2020. (Photo by Yawar Nazir/Getty Images)

Op-ed: Amid Academic Strikes, UC Students Liberated Their Cafeterias

By Ellen O'Connell Whittet

December 16, 2022

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 15: Union academic workers and supporters march and picket at the UCLA campus amid a statewide strike by nearly 48,000 University of California unionized workers on November 15, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. The strikers are calling for improved wages and benefits at the 10 UC public university campuses across California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Op-ed: Prison Food Is Terrible, and the Eating Experience Inside Makes it Worse

By Chandra Bozelko

December 8, 2022

Op-ed: I’m a Restaurant Worker, Not a Robot

By Caitlin Hart

October 28, 2022

Op-ed: Is There Plastic in Your Soda? Beverage Companies Must Go Beyond Recycling

By Roopa Krithivasan

September 22, 2022

a worker stands in front of a massive pile of plastic bottles destined to be recycled

Op-ed: Catch Shares Enable Wealthy Landlords to Gobble Up Local Fisheries

By Ryan Bradley

August 31, 2022

SAN FRANCISCO - OCTOBER 17: Fresh Red Snapper lies on ice at the San Francisco Fish Company October 17, 2006 in San Francisco, California. A study by the Institute of Medicine found that eating fresh seafood twice a week is healthy for your heart and may reduce the risk of heart disease. The study also says that eating fish twice a week also outweighs the risk of exposure to mercury and other dangerous contaminants. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Op-ed: Reconnecting Communities Separated by Freeways Could Fight Food Insecurity

By Anthony Nicome

August 25, 2022

The Claiborne Expressway overpass in the Tremé neighborhood. (Photo CC-licensed by the Congress for the New Urbanism)

Op-ed: It’s Time to End the Poultry Industry’s Exploitative Contracts

By Joe Maxwell

August 16, 2022

A contract chicken farmer raises chickens under the tournament system

Op-ed: The End of Roe v. Wade Makes Reproductive Health Even Tougher for Farmworkers

By Mily Treviño-Sauceda

August 12, 2022

Op-ed: The Loss of My Family’s Farm Is a Loss for California’s Japanese Agricultural Legacy

By Caroline Hatano

August 11, 2022

Op-ed: Farmworkers Face Stress and Depression. The Pandemic Made It Worse.

By Amy Quandt and Luis Flores

July 28, 2022

Migrant farm laborers have their temperature checked in King City, California. (Photo credit: Brent Stirton, Getty Images)

Op-ed: To Fight the Drought, Cities Should Pay Farmers to Get Smarter About Irrigation

By Robert Glennon, The Conversation

July 14, 2022

A farm worker carries an irrigation pipe on November 17, 2016 in San Luis, Arizona. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Op-ed: With Food Prices on the Rise, Is a ‘Bean New Deal’ the Answer?

By Matthew Miles Goodrich, The Nation

July 1, 2022

A man working in the garden planting beans and legumes

Op-Ed: Why White Farmers Should Fight for Black Farmer Debt Relief

By Jim Goodman

June 17, 2022

Lateef Dowdell watches the sunrise from what remains of land once belonging to his uncle Gil Alexander, who was the last active Black farmer in the community of Nicodemus, Kansas. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Op-ed: I’m a Fast Food Worker. Here’s Why I’m Striking for Industrywide Reform

By Maria Bernal

June 9, 2022

Op-ed: East Buffalo Needs Community-Driven Structural Investments, Not Fly-In, Fly-Out Charity

By The Food Equity Scholars, U.B. Food Lab

May 24, 2022

Mourners light candles at a makeshift memorial outside of Tops market on May 16, 2022 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)