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.
-
Many meat producers say they are reducing their use of antibiotics. Yet the latest government statistics show that sales of these drugs for farm use continue to grow. -
Some members of Congress are calling on the government to crack down on food labels like soy milk or hemp milk. They say the "milk" label is legally reserved for only one beverage source: cows. -
After years of controversy, the U.S. has issued regulations to protect farmers from mistreatment by big meat packers and poultry companies. But will the rules survive under the Trump administration? -
A new survey finds strong public support for organic food, and suspicion of GMOs — regardless of whether people vote Republican or Democratic. Also, people don't trust scientists much at all. -
With Donald Trump's victory, rural America is enjoying some political prominence, and farmers are hoping to profit. But most rural Americans aren't farmers. Small towns have their own priorities. -
When Hurricane Matthew hit North Carolina last month, it flooded more than a dozen manure lagoons at hog farms. Environmentalists say it shows that these farms are too risky for the state. -
Hundreds of food companies have promised to keep their suppliers from cutting down forests. A global coalition of environmental groups is watching to see if the companies are keeping their promises. -
The egg industry may soon eliminate a wasteful — and to some, horrifying — practice: slaughtering male chicks. New technology can identify male embryos in eggs before they enter incubation chambers. -
Pesticides called "neonics" are popular among farmers, but also have been blamed for killing bees. In Canada, the province of Ontario is trying to crack down on neonics, with mixed results. -
In the great household debate about refrigerating tomatoes, there's some new scientific evidence on the no-fridge side. But some taste testers are not convinced.
