This episode explores whether MAHA momentum in the states translates into actual policy change nationwide. Helena and Theodore host the first episode of Forked recorded in front of a live audience in Washington DC with two special guests: Summer Barrett, a self-described MAHA Mom – and influential lobbyist – in West Virginia who led the state’s charge to ban food dyes; and Scott Faber, from the Environmental Working Group, who argues that MAHA is succeeding on food because the FDA isn’t doing its job. An in-depth look at food politics from two very different insiders.

<description>
 &lt;p&gt;This episode explores whether MAHA momentum in the states translates into actual policy change nationwide. Helena and Theodore host the first episode of &lt;em&gt;Forked&lt;/em&gt; recorded in front of a live audience in Washington DC with two special guests: Summer Barrett, a self-described MAHA Mom – and influential lobbyist – in West Virginia who led the state’s charge to ban food dyes; and Scott Faber, from the Environmental Working Group, who argues that MAHA is succeeding on food because the FDA isn’t doing its job. An in-depth look at food politics from two very different insiders.&lt;/p&gt;
 </description>

The MAHA movement has had surprising success at the state level. Will that translate into federal change?


        This episode explores whether MAHA momentum in the states translates into actual policy change nationwide. Helena and Theodore host the first episode of Forked recorded in front of a live audience in Washington DC with two special guests: Summer Barrett, a self-described MAHA Mom – and influential lobbyist – in West Virginia who led the state’s charge to ban food dyes; and Scott Faber, from the Environmental Working Group, who argues that MAHA is succeeding on food because the FDA isn’t doing its job. An in-depth look at food politics from two very different insiders.
      

Live in DC – A Forked special event on MAHA momentum

In this postscript to FERN’s special issue of High Country News, Food and Power in the West, Mary-Charlotte Domandi, host of Radio Café’s Down to Earth podcast, goes deep with writers Rick Bass and Laureli Ivanoff about their essays in the special issue. Domandi also gets the issue’s backstory from HCN Editor-in-Chief, Jennifer Sahn.

<description>
 &lt;p&gt;In this postscript to FERN’s special issue of &lt;em&gt;High Country News&lt;/em&gt;, Food and Power in the West, Mary-Charlotte Domandi, host of Radio Café’s &lt;em&gt;Down to Earth&lt;/em&gt; podcast, goes deep with writers Rick Bass and Laureli Ivanoff about their essays in the special issue. Domandi also gets the issue’s backstory from &lt;em&gt;HCN&lt;/em&gt; Editor-in-Chief, Jennifer Sahn. &lt;/p&gt;
 </description>

An in-depth conversation with some of the writers and editors from FERN’s special issue on food and power in the West.


        In this postscript to FERN’s special issue of High Country News, Food and Power in the West, Mary-Charlotte Domandi, host of Radio Café’s Down to Earth podcast, goes deep with writers Rick Bass and Laureli Ivanoff about their essays in the special issue. Domandi also gets the issue’s backstory from HCN Editor-in-Chief, Jennifer Sahn. 
      

Food, power, and hope in the American West

In this episode, Helena and Theodore look at the federal government shutdown and what it means for SNAP. Also, the Truth Social post from President Trump to America’s ranchers, calling on them to lower their prices, has spurred an America First maelstrom. And finally — peanuts are back! (Or, research shows that introducing children to peanuts and other potential food allergens at a young age actually helps prevent serious food allergies.)

<description>
 &lt;p&gt;In this episode, Helena and Theodore look at the federal government shutdown and what it means for SNAP. Also, the Truth Social post from President Trump to America’s ranchers, calling on them to lower their prices, has spurred an America First maelstrom. And finally — peanuts are back! (Or, research shows that introducing children to peanuts and other potential food allergens at a young age actually helps prevent serious food allergies.)&lt;/p&gt;
 </description>

The government shutdown has unleashed chaos for SNAP. What now?


        In this episode, Helena and Theodore look at the federal government shutdown and what it means for SNAP. Also, the Truth Social post from President Trump to America’s ranchers, calling on them to lower their prices, has spurred an America First maelstrom. And finally — peanuts are back! (Or, research shows that introducing children to peanuts and other potential food allergens at a young age actually helps prevent serious food allergies.)
      

