News & Commentary

Top Climate Elements in Senate Budget Reconciliation

July 29, 2022 Expert BlogUnited States, Washington, D.C.Derek Murrow, Amanda Levin

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 will reduce greenhouse gas and other pollutants by giving people clean energy choices at low cost reduce household and business energy bills.

FDA's New Report on Animal Antibiotics Ignores Public Health

July 13, 2022 Expert BlogWashington, D.C., United StatesDavid Wallinga, MD

Amid a decades-long concern about widespread U.S. antibiotic overuse in livestock, the FDA continues ignoring the public health need to track and make that use visible.

Organic Agriculture Helps Solve Climate Change

June 9, 2022 Expert BlogUnited States, CaliforniaLena Brook

As farmers grapple with everything from extreme weather events to heat stress to wildfires, and agriculture becomes less predictable in the face of a changing climate, it is essential for governments to help farmers transition to practices that increase resilience…

Delta Voluntary Agreements Are a “Plan to Fail” in Droughts

April 25, 2022 Expert BlogCaliforniaDoug Obegi

Rather than planning for droughts and ensuring that minimum water quality objectives are achieved in critically dry years, the proposed voluntary agreement appears to be a “plan to fail” to protect the Delta in future droughts.

Bay-Delta VA: A Sweetheart Deal to Subsidize Agribusiness

April 18, 2022 Expert BlogCaliforniaDoug Obegi

It’s not surprising, given who was in the room negotiating this backroom deal, that the VAs are a sweetheart deal that would subsidize the mitigation obligations of the state’s largest irrigation districts and industrial agribusinesses, undermining the Public Trust.

Let’s Help More California Farms Become Organic

April 14, 2022 Expert BlogCaliforniaLena Brook

The California Department of Food and Agriculture, along with the Office of the First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, recently released a roadmap for our state’s new and ambitious Farm to School Program.

How Regenerative Agriculture Can Mitigate Drought

March 22, 2022 Expert BlogCaliforniaArohi Sharma

This is how we can help California farms and ranches be part of a drought mitigation strategy.

Learning about CA's Water Rights is the First Step to Reform

March 8, 2022 Expert BlogCaliforniaDoug Obegi

There is a growing recognition of the need to reform California’s water rights system, which is deeply inequitable, unsustainable, and all but broken.

New CA Program Can Deliver Organic School Lunches

February 25, 2022 Expert BlogCaliforniaLena Brook

By prioritizing procurement from organic farmers that avoid all or most pesticide use, our state’s farm-to-school program will also help reduce health risks faced by these especially vulnerable children. 

Proposed Newsom Budget Doubles Down on Climate, Food, and Ag

January 12, 2022 Expert BlogCaliforniaLena Brook, Arohi Sharma

Governor Newsom’s newly released proposal rightfully recognizes the profound impact of climate change on our state’s food and agriculture system and the need for significant investment.

California Must Close Big Pesticide Loophole

December 3, 2021 Expert BlogCaliforniaDaniel Raichel

When is a pesticide not a pesticide?

For Thousands of Years, Indigenous Tribes Have Been Planting for the Future

November 30, 2021 DispatchIowa, Canada, Pennsylvania, OklahomaSusan Cosier

With yields of biodiversity and a more climate-resilient food supply, a movement is sprouting in BIPOC communities across North America to save heirloom seeds and preserve culture.

Latina Farmworkers Speak Out about the Hazards of Life in California’s Fields

October 4, 2021 DispatchCaliforniaNicole Greenfield

From farms to public hearings, the women of Líderes Campesinas are standing up against the pesticide exposure, COVID-19 risk, and other threats disproportionately impacting their community.

The Chlorpyrifos Ban Is a Win for Science—and Children

September 17, 2021 NRDC in ActionCaliforniaNicole Greenfield

NRDC advocates and our partners spent decades fighting against a highly toxic pesticide that harms kids, farmworkers, and their families. In August, the EPA finally banned it.

Celebrating Year One of the Food Matters Regional Initiative

August 30, 2021 Expert BlogChicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Madison, Ohio, Baltimore, Jersey City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, North Carolina, Memphis, OrlandoMadeline Keating, Darby Hoover

A year after the launch of the Food Matters Regional Initiative, we are pleased to report considerable progress and accomplishments from the 15 regional initiative participants.

Washington State Adds Emergency Rules to Protect Workers from Heat and Wildfire Smoke

August 13, 2021 DispatchWashingtonLora Shinn

But many advocates point out that to fully address our new climate reality, we also need national solutions.

Fighting Climate Change Through Farming

August 12, 2021 DispatchCaliforniaAlisa Opar

In Central California, small ranches and farms are growing their connections—to the land, to the past, and to each other.

Blackfeet Nation Is Taking Back the Food System

June 21, 2021 DispatchMontanaNicole Greenfield

A tribal-led plan to build a meat-processing facility on the Blackfeet Nation reservation in Montana will help invigorate the local economy, safeguard cultural traditions, and protect community health and the environment.

JBS' Workers Paid the Ultimate Price, While Profits Surged

May 25, 2021 Expert BlogUnited States, ColoradoJessica Carey-Webb, David Wallinga, MD

As an industry, meatpackers seem to operate according to their own set of rules, often reprehensible and sometimes deadly. Among its global peers JBS, the world’s largest meatpacking company, is exceptional. The extent and documentation of its corporate irresponsibility is…

A Native Hawaiian Digs into Her Roots to Grow Food, Knowledge, and Hope

May 18, 2021 DispatchHawaiiJeff Turrentine

Inspired by an ancient system of natural resource management, Kukui Maunakea-Forth works with her community to turn Oʻahu youth into farmers—and scholars.