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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.

2024 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.

2024 FERN
8hr 21min
Thumbnail for "Farming with ghosts".
FERN contributor Lisa Morehouse reports on a Japanese-American farmer who uncovers a shocking family secret.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Thumbnail for "Introducing REAP/SOW!".
Introducing the latest audio project from the Food & Environment Reporting Network
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?
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"
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.

Farming with ghosts

Thumbnail for "Farming with ghosts".
April 4, 202430min 42sec

David “Mas” Masumoto says he farms with ghosts. This episode of REAP/SOW is a FERN/KQED California Report partnership, telling the story of a Japanese-American farming family that’s survived generations of discrimination. Masumoto’s small organic farm just south of Fresno, California is on land that’s been in his family for decades. In 2012, he uncovered a secret about his family that showed him how truly resilient and strong they were. Reported by longtime FERN contributor Lisa Morehouse as part of her California Foodways project, this episode was originally produced in 2023.