Tom Philpott

Tom Philpott

Food and Ag Correspondent

Tom Philpott is the cofounder of Maverick Farms, a center for sustainable food education in Valle Crucis, North Carolina. He was formerly a columnist and editor for the online environmental site Grist and his work on food politics has appeared in Newsweek, Gastronomica, and the Guardian.

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For five years, Tom Philpott served as a columnist, food editor, and senior food writer for the online environmental site Grist. He's a cofounder of Maverick Farms, a center for sustainable food education in Valle Crucis, North Carolina. Before moving to the farm in 2004, Philpott worked as a financial journalist in Mexico City and New York, most recently writing daily dispatches on the stock market as equity research editor for Reuters.com. His work on food politics has appeared in Newsweek, Gastronomica, and the Guardian. Maverick Farms has been featured in Gourmet and the New York Times, and in September 2008, Food & Wine named Philpott one of "ten innovators" who "will continue to shape the culinary consciousness of our country for the next 30 years." In 2011, he was a finalist for a James Beard Foundation Journalism Award—the "Oscars of the food world," as Time put it—in the "Food-Related Columns and Commentary" category.

Diet Soda, the Silent Killer?
Thu Mar. 1, 2012 4:00 AM PST

Video: Eric Schlosser Talks Food and Class
Tue Feb. 28, 2012 4:00 AM PST

The Making of an Agribusiness Apologist
Fri Feb. 24, 2012 1:18 PM PST

How Factory Farms Are Killing Seals
Fri Feb. 24, 2012 4:00 AM PST

Shrimp's Carbon Footprint Is 10 Times Greater Than Beef's
Wed Feb. 22, 2012 5:00 AM PST

France Seeks to Cut Pesticide Use in Half
Wed Feb. 15, 2012 4:00 AM PST

Bloody Valentine: Child Slavery in Ivory Coast's Cocoa Fields
Tue Feb. 14, 2012 4:59 PM PST

The Mystery of Exploding Pig Poop
Thu Feb. 9, 2012 4:00 PM PST

US Pushes the World to Import Our Dodgy Meat
Wed Feb. 8, 2012 5:08 PM PST

Heading to California's Annual Organic-Farming Woodstock
Wed Feb. 1, 2012 10:34 AM PST

VIDEO: What Happens to Piglets on Factory Farms
Wed Feb. 1, 2012 10:30 AM PST

Chickenshit
Tue Jan. 31, 2012 5:13 PM PST

Tom's Kitchen: A Spicy-Hot Soup to Crush Your Cold
Fri Jan. 27, 2012 12:37 PM PST

Supermarket Meat Is From Sick Animals

Thu Jan. 26, 2012 2:25 PM PST

Dow and Monsanto Team Up on the Mother of All Herbicide Marketing Plans
Wed Jan. 25, 2012 3:43 PM PST

USDA Greenlights Monsanto's Utterly Useless New GMO Corn
Mon Jan. 23, 2012 1:15 PM PST

Paula Deen Hawks a Dubious Diabetes Drug
Wed Jan. 18, 2012 4:32 PM PST

Is Your Garden Pesticide Killing Bees?
Tue Jan. 17, 2012 10:00 AM PST

Cocina de Tom: Pork Ribs in Red-Chili Sauce
Fri Jan. 13, 2012 2:00 PM PST

Is Walmart the Answer to 'Food Deserts"?
Thu Jan. 12, 2012 6:44 PM PST

Are Pesticides Behind Massive Bee Die-Offs?
Tue Jan. 10, 2012 1:05 PM PST

Peak Maple: Climate Change Wants to Ruin Your Pancakes
Sun Jan. 8, 2012 4:00 AM PST

FDA Polices Just 0.3 Percent of Antibiotics on Factory Farms
Wed Jan. 4, 2012 4:37 PM PST

Taste Test: Pricey Winter Tomatoes From Whole Foods
Wed Jan. 4, 2012 5:00 AM PST

Organic Tomatoes in January: Sucking Mexico Dry
Mon Jan. 2, 2012 2:18 PM PST

My Four Best Road Meals of 2011
Fri Dec. 30, 2011 12:45 PM PST

A Quarter of All Burgers Tainted With Drug-Resistant Bacteria
Wed Dec. 28, 2011 2:00 PM PST

The FDA's Christmas Present for Factory Farms
Wed Dec. 28, 2011 5:00 AM PST

Warren Buffett's Son Schools Bill Gates on African Ag
Wed Dec. 14, 2011 1:34 PM PST

