
Dan Charles
Dan Charles is NPR's food and agriculture correspondent.
Primarily responsible for covering farming and the food industry, Charles focuses on the stories of culture, business, and the science behind what arrives on your dinner plate.
This is his second time working for NPR; from 1993 to 1999, Charles was a technology correspondent at NPR. He returned in 2011.
During his time away from NPR, Charles was an independent writer and radio producer and occasionally filled in at NPR on the Science and National desks, and at Weekend Edition. Over the course of his career Charles has reported on software engineers in India, fertilizer use in China, dengue fever in Peru, alternative medicine in Germany, and efforts to turn around a troubled school in Washington, DC.
In 2009-2010, he taught journalism in Ukraine through the Fulbright program. He has been guest researcher at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, Germany, and a Knight Science Journalism fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
From 1990 to 1993, Charles was a U.S. correspondent for New Scientist, a major British science magazine.
The author of two books, Charles wrote Master Mind: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, The Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare (Ecco, 2005) and Lords of the Harvest: Biotech, Big Money, and the Future of Food (Perseus, 2001) about the making of genetically engineered crops.
Charles graduated magna cum laude from American University with a degree in economics and international affairs. After graduation Charles spent a year studying in Bonn, which was then part of West Germany, through the German Academic Exchange Service.
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President Biden's lofty domestic goals were brought down to earth by congressional opposition, notably from one Democratic senator. International efforts to fight planetary warming also fell short.
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Carbon offsets got a big boost from November's U.N. climate summit. New rules could make it easier for companies to pay for carbon-cutting projects in other countries, rather than doing it themselves.
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A major climate meeting has gotten underway in Glasgow, Scotland. It's a pivotal moment in the struggle against climate change. But it's taking place in the midst of political tensions.
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A ransomware attack that shut down several big beef plants is raising concerns about cybersecurity at food companies. Critics say industry consolidation makes the food supply chain more vulnerable.
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Total payments to farmers reached $46 billion, a record. Many received more than $100,000, yet didn't necessarily need the help.
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The charitable organizations called food banks are getting a lot of attention and donations right now. But they aren't nearly as important or effective as SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.
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The university, which is as big as a city, has slashed its carbon emissions since 2004. That effort is now paying for itself in lower energy costs. Could actual cities do the same?
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Deep inside the company that dominates the business of ketchup-making, there's a man who makes sure that every squeeze of this all-American condiment comes out just right. He's the Ketchup Master.
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President Trump recently accused Canada of unfairly blocking imports of milk from the U.S. He was taking aim at a Canadian system that defiantly rejects the free market and protects small farmers.
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The bill requires food companies to reveal whether their products contain GMOs. But those companies are pleased, because they won't have to print "GMO" on food packages.