Mark Bittman meets with UC Berkeley's Jennifer Sowerwine, who studies the cultural and ethnic dimensions of food security among Hmong farmers in the Central Valley. Together, they discuss the challenges facing these micro-farmers, and pick up produce at a Hmong stall at the Berkeley Farmers Market. 

The anticipated El Niño of 2015 could help farmers in California, but this climate phenomenon typically 'creates winners and losers on a global scale,' write UC Berkeley’s Solomon Hsiang and UC Santa Barbara's Kyle Meng.

Venture out into the fields of Salinas with Mark Bittman as he interviews UC Berkeley's Brenda Eskenazi. She leads the CHAMACOS study, which follows children born between 2000-02 and assesses the impact of pesticides and other environmental chemicals (like flame retardants) on their long-term health.

Mark Bittman explores the lush 30-acre farm at UC Santa Cruz — offering hands-on apprenticeship, research opportunities and produce since 1967.

This year's crop is shaping up to be 50 percent or more empty shells. UC Cooperative Extension and other experts are trying to help growers adapt to conditions that make this happen.

Berkeley pioneer of the farm-to-table movement Alice Waters received the National Humanities Medal at the White House.

The Gates Foundation has aided in the distribution of "scuba rice," a variety developed by UC Davis and UC Riverside researchers that can withstand floods that would otherwise destroy crops.

Go back to school with Mark Bittman and step into a San Francisco school cafeteria that’s piloting a new initiative aiming to engage kids to eat more healthful meals.

The effects of sugar can take your body down a vicious cycle known as metabolic syndrome.  At UC Davis, Kimber Stanhope studies these effects to understand what sugar does to our body.

San Francisco is adding warning labels on advertisements for sugary beverages; UCSF's Laura Schmidt, who helped advise the city on the first-in-the-nation law, is interviewed.

A researcher working with UC Riverside scientists has developed a simple test designed to detect two of the most virulent bacteria facing today’s farmers.

Mindy Lubber and UC Irvine's Jay Famiglietti: Food production, the world’s biggest water user, is a major underlying cause of dropping water tables and sinking land in the drought-plagued Central Valley and around the globe.