Food and Agriculture Reporter

Straight Arrow

7h•Remote

About The Position

Straight Arrow is seeking a Food and Agriculture Reporter to investigate the complex systems behind how America is fed. This role will delve into farming, food production, supply chains, pricing, policy, and environmental impacts, exploring how these factors influence consumer choices and create economic stress, political conflict, and cultural confusion. The reporter will uncover hidden mechanics, break original stories, and decode narratives surrounding the food economy, connecting farm-level activities to the lived experiences of consumers. The position emphasizes accountability reporting, making sense of food as both an economic system and a cultural artifact, and demonstrating how power structures and information framing affect what Americans eat and pay for.

Requirements

3-5 years of proven experience as a reporter covering food systems and agriculture.
Demonstrated ability to generate scoops and exclusives through sourcing, records and persistence.
Experience reporting on antitrust, litigation, regulatory agencies or corporate accountability is strongly preferred.
Comfort working with data, public records and legal documents.
Strong researching, writing, and storytelling skills; proficiency in AP Style.
Ability to explain complex systems clearly without advocacy or oversimplification.
Comfort working under tight deadlines while managing longer-term enterprise projects.
Familiarity with SEO, CMS tools (such as WordPress), and audience analytics.
Experience with multimedia or cross-platform journalism, or willingness to learn.
Commitment to clarity, transparency and unbiased reporting.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in journalism, environmental studies, agriculture, economics, public policy, or a related field is preferred.

Responsibilities

Break exclusive, original stories on food and agriculture, including pricing, consolidation, labor, regulation and industry practices.
Report on farming, food production, and supply chains with attention to economic power, market dynamics and consumer impact.
Investigate antitrust issues, lawsuits, regulatory enforcement actions, and government oversight related to agribusiness and the food system.
Analyze how policy decisions, corporate behavior and environmental pressures shape food availability, affordability and the choices consumers ultimately see reflected in menus and food trends.
Use data, public records, court filings and regulatory documents to support enterprise and investigative reporting.
Cover daily news, such as price swings, shortages, and legal or policy developments, with speed, clarity and context.
Examine how food and agriculture issues are framed by media, industry groups and political actors – and what those narratives obscure.
Regularly pitch story ideas for breaking news, explainers, and longer-term investigations aligned with SAN’s mission.
Develop sources across farming, agribusiness, restaurants, labor, government, legal and academic communities.
Collaborate with editors and multimedia teams to translate reporting into digital, video and social formats.