Dan Charles
Stories
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National
More Listener Questions On How The Coronavirus Affects The Food Supply Chain
An NPR science correspondent takes listener questions about why some shelves in the grocery stores are empty and how the food supply is affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
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Food
How One City Mayor Forced A Pork Giant To Close Its Virus-Stricken Plant
Smithfield Foods didn't want to stop slaughtering hogs at its Sioux Falls pork plant, even after hundreds of workers got sick with the coronavirus. Then the city's mayor forced the company's hand.
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Health
Meat Processing Plants Suspend Operations After Workers Fall Ill
Several processing plants in the U.S. are sitting idle this week because workers are sick with the coronavirus. Other facilities are still operating, but fewer workers are showing up.
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National
Food Shortages? Nope, Too Much Food In The Wrong Places
Some Americans, fearing food shortages from COVID-19, have cleaned out supermarket shelves. Yet there's too much food in some places. Farmers are dumping milk and vegetables that they can't sell.
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Health
FACT CHECK: Money-To-Hospitals Plan To Treat Coronavirus Patients Could Face Problems
Instead of reopening health care exchanges for those who don't qualify for Medicaid and don't have employer-based insurance, Trump is proposing paying hospitals directly. But it might not be enough.
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Food
'Essential' Status Means Jobs For Farmworkers, But Greater Virus Risk
Farmworkers are still working during the coronavirus epidemic. They're essential. But they're also at greater risk of infection.
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Food
COVID-19 Threatens Food Supply Chain As Farms Worry About Workers Falling Ill
COVID-19 has turned one end of the food industry, stores and restaurants, on its head. At the other end, though, food production hums along as usual — but that could change if workers catch the virus.
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Science
Why Taller Grass Can Be Bad News For Grasshoppers
Grass on the prairie is growing taller because there's now more carbon dioxide in the air. Paradoxically, though, this might be hurting wildlife, because the grass is less nutritious.
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Food
Dates Like Jesus Ate? Scientists Revive Ancient Trees From 2,000-Year-Old Seeds
Researchers in Israel have grown date palm trees from ancient seeds found at the same site as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Those trees might soon produce fruit, re-creating the taste of antiquity.
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Farmers Got Billions From Taxpayers In 2019, And Hardly Anyone Objected
Farmers got more than $22 billion in government payments in 2019 — and most of the money came through a program that Congress never approved. It's the highest level of farm subsidies in 14 years.