Food + Policy

A tractor spraying paraquat on the Cox ranch. (Photo courtesy of Shirley Cox)

Paraquat, the Deadliest Chemical in US Agriculture, Goes on Trial

March 22, 2023

Amid lawsuits filed by thousands of farmers linking the herbicide to Parkinson’s disease, the EPA is reconsidering its analysis of paraquat’s risks.

This Farm Bill Really Matters. We Explain Why.

March 20, 2023

a trio of illustrations showing a black farmer, corn growing in front of the US Capitol Building, and a white woman with a baby paying for groceries with a SNAP-enabled card

Supreme Court Case Could Reshape Indigenous Water Rights in the Southwest

By Virginia Gewin

March 15, 2023

A close-up view of center-pivot irrigation watering corn on NAPI farmland. (Photo courtesy of NAPI)

All Eyes on California as Fast-Food Worker Rights Land on the 2024 Ballot

March 14, 2023

Fast-food workers and activists protest McDonald's labor practices outside a McDonald's restaurant on March 18, 2014 in Oakland, California. (Photo credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Alaska’s Climate-Driven Fisheries Collapse Is Devastating Indigenous Communities

March 13, 2023

An Alaskan king crab trap and fishing vessel.

Farmers March for Urgent Climate Action in DC

March 9, 2023

The Rally for Resilience marches to the U.S. Capitol building. Signs at the front read

How the Long Shadow of Racism at USDA Impacts Black Farmers in Arkansas—and Beyond

By Wesley Brown

March 8, 2023

Arkansas farmer Clem Edmonds sits on his riding mower in Cotton Plant, Arkansas. (Photo by Wesley Brown)

After Centuries of Exploitation, Will Indigenous Communities in Biodiversity Hotspots Finally Get Their Due?

By Mark Schapiro

March 7, 2023

Sailing in a wooden boat on the Amazon river in Peru. An indigenous girl sitting on the front of the boat whilst sailing down the river.

School Food Chefs Learn to Plot Healthier Menus With a New Fellowship

By Anne Marshall-Chalmers

March 6, 2023

A trio of school chefs working in the kitchen as part of the Healthy School Food Pathways program. (Photos courtesy of the Chef Ann Foundation)

Forging Pathways to Land Access for BIPOC Farmers in Georgia

By Oisakhose Aghomo

March 2, 2023

Johanna Willingham (left), who manages Georgia FarmLink on behalf of ALT, and Jean Young (right), the first incubator farmer at ALT’s Williams Farm Incubator Program, walk the greenhouse at Williams Farm. (Photo credit: Oisakhose Aghomo)

Pay-What-You-Can Farm Stands Feed Communities Against Tough Odds

By Gabriel Pietrorazio

March 1, 2023

Marc James. (Photo by Gabriel Pietrorazio)

As the US Pressures Mexico to Import GM Corn, Can It Preserve Its Traditional Varieties?

February 23, 2023

A Mexican farmer holds a basket of corn to sell.

Congress Killed a Bill to Give Farmworkers a Path to Citizenship. What Comes Next?

February 22, 2023

A farmworker in a broccoli field in Calexico, California. (Photo credit: Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)

Farmworkers Finally Won Overtime Pay. Now the Industry Wants to Repeal It.

February 21, 2023

Farm workers harvest zucchini on the Sam Accursio & Son's Farm in Florida City, Florida. (Photo credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Indigenous Foodways Are the Focus in a Growing Number of Classrooms

By Renata Birkenbuel

February 15, 2023

Indigenous and non-native Great Falls students and staff gather around hides of six bison, including a freshly killed bison, as Indian Education Director Dugan Coburn (in blanket coat) demonstrates skinning the bison and honoring its life with thanks with a sage-burning and pipe prayer. The sage smudge burns away any bad energy. Sweetgrass burning welcomes the good. (Photo credit: Great Falls Public Schools)

The Edges Matter: Hedgerows Are Bringing Life Back to Farms

By Anne Marshall-Chalmers

February 14, 2023

Calls Grow for a Farm Bill that Serves ‘All of Us, Not Just Corporations’

February 8, 2023

A farmer of color tends crops on his diversified farm in hopes of getting more support from the farm bill in 2023

Can Discount Grocer Lidl Offer Better Food Access in DC’s Ward 7?

By Ciara O'Brien

February 6, 2023

The exterior of the new Lidl food market in Washington, DC. (Photo credit: Ciara O'Brien)

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

By Anthony Nicome

February 2, 2023

Comic: Adapting Corn for Tortillas—and New Markets—in the Pacific Northwest

By Nhatt Nichols

February 1, 2023

A two-panel comic of a test farm hoop house growing corn and cactus and other crops on the left, with chef lisette garay working in her restaurant kitchen on the right.

A Contested Election Is Fracturing a Farmworkers’ Union

January 30, 2023

Leticia Zavala (left) gives a speech in an effort to unseat the Farm Labor Organizing Committee's current and only president Baldemar Velasquez (right). (Photo credit: Grey Moran)

These Chicago Urban Farmers Are Growing Local Food in the Wake of Steel Industry Pollution

January 26, 2023

Xavier “X” Colon, a young person with long braided black hair, a baseball cap, and a bright orange hi-visibility shirt, stands in the fields at South Chicago Farm. (Photo by Paul Gordon)

The Field Report: The Future of Organic Food Is Taking Shape at the USDA—and Beyond

January 25, 2023

A grower at City Roots Farm in Columbia, S.C., waters the microgreens at the family-owned local organic vegetable farm.

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

By Erik Nicholson and Alexia Estrada

January 23, 2023

For Some Food Professionals, COVID Has Cast a Long Shadow on Their Senses

By Lindsay Herring

January 19, 2023

A food professional with long covid smells coffee to overcome anosmia and parosmia