The federal government shutdown and the SNAP default

In February, FERN senior editor Ted Genoways investigated how JBS, the world’s largest meat producer, had come to rely heavily on Haitian migrants and other refugees at its plant in Greeley, Colorado. His reporting shined a light on a burgeoning food economy in the United States, one that is shifting away from undocumented labor and relying on immigrant workers with legal, but often tenuous, status. Despite a series of court challenges, legal status for Haitians is now set to expire early next year, and JBS has already begun firing workers—as many as 400 in the last nine months, according to union officials. In this podcast update, produced in partnership with Reveal, Genoways describes a scramble by some Haitian workers to remain in the country, and JBS’s efforts to replace them with Somali refugees, a population whose legal status is still active.

<description>
 &lt;p&gt;In February, FERN senior editor Ted Genoways investigated how JBS, the world’s largest meat producer, had come to rely heavily on Haitian migrants and other refugees at its plant in Greeley, Colorado. His reporting shined a light on a burgeoning food economy in the United States, one that is shifting away from undocumented labor and relying on immigrant workers with legal, but often tenuous, status. Despite a series of court challenges, legal status for Haitians is now set to expire early next year, and JBS has already begun firing workers—as many as 400 in the last nine months, according to union officials. In this podcast update, produced in partnership with &lt;em&gt;Reveal&lt;/em&gt;, Genoways describes a scramble by some Haitian workers to remain in the country, and JBS’s efforts to replace them with Somali refugees, a population whose legal status is still active.&lt;/p&gt;
 </description>

Updated reporting on how Haitian immigrant workers at the JBS meatpacking plant in Colorado fight to remain in the U.S.


        In February, FERN senior editor Ted Genoways investigated how JBS, the world’s largest meat producer, had come to rely heavily on Haitian migrants and other refugees at its plant in Greeley, Colorado. His reporting shined a light on a burgeoning food economy in the United States, one that is shifting away from undocumented labor and relying on immigrant workers with legal, but often tenuous, status. Despite a series of court challenges, legal status for Haitians is now set to expire early next year, and JBS has already begun firing workers—as many as 400 in the last nine months, according to union officials. In this podcast update, produced in partnership with Reveal, Genoways describes a scramble by some Haitian workers to remain in the country, and JBS’s efforts to replace them with Somali refugees, a population whose legal status is still active.
      

Update: Immigrant meatpacking workers are still under threat

Theodore and Helena discuss a kind of chaos that is almost becoming normal: painful layoffs and firings at a federal agency, which are then mostly undone not long after. This time it was the CDC, with the nation’s “disease detectives” going out the door and then back in before it even closed (among other layoffs.)  The context here is the shutdown of the federal government, which means talking about what’s getting support – food assistance for women, infants, and children – and what’s not: a bailout for soybean farmers. Finally, there are good vibrations in California, as the Golden State passes a law to phase out ultraprocessed foods in school lunches.

<description>
 &lt;p&gt;Theodore and Helena discuss a kind of chaos that is almost becoming normal: painful layoffs and firings at a federal agency, which are then mostly undone not long after. This time it was the CDC, with the nation’s “disease detectives” going out the door and then back in before it even closed (among other layoffs.)  The context here is the shutdown of the federal government, which means talking about what’s getting support – food assistance for women, infants, and children – and what’s not: a bailout for soybean farmers. Finally, there are good vibrations in California, as the Golden State passes a law to phase out ultraprocessed foods in school lunches.&lt;/p&gt;
 </description>

The CDC fired more than 1,000 people and then unfired most of them. Again. What happened?


        Theodore and Helena discuss a kind of chaos that is almost becoming normal: painful layoffs and firings at a federal agency, which are then mostly undone not long after. This time it was the CDC, with the nation’s “disease detectives” going out the door and then back in before it even closed (among other layoffs.)  The context here is the shutdown of the federal government, which means talking about what’s getting support – food assistance for women, infants, and children – and what’s not: a bailout for soybean farmers. Finally, there are good vibrations in California, as the Golden State passes a law to phase out ultraprocessed foods in school lunches.
      

How many people did they actually fire at the CDC?

Dispatches from the frontlines of food, farming, and the environment. From the Food &amp; 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

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