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.
-
In rural North Carolina, an electric cooperative is reliving its New Deal history, bringing technologies like electric cars and broadband Internet to isolated communities struggling with poverty.
-
Across the country, coal plants are shutting down. Wind turbines are going up. But the transition can be rocky. In North Dakota, some officials are trying to defend coal by blocking new wind turbines. -
One third of the cropland in the upper Midwest has entirely lost its fertile topsoil, according to a new study. Other scientists doubt that figure, but agree that soil loss is a big problem.
-
It's estimated a third of the Upper Midwest's cropland has lost all of its topsoil, which is vital for growing crops. Even if there's a dispute on the number, scientists agree the loss is a problem.
-
A growing number of cities want to restrict the use of gas in buildings to reduce climate emissions. But many states are now considering laws to block that with backing from the natural gas industry.
-
Natural gas utilities face a bleak future in a world increasingly concerned about climate change. An NPR investigation shows how they work to block local climate action and protect their business.
-
Environmental watchdogs now can detect deforestation even when it's hidden from sight by rain and clouds. They're using data from radar on a European satellite.
-
Total payments to farmers reached $46 billion, a record. Many received more than $100,000, yet didn't necessarily need the help.
-
Scientists are calling for efforts to protect hundreds of wild plants in the United States that are related to native foods such as cranberries and chili peppers.
-
Vilsack served as secretary of agriculture during the Obama administration and has been a trusted adviser to President-elect Joe Biden. But critics say his time has passed.
