/EINPresswire.com/ -- WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - May 02, 2017) - The Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN) has partnered with California Foodways to expand the scope and reach of the critically-acclaimed public radio series by award-winning reporter and producer Lisa Morehouse. With $45,000 in new funding from California Humanities, a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, FERN and Morehouse will embark on a second phase of the California Foodways series that will focus on reporting in the Central Valley and rural Northern California, producing a podcast, and partnering with history professors around the state to develop audio storytelling assignments about food and agriculture. In California Foodways, Morehouse travels county-by-county in California, reporting stories that explore the intersection of food, culture, history, labor, economy, and environment.

California Foodways airs on KQED's The California Report and over 30 public radio stations throughout the state. Segments have also run on NPR's Weekend Edition and The Salt, Latino USA, and other national radio programs.

Last year, Morehouse won an Edward R. Murrow award for "Grapes of Wrath: The Forgotten Filipino-Americans Who Led the '65 Delano Grape Strike," produced in partnership with FERN and KQED. She also won a 2015 Arts and Culture award from the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California, and is currently a finalist for a 2017 James Beard media award.

"Lisa has carved out a really special place in radio, telling vibrant and moving stories about food and agriculture from all around California," said FERN Editor-in-Chief Sam Fromartz. "We're so glad that she's become a project of FERN. With the renewed support of California Humanities, Lisa will be able to expand California Foodways even further."

In past collaborations with FERN, Morehouse has produced stories about Japanese American farmers incarcerated during World War II; a Calaveras County farm community healing after years of drought, fire, and soil erosion; and a Nevada County explorer on a quest to save heirloom fruit and nut trees.

California Foodways has been supported by the UC Berkeley - 11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship, the Fund for Environmental Journalism, and Invoking the Pause in addition to California Humanities.

About FERN

The Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN) is the first and only independent, nonprofit, news organization that produces award-winning, high-impact investigative and explanatory reporting on food, agriculture, and environmental health through partnerships with regional and national media outlets. Through impartial "watchdog" journalism, FERN seeks to shine a light on injustices and abuses of power within the food system -- both corporate and governmental -- while taking full measure of the true impact food and agriculture have on public health and the environment. FERN's vision has resulted in partnerships with more than 45 media outlets including Mother Jones, Harper's Magazine, and The Atlantic and scores of stories that have reached millions of people. FERN has been honored by the James Beard Foundation, Association of Health Care Journalists, The Society of Professional Journalists, National Headliner Awards, New York Press Club Journalism Awards, and the New York Society of CPA's Excellence in Financial Journalism Awards.

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