Opinions

November Hunger Notes: It’s time for U.S. to lead in combating global malnutrition, avocados imperil Monarch butterflies, and more
November 19, 2016 By Lane Vanderslice Bill Frist, the former Republican Senate majority leader, says ...

It’s time for the U.S. to lead on combating global malnutrition
One single public health crisis accounts for nearly half (45%) of all child deaths under age five. It’s want of a most basic need: we still have 795 million people worldwide who suffer from various forms of malnutrition and undernourishment....
Poverty in unexpected places
Grinding poverty in the United States has long been synonymous with the Deep South, where low wages, poor health and diminished opportunity are more pervasive than in other parts of the country. But there are other...

October Hunger Notes: the conflict between corporate agriculture and campesinos, Syrian families and war, and more
October 31, 2016 By Lane Vanderslice Agroecology “Lite:” Cooptation and Resistance in the Glob...

Agroecology “Lite:” Cooptation and resistance in the global North
Because they are often developed and shared through extensive ...

Building a ‘good’ anthropocene from the bottom up
Over the last few years, I’ve gotten to know a determined cast of characters in academia aiming to identify paths to a goo...
Why did the Obamas fail to take on corporate agriculture?
Eight years ago this month, I published in these pages an open letter to the next president titled, “Farmer in Chief.” “It may surprise you to learn,” it began, “that among the issues that will occupy much of your tim...

My plan for helping America’s poor
The true measure of any society is how we take care of our children. With all of our country’s resources, no child should ever have to grow up in poverty. Yet every single night, all across America, kids go to sl...

Letter: Is there a food shortage in the world? And other questions.
September 19, 2016 Dear Hunger Notes, My name is A. C.. I am a 7th grader at Pella Middle school. We are doing a service project and I choose to do World Hunger. I want to do the best job I can. I still have a few questions. 1. Is there a food shortage in the world? 2. How is famine...

Health coverage, income, and poverty all improved decisively in 2015
For the first time since 1999, all three key indicators of well-being in the annual Census data moved decisively in the right direction in 2015. The poverty rate dropped from 14.8 percent to 13.5 percent, tying the largest improvement since 1968. The typical household’s income rose by 5.2 per...