REAP/SOW

The senior senator from the Garden State has taken a leading role on the food and ag issues that we care about at Forked. We were so excited that Cory Booker was our guest on this episode. Helena and Theodore get his take on what Democrats should be doing about food policy, whatever happened to the farm bill – and whether his party can grab food issues back from Republicans before the midterms.

The Supreme Court recently heard arguments in Monsanto v. Durnell, a case that could decide the fate of state-level glyphosate warning-label lawsuits — and perhaps the MAHA movement. If the Supremes rule in favor of Bayer, which owns Roundup, the glyphosate-based herbicide that powers industrial agriculture in this country and around the world, MAHA’s leaders may revolt. Theodore and Helena discuss this, and the other ways MAHA is flexing its political power, including on the long-delayed Farm Bill.

What happens when you get a James-Beard-Award-winning chef together with one of the best food and ag daily reporters out there for a live, in-depth conversation on what’s happening now in food in this country? You get a Forked special episode! Taped live in Washington, D.C. with Theodore Ross, this episode gets into glyphosate battles, the GLP-1 future, and how restaurants are recovering in the Twin Cities.

How would you feel if someone told you one of the most pressing problems in food safety in this country was fixed? Now how would you feel if you learned that wasn’t really true? Helena and Theodore provide answers to these questions and more – in this episode.

This episode dives back into the issue of food waste, why it matters, and what you can do about it. But it’s also a behind-the-scenes conversation about reporting on the topic. Katelan Cunningham, the host of the Second Nature podcast, talks about why she pursued this story, what the biggest obstacles to her reporting were, and what you do when failing on food waste makes you feel guilty. 

In this episode, Helena and Theodore look at how efforts to allow states to ban soda and candy purchases for SNAP recipients may fizzle out — for now. We also unpack what the war with Iran is doing to fertilizer and food prices, and in Colorado, workers at one of largest meatpacking plants in the country go on strike.

FERN senior editor Ted Genoways traveled to Colorado to report on a strike vote by the unionized workers at the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley. Many of these workers are from Haiti and are at risk of losing their work visas in the United States. Yet, given the opportunity to exercise their political power by voting, they’ve chosen to do so. It’s a moving act of basic democracy, and Genoways talks about how he reported it out.

In this episode, Helena and Theodore do a … Roundup … of what people who don’t have time to come up with better nicknames are calling “glyphogate.” It’s an in-depth conversation about the power of Big Ag and why MAHA may not get the regenerative agriculture future they thought RFK Jr. promised. We’re also taking a close look at the Senate testimony of Casey Means, nominee for Surgeon General, and whether the “nation’s doctor” should be a wellness influencer.

Helena and Theodore talk about Iron Mike Tyson’s mama-said-knock-you-out vibes on ultraprocessed foods, RFK Jr. tag-teaming with David Kessler on 60 Minutes, and why Kennedy’s remarks about doing cocaine off a toilet seat actually kinda sorta make sense maybe a little.

A third of the food Americans produce goes to waste, and a shocking amount of that waste happens in our own homes. But reducing food waste is possible, if we make a few simple changes. In this episode, which comes to REAP/SOW courtesy of Second Nature, reporter Katelan Cunnigham talks to plastic-free, low-waste chef Anne-Marie Bonneau about how she limits food waste. Surprise: food delivery isn’t as bad as you thought when it comes to waste.