Like a Virgin, but Not Quite: Olive Oil's Dirty Secret
Sat Dec. 10, 2011 4:00 AM PST

Is Your Fleece Killing the Ocean?
Fri Dec. 9, 2011 12:46 PM PST

Is the FDA Finally Going to Get BPA out of Can Linings?
Thu Dec. 8, 2011 5:28 PM PST

Monsanto (Still) Denies Superinsect Problem, Despite Evidence
Thu Dec. 8, 2011 5:00 AM PST

More on the Ethical Restaurant Guide
Tue Dec. 6, 2011 5:00 AM PST

My Favorite Cookbooks of 2011
Sat Dec. 3, 2011 4:00 AM PST

There's Arsenic in Your Kids' Apple Juice
Wed Nov. 30, 2011 12:08 PM PST

Should Fair Trade Certify Giants Like Nestle and Folgers?
Tue Nov. 29, 2011 11:37 AM PST

Study: Common Herbicide Causes Menstrual Trouble
Tue Nov. 29, 2011 5:00 AM PST

LEAKED: Secret Sara Lee Marketing Memo
Mon Nov. 28, 2011 3:30 AM PST

A Peek Inside Our Farm
Wed Nov. 23, 2011 6:00 PM PST

Did BP Oil Make Shrimp Lose Their Eyes?
Wed Nov. 23, 2011 1:51 PM PST

Your Tax Dollars Help Cargill Export Factory Meat
Tue Nov. 22, 2011 5:03 AM PST

Tom's Kitchen: 2 Quick and Easy Sides to Spice Up the Thanksgiving Table
Sun Nov. 20, 2011 11:00 AM PST

Freakonomics Blog: Still Wrong on Local Food
Fri Nov. 18, 2011 2:27 PM PST

Yet Again, Organic Ag Proves Just as Productive as Chemical Ag
Thu Nov. 17, 2011 5:00 AM PST

Eat Your Greens, or Your Gut Gets It
Wed Nov. 16, 2011 5:00 AM PST

UPDATED: Everyone's Favorite Vegetable, Frozen Pizza
Tue Nov. 15, 2011 5:00 AM PST

Tom's Kitchen: A Sardine Dish to Convert the Unsaved
Fri Nov. 11, 2011 1:35 PM PST

The Local Food Economy in 2 Charts
Fri Nov. 11, 2011 12:15 PM PST

Is the Corn Lobby Poisoning Its Own Well?
Fri Nov. 11, 2011 11:40 AM PST

You Won't Believe What Pork Producers Do to Pregnant Pigs

Imagine spending your whole pregnancy in an airline seat. That's what happens to most of the nation's expecting sows.

July/August 2013 Issue

Are Quinoa, Chia Seeds, and Other "Superfoods" a Scam?

Sure, trendy ingredients work like magic—for industry's bottom line.

May/June 2013 Issue

You Need Phosphorus to Live—and We're Running Out

Industrial farming has played a part in sucking this critical element out of our soil.

March/April 2013 Issue

Today's Seafood Special: Pig Manure, Antibiotics, and Diarrhea Bugs

Imported seafood is full of dirt and chemicals. So why is the FDA inspecting practically none of it?

January/February 2013 Issue

Can Antibiotics Make You Fat?

Factory animals are pumped full of antibiotics to make them gain weight. What does that mean for our waistlines?

Wed Jan. 2, 2013 4:01 AM PST

Your Bacon Is Full of Sardines

Forage fish like sardines and anchovies keep our oceans healthy. So why are we feeding them all to chickens and pigs?

September/October 2012 Issue

Could Prop. 37 Kill Monsanto's GM Seeds?

Big Ag is spending millions to keep labels off genetically modified foods in California—and with good reason.

Wed Oct. 10, 2012 3:00 AM PDT

Are Your Skinny Jeans Starving the World?

The cotton that feeds our appetite for fast fashion is taking up room that could be used for food crops.

July/August 2012 Issue

How Veggie Co-Ops and Ice Cream Collaboratives Could Save the Economy

Local food really could bring down the jobless rate—if we can figure out how to do it right.

May/June 2012 Issue

Is Walmart Really Going Organic and Local?

Well, define local.

March/April 2012 Issue

Foodies, Get Thee to Occupy Wall Street

Because Big Food makes Big Finance look like amateurs.

Fri Oct. 14, 2011 3:00 AM PDT

Wait, Did the USDA Just Deregulate All New Genetically Modified Crops?

In a surprise move, the agency green-lights Roundup Ready lawn grass—and perhaps much, much more.

Fri Jul. 8, 2011 12:23 PM PDT