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REAP/SOW

FERN

Dispatches from the frontlines of food, farming, and the environment. From the Food & Environment Reporting Network, the producers of Hot Farm, REAP/SOW brings you narrative and investigative reporting that examines the consequences of what we choose to eat and why. Currently featuring BUZZKILL, a six-part series on the pollinator crisis

2025 FERN

Dispatches from the frontlines of food, farming, and the environment. From the Food & Environment Reporting Network, the producers of Hot Farm, REAP/SOW brings you narrative and investigative reporting that examines the consequences of what we choose to eat and why. Currently featuring BUZZKILL, a six-part series on the pollinator crisis

2025 FERN
19hr 54min
Thumbnail for "Fertilizer’s toxic journey".
Tracing the poisonous impact of agricultural chemicals – from Missouri’s farmland, to Louisiana's “Cancer Alley,” and into the Gulf of Mexico.
June 3, 202535min 42sec85.68 MB
Thumbnail for "Black land loss: A Conversation with Brea Baker from What You're Eating".
A writer delves into the history of how her family lost their farm – and how she found her way back to the land.
June 17, 202534min 56sec83.84 MB
Thumbnail for "Forked: MAHA drama as food fighters duke it out with anti-vaxxers".
The Trump Administration managed to turn the typically bland nomination for Surgeon General into an intra-MAGA battle pitting nutrition versus public health
May 20, 202552min 38sec126.32 MB
Thumbnail for "Mexico’s Spirit: A Conversation with Ted Genoways, author of ‘Tequila Wars’".
In his new biography of Jose Cuervo, FERN staffer Ted Genoways traces the history of revolutionary-era Mexico through the tequila brand’s namesake and ‘maestro tequilero.’
May 6, 202543min103.13 MB
Thumbnail for "Forked: RFK Jr.’s ‘massive’ promise to ‘eliminate’ autism ‘exposures’".
Cohosts Theodore Ross and Helena Bottemiller Evich talk about RFK’s astonishing plan to fund research that will determine by September the causes of autism.
April 22, 202556min 30sec135.62 MB
Thumbnail for "To me, it’s junk food – a Q and A with Marion Nestle".
An in-depth conversation with iconic nutritionist Marion Nestle on the contested science and politics of ultraprocessed foods.
April 8, 202537min 31sec90.06 MB
Thumbnail for "Forked: Among the MAHA Moms".
The premiere of FERN’s newest podcast looks at how RKF Jr. is making waves on food policy.
March 25, 202545min 44sec109.78 MB
Thumbnail for "Trouble on the Line".
Haitians moved to Colorado to work for the world's largest meatpacker on the promise of good jobs and a place to stay—only to be mistreated. Now, Trump is trying to deport them.
March 20, 202544min 12sec106.09 MB
Thumbnail for "Buzzkill Bonus Episode: “Is urban beekeeping bad for bees?”".
Taped live during the Buzzkill celebration in New York City on March 3, 2025 this panel discussion looks at what citydwellers can do – and shouldn’t do – to protect pollinators.
March 11, 202531min 16sec75.07 MB
Thumbnail for "Buzzkill: A post-pollinator world".
Welcome to California’s “pollinator Super Bowl.”
March 4, 202529min 25sec28.18 MB
Thumbnail for "Buzzkill: Bats and the blue agave".
Tequila is made from agave raised in an industrial monoculture at risk of collapse. The solution? Pollination by bats.
February 25, 202531min29.69 MB
Thumbnail for "Buzzkill: The lawn war".
Want to make your home a refuge for pollinators? You’re gonna have to fight for it.
February 18, 202539min 22sec37.71 MB
Thumbnail for "Buzzkill: Colonialism and the land".
A Native American tribe turned away from industrial ag, embraced their identity, and helped pollinators.
February 11, 202535min 33sec34.13 MB
Thumbnail for "Buzzkill: The mystery of the dead bees".
What was killing a scientist’s bees? The curious case of the toxic corn seeds.
February 4, 202540min 30sec38.79 MB
Thumbnail for "Buzzkill: Save which bees?".
A sustainable food system can’t just rely on domesticated pollinators. Go wild!
January 28, 202531min 2sec29.79 MB
Thumbnail for "Introducing: Buzzkill, presented by REAP/SOW".
A new limited series about the pollinator crisis – and what can be done to solve it. Premiering January 28. 2025.
January 21, 20252min 47sec2.68 MB
Thumbnail for "The railroad's surprising impact on food and civil rights in California".
The expansion of railways in the United States did more than transport people – it helped change society and the food system.
January 17, 202527min 44sec66.51 MB
Thumbnail for "“Farmin’ ain’t easy” from the Points North Podcast".
Life on a small farm means hard work, and just enough joy – and hopefully enough profit – to keep going.
October 15, 202416min 17sec39.08 MB
Thumbnail for "The divers keeping the water flowing on California’s farms".
