Christopher Walljasper, Journalist

03/02/2024

For this weekend's special episode of Reuters World News, I got to chat with some REALLY smart Reuters reporters about the voters and issues that could decide this year's general election.

I hope you will listen, and share.

How some key voting groups are thinking about the race for the White House.

01/02/2024

Ok, who do I know that is attending a Republican caucus in Iowa this year? I'm covering them for Reuters' daily podcast, and need some place to visit.

12/04/2020

House Democrats have chosen Georgia Rep. David Scott as the chairman of the House Ag Committee.

Scott is the first African American and first Georgian to fill the role.

Congressman David Scott has beenselected chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives'Agriculture Committee, becoming the first African American andfirst representative from Georgia to lead the panel.

11/23/2020

"Thanksgiving's carrying us. I don't know what's going to carry us after thanksgiving," said Greg Gunthorp, who runs pasture-raised turkeys and pigs on his farm in NE Indiana.

Small farm operators and retailers are reeling this thanksgiving, and millions are facing hunger as we gather (or don't) this holiday. Please be thankful for what you have, careful with those you love, and support those individuals and businesses in need this season.

All summer, Greg Gunthorp slaughtered and froze 15- to 24-pound turkeys on his northeastern Indiana farm for Thanksgiving sales to retailers, restaurants and families across the Midwest.

10/27/2020

While Mitch McConnell has decided we don't need anymore aid before the election, the number of people who can't afford groceries just keeps going up. It's especially hard to talk to folks in the food industry who can't buy those own food.

Yessenia Cendejas pulled up to a moving truck filled with donated food in northeastern Wisconsin, arriving at the mobile food bank straight from her job at a pizza-crust factory, to get sustenance for herself and five children.

10/19/2020

When the CDC's moratorium ends in January, there will be a flood of evictions and back rent owed.

Humbled to have been able to contribute to this story.

On Sept. 1, U.S. health officials announced they would suspend evictions across the United States to help stem further spread of the novel coronavirus.

07/07/2020

USDA's food box program came in 37% short in its first round. Nearly all companies that fell short in June had contracts renewed for July & August.

Meanwhile, overburdened food banks are being asked to carry an even greater load when these companies fail.

My latest, for Reuters.

The U.S. government delivered far less food aid than it had pledged by the end of June, according to food bank managers and data from the agriculture department sent to Reuters, after it hired inexperienced companies to box food during the pandemic.

05/15/2020

The USDA's trying to get food once bound for shuttered restaurants and docked cruise ships into the hands of hungry Americans.

But in its rush for a quick solution, the agency awarded millions of dollars to some companies that may not be up to the challenge, including a wedding planner that has never worked with farmers or distributed food.

My latest, for Reuters.

Texas-based CRE8AD8 LLC bid for a federal government contract to quickly rescue food from struggling farmers and deliver it to U.S. food banks as fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has put millions of Americans out of work and driven many to seek help putting food on the table.

05/08/2020

Most Washington state potatoes get turned into French fries for fast food, schools and restaurants. So what do you do with a billion unused potatoes?

Give them away.

When Tina Yates pulled her truck up to a mall in western Washington state on Thursday, workers waved her past hundreds of cars waiting to pick up free russet potatoes.

04/24/2020

Food banks are scrambling to keep up with the added demand from so many out of work. Donations from food companies and grocery stores are down, and USDA is trying to find a way to bridge the gap between farmers who can't get crops to restaurants and people who need food.

It’s pitch black in El Paso, Texas, when the minivans and pickups start lining up at 4 a.m., snaking for more than a mile down the desert roadway leading to the city’s largest food bank.

04/21/2020

This was from last week - just in case you were thinking our food supply is all back to normal from this pandemic ... it's not. We've got hungry people at empty food banks, while farmers are plowing under crops, because they can't sell them to distributors, who've lost restaurant business.

There should be tractors rumbling across Jack Vessey's ranch, pulling wagons full of fresh-cut romaine lettuce to be packed and shipped to restaurants and grocery stores across the United States.