Investigating the pesticide industry + election coverage

An update on my reporting while Peeled is paused.

Good morning, readers,

After many moons, I’m popping into your inbox with a brief update.

A big group of you are new to this list, thanks to the recommendation of my friend John Russell. So, in case it’s unclear, I put Peeled’s publishing on hiatus a couple of years ago when I transitioned from freelancer to full-time staff reporter at Civil Eats. 

Since I’m not currently publishing new stories here, I wanted to share some news: Civil Eats recently took down its paywall! That means you now have unlimited access to my latest, ongoing reporting. You can subscribe to our newsletter, here (and of course all the cool kids also become members, just sayin’).

If you’re up for following my work over there, here are a few quick notes on what I’ve been working on:

“Chemical Capture,” an investigative series on the pesticide industry

There are countless questions to be asked, studied, and debated regarding when and where pesticides may be necessary or appropriate. That’s not what this series is about. Instead, I set out to investigate how powerful corporations may be making it difficult to even consider those questions, by obscuring facts with marketing, developing complicated systems that lock farmers into pesticide use, and lobbying behind the scenes.

So far, I’ve reported on:

*Bayer’s under-the-radar lobbying effort to take away individuals’ ability to sue companies over claims their products made them sick

*How companies may be using a trendy climate solution—the agricultural “carbon market”—to sell more pesticides

*Why corn and soy farmers are locked into using harmful insecticides they may not even need

Food + agriculture election coverage

Right now, I’m sure most of you have little capacity for news that’s unrelated to who will be leading our country for the next four years. And while food and agriculture have by no means been key campaign issues, they are certainly central to our country's future. So, we’ve been keeping tabs on the candidates’ policies and promises and will continue to do so once a new administration is in place.

You can access the latest Civil Eats’ election-related reporting, here. 

So far, I’ve written about:

*Labor protections for immigrant farmworkers that are at stake

*Policy differences on consolidation/corporate power and rules meant to protect farmers from abuse

*Republican plans for ag policy that could change commodity farm programs in a massive way

*The “Make America Healthy Again” movement

Way back in 2020, I also did a lengthy recap of how Trump’s presidency shaped food and farming. It’s been a given a new life as of late. Finally, we hosted a Salon where experts weighed in on food prices and how much presidents can (and can’t do) to impact them.

As usual, feel free to contact me with thoughts, questions, tips, and story ideas: lisaelaineh@gmail.com. I am so grateful for your attention and support.