Inside the world of the commercial divers working the irrigation canals in California’s Central Valley.
August 15, 202417min 28sec41.94 MB
Thumbnail for "Redfish blues".
Scientists have long predicted that land loss in Louisiana will harm fisheries. That finally seems to be happening—to one of the state’s most iconic fish.
July 9, 202439min 55sec95.81 MB
Thumbnail for "A native people fight for their stolen waters".
In California, a study of centuries-old irrigation ditches suggests the Nüümü people could rightfully lay claim to the waters of Owens Lake.
June 6, 202428min 50sec69.16 MB
Thumbnail for "The forever chemicals on the farm from What You’re Eating".
Found in everything from pizza boxes to rain jackets, PFAS - aka "forever chemicals" - are now being discovered in our farms, our food, and in our bodies.
May 2, 202456min 24sec135.25 MB
Thumbnail for "Farming with ghosts".
FERN contributor Lisa Morehouse reports on a Japanese-American farmer who uncovers a shocking family secret.
April 4, 202430min 42sec73.65 MB
Thumbnail for "White gold fever from Snap Judgment".
This FERN/Snap Judgment partnership tells the story of how a massive bed of callo de hacha, a prized scallop, could have saved a struggling Mexican fishing village – and why it didn’t.
March 5, 202427min 59sec67.11 MB
Thumbnail for "Weaponized food from The Switchyard Podcast".
Episode four of REAP/SOW is the final installment of our partnership with Switchyard, as host Ted Genoways interviews writers Jori Lewis and Siddhartha Deb.
February 15, 202450min 18sec120.64 MB
Thumbnail for "The Sioux Chef’s decolonized cuisine from The Switchyard Podcast".
FERN editor-in-chief Theodore Ross interviews Chef Sean Sherman about decolonized food, in an episode from the Switchyard podcast.
February 13, 202446min 48sec112.22 MB
Thumbnail for "Tom Colicchio: Finding my voice in food from The Switchyard Podcast".
Top Chef star Tom Colicchio sits down with longtime FERN contributor Ted Genoways for an in-depth conversation with the acclaimed celebrity chef
February 8, 202451min 14sec122.87 MB
Thumbnail for "Introducing REAP/SOW!".
Introducing the latest audio project from the Food & Environment Reporting Network
February 1, 20245min 18sec12.72 MB
Thumbnail for "Hot Farm Bonus Episode: Climavores - "Bursting the 'eat local' bubble"".
Buying local makes us feel good, but does it really help the planet?
July 28, 202232min 21sec77.65 MB
Thumbnail for "Hot Farm Bonus Episode: "Should I Give up Beef?" from How to Save a Planet".
A bonus episode about beef from a show called “How to Save a Planet"
June 28, 202241min 21sec99.26 MB
Thumbnail for "Hot Farm Part 4. The New California".
Most of our food comes from California. But in the very near future, climate change will force us to grow more food in other parts of the country. Here’s what that might look like.
May 3, 202230min 11sec28.92 MB
Thumbnail for "Hot Farm Part 3. Grain of the Future".
To fight climate change, we need new crops that consume less water, protect the soil and lock away more carbon. For twenty years, scientists have been breeding a grain that does all that. Will farmers grow it? Will people eat it?
April 26, 202228min 51sec27.7 MB
Thumbnail for "Hot Farm Part 2. Enlisting the Unconvinced".
Most American farmers don’t believe man-made climate change is real. But if we’re serious about fighting climate change, we need those farmers to be part of the solution. How can we convince them to change how they farm?
April 19, 202232min 49sec31.51 MB
Thumbnail for "Hot Farm Part 1. Change Is Hard".
In the opening episode of Hot Farm, we visit with Dave Bishop, a farmer who shown a willingness to change.
April 12, 202236min 17sec34.83 MB
Thumbnail for "Hot Farm Trailer".
A new podcast from the Food & Environment Reporting Network about what the people who grow our food are doing, or could be doing, to combat climate change coming April 12.
March 15, 20221min 59sec4.79 MB

Fertilizer’s toxic journey

Thumbnail for "Fertilizer’s toxic journey".
June 3, 202535min 42sec

The chemical industry is a cornerstone of modern American farming. It helps grow the food billions of people eat. It’s also causing vast environmental damage. In this episode of REAP/SOW, produced in collaboration with WWNO’s Sea Change podcast, you’re going to hear the story of synthetic fertilizer, and how this powerful concoction of chemicals has radically reshaped how we farm and what we eat – and how it’s poisoning communities, upending livelihoods, and choking the life out of a huge swath of the ocean. Reported by Garrett Hazelwood and Eric Schmid, hosted by WWNO’s Carlyle Calhoun and FERN’s Teresa Cotsirilos.

Transcript

Thumbnail for "Fertilizer’s toxic journey".
Fertilizer’s toxic journey
00:00
35:42