Reporter Michael Grunwald tells us why he has hope for our food system future

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.

Our guest on this episode is Michael Grunwald, a journalist and the author of We are Eating the Earth: The race to fix our food system and save our climate. He’s also well-known for his opinion columns in The New York Times, and his writing often takes on, well, the sacred cows of the progressive environmental movement — CAFOs, chemicals, veganism, and more.

Helena and Theodore are joined by Vani Hari, “the Food Babe,” a New York Times Best Selling Author, wellness entrepreneur, and social media influencer. This is a wide-ranging conversation, on Roundup, the new dietary guidelines, and why Hari wishes she’d been nicer to the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. 

It’s 2026 and Forked has returned from a short holiday break. Helena and Theodore are excited – and maybe a little nervous – to see what happens in the second year of life in the MAHA moment. Along with bold (and unsubstantiated) predictions, in this episode: it’s SNAP bans on junk food, why skinny santas matter, and the pill that just may eat the American appetite.

The Gulf Coast is one of the last places in the world where there is still a major wild oyster harvest. Lately, though, that harvest is in trouble. In this episode, the second in a two-part series on the future of seafood, produced in partnership with WWNO’s Sea Change, we ask: What can the downfall and resurrection of the Louisiana oyster tell us about a future in which the ocean is a farm? This episode is dedicated to the memory of FERN staffer Katie Gardner, who passed away after a brave struggle with cancer. Katie was a special person – a good friend and trusted colleague of all of us at FERN – taken too young. Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones.

Americans now eat more farmed seafood than they do from the wild ocean. That’s turned farming fish into big business, one that consumers have benefited from. But the U.S. imports most of that seafood – we have very few domestic fish farms. Now, though, that might start to change. There are proposals to build massive fish farms in U.S. federal waters. And the Gulf of Mexico is where some of the early action is unfolding. Reporter Boyce Upholt explores the shift from wild-caught to farmed, what it could mean for the environment and economy, and our connection to the ocean. This episode is the first in a two-part series on the future of seafood, produced in partnership with WWNO’s Sea Change.