Bite Podcast’s New Series Explores How Climate Change Is Transforming Dinner
Mother Jones illustration; Getty Climate change has already started to unleash its fury, from megastorms to flooding to ravenous fires. But the way many people will first experience this phenomenon is in the quiet of their homes—at the dinner table. As Amanda Little, author of The Fate of Food: What We’ll Eat in a Bigger,…
This Ancient Fruit Holds Secrets for How to Farm in Climate Change
Heiko Wolfraum/dpa/AP Cloverleaf Farm, a small produce operation in Davis, California, managed to do okay during the extreme drought that lasted from 2012 to 2016. But in the first wet year after the long dry period, the farm lost its entire apricot crop to disease—$40,000 to $50,000 down the drain. Researchers predict that as climate…
That Viral Study About Red Meat Left Out The Most Important Part
gilaxia/iStock/Getty Americans consume, on average, more than a half a pound of meat per day—more than our counterparts in any other country. Should we eat less? A panel of 14 researchers from seven countries—all of whom claim to receive no meat-industry funding—just produced a study finding no compelling reason to cut back. There’s a catch,…
Farmers and Ranchers Know What Climate Change Feels Like. They Just Wrote Congress Demanding Action.
Farmer Leah Penniman is one of a coalition of 10,000 farmers and ranchers who sent a letter to Congress in support of a Green New Deal resolution.Jamel Mosely-Mel A coalition that unites farmers and ranchers behind the Green New Deal hopes to set a new tone for how the agriculture sector relates to policy solutions…
The Bizarre Trump-Fueled Backlash to Healthy School Lunches
Party of One Studio Back in 2010, then–first lady Michelle Obama launched a nefarious scheme to turn school cafeterias into liberal indoctrination zones. Or at least that’s how Obama’s right-wing opponents portrayed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, a law she spearheaded that gave the National School Lunch Program its first nutritional update in more than…
A Big New Study Finds Bee-Killing Pesticides Aren’t Even Worth it for Soybean Farmers
Dzophoto/iStock/Getty Images Ever year, farmers in the United States devote at least 80 million acres, a combined landmass three-quarters the size of California, to soybeans. At least half the crop comes from proprietary seeds coated with insecticides and fungicides. These chemicals infuse the plants as they emerge, protecting them from damage by insects and fungal…