The Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN)

1 week ago | thefern.org | Brent Cunningham

By Brent CunninghamU.S. farmers die by suicide at three and a half times the national rate. Their jobs are difficult, dangerous, and precarious, at the mercy of increasingly volatile weather and the whims of markets and politics. Addressing the problem of mental health in farm country has proven difficult, in part because many farmers are loath to acknowledge it, wary of the stigma and tied to a culture of quiet coping.

1 week ago | thefern.org | Brent Cunningham

“Kaila Anderson stands in front of some photos in the farmhouse where she grew up, near the tiny town of Sabetha, in the northeast corner of Kansas. Outside, frozen February fields of wheat, hay and corn stubble repeat across the rolling hills. This agrarian landscape inspired a breakthrough she made four years ago that now promises to help farmers struggling with their mental health,” writes Dean Kuipers.

2 weeks ago | thefern.org | Maryn McKenna

The virus' largely unchecked spread creates opportunities for it to mutate and become a public health emergency By This Story’s Impact more than 11.4 million subscribers across platforms This article was produced in collaboration with The New York Times.

2 weeks ago | thefern.org | Tom Laskawy

By Tom LaskawyFERN is in a phase of growth and evolution to meet the changing media landscape for food and environmental journalism. We are fortunate to announce that Tanya Haider has agreed to join FERN’s Board of Directors, giving our organization the benefit of her years of business strategy experience in media, education, and nonprofits. Tanya comes to the board as the founder of Seaview Advisory, working with media and ed-tech start-ups to scale and grow their businesses.

2 weeks ago | thefern.org | Brent Cunningham

“For much of the past two decades, soda was … suffering a bit of a reputation problem. This is because soda is really not good for you: It generally contains a ton of sugar and no vitamins, and also the bubbles are bad for your teeth. So it was shunned, taxed, and villainized, likened to cigarettes and made a synecdoche for America’s broken food system, in which empty calories are easier and cheaper to obtain than nutritionally dense foods,” writes Ellen Cushing.