Ethics and Policies

Our organization retains full authority over editorial content to protect the best journalistic and business interests of our organization. We maintain a firewall between news coverage decisions and sources of all revenue. Acceptance of financial support does not constitute implied or actual endorsement of donors or their products, services, or opinions.

We accept gifts, grants, and sponsorships from individuals and organizations for the general support of our activities, but our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support.

Our organization may consider donations to support the coverage of particular topics, but we maintain editorial control of the coverage. We will cede no right of review or influence of editorial content, nor of unauthorized distribution of editorial content.

Modern Farmer is fiscally sponsored by Acceso Impact, a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. This relationship is invaluable to our operation; we admire the work of Acesso, which supports positive economic change in the lives of rural smallholder farming families. Acceso Impact has no influence or authority over the editorial coverage at Modern Farmer. Our editorial team, supported by our independent journalism advisory board, maintains full autonomy from Acceso Impact.

We are committed to transparency in every aspect of funding our organization.

Accepting financial support does not mean we endorse donors or their products, services, or opinions. We accept gifts, grants, and sponsorships from individuals, organizations, and foundations to help with our general operations, coverage of specific topics, and special projects. We may receive funds from standard government programs offered to nonprofits or similar businesses.

Our news judgments are made independently—not based on or influenced by donors or any revenue source. We do not give supporters the rights to assign, review, or edit content.

We make public all revenue sources and donors who give $5,000 or more per year. You can view this information on our Funders and Supporters page. We avoid charitable donations from anonymous sources, government entities, political parties, elected officials, or candidates seeking public office. We will not accept donations from sources that present a conflict of interest with our work or compromise our independence.

Modern Farmer was initially established in 2013 as a for-profit print publication funded by Canadian financier and philanthropist Frank Giustra. In 2022, Modern Farmer made the transition to not-for-profit status, with a renewed mandate to build resilience in the North American food system. At that time, a new leadership team was established to ensure independent operation, and we secured a relationship with Acceso Impact, a US 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that provides fiscal sponsorship and operational support to Modern Farmer.

Our transition to non-profit status was supported in our first year by a generous donation from Food Intelligence, a Canadian charitable entity with a mandate to support non-profit initiatives that enhance awareness and education about key issues related to food and agriculture.

Food Intelligence continues to support Modern Farmer’s work as we identify future revenue sources and funding opportunities.

Modern Farmer strives for accuracy in its reporting. If we publish an error, we commit to correcting or clarifying it in a timely and transparent manner. A Modern Farmer editor will issue the correction following these guidelines:

• When a story contains a significant mistake or an error, the correction should appear in italics atop the original story, with the preface “For the record:”. The correction must be written in a way that makes clear the error that is being corrected.
• When a story contains a minor factual error, the correction may appear at the bottom of the story, again in italics and with the preface “Correction:”.
• When a story contains a word misspelling or other typo that does not otherwise affect the accuracy of the story, editors may make those fixes. These do not require an italicized correction notice, except in the cases of proper nouns.

If we know of other publications that have republished our story, we will contact those outlets directly to communicate the correction.

If you identify an error in our content, or wish to request a correction, please email us at [email protected].

Our news organization is committed to editorial independence and transparency in all of our reporting. As such, any collaboration with external partners must align with our mission and uphold our commitment to editorial excellence.

We approach editorial collaborations with the following guidelines in mind:

• All collaborations must be disclosed to our readers, including the names of any partners and the nature of the collaboration. This disclosure will be made in a prominent location, such as the top of the story or on a dedicated page on our website, and it will be clearly labeled as a collaboration. Any financial support for a collaboration will also be prominently disclosed.
• Our editorial staff maintains full control over the content produced by our outlet as part of the collaboration. This includes maintaining control over the reporting, writing, editing, and fact-checking of all content produced as part of the collaboration. If there is disagreement on the final versions of stories, any participant has the right to not publish a story that has been created from a collaboration.
• We will not enter into collaborations that compromise our ethical, content, and reporting standards or that would give the appearance of a conflict of interest. This includes collaborations with partners that have a financial interest in the outcome of the story or that have a history of attempting to influence our reporting.

In addition to these guidelines, we also have the following proactive measures in place to ensure the integrity of our collaborations:

• We will establish clear guidelines and expectations with partners before entering into a collaboration and pursue only those projects that advance our editorial mission. This includes discussing and agreeing upon the goals and objectives of the collaboration, as well as the roles and responsibilities of each party. Collaboration partners will be expected to fact check their own pieces and to adhere to the highest journalistic standards for accuracy and fairness.
• We will review the work produced as part of the collaboration before it is published to ensure that it aligns with our standards and practices.
• We will have an open line of communication with partners throughout the collaboration to address any issues or concerns that may arise.

By adhering to these guidelines, we ensure that our collaborations enhance our reporting and serve the public interest.