Vera L. Chang is a University of California Berkeley Environmental Science, Policy, and Management Doctoral Candidate; National Science Foundation Fellow; Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Dissertation Fellow; and Berkeley Food Institute Researcher. She recently completed a Solutions Journalism Network Fellowship and Clif Bar Family Foundation Fellowship. Vera researches human rights, social transformation, and shifts in power in corporate-controlled supply chains.

Previously, Vera was Public Relations and Marketing Director for Shelburne Farms, where she oversaw media and messaging for its internationally-recognized 1,400-acre diversified farm and forest, farmstead cheese, restaurant, and education programs. Before that, Vera was a Bon Appétit Management Company Fellow, where she worked with top management to support the company's initiatives for large-scale food systems change. While at a Fellow, Vera managed and co-authored the most comprehensive report on the state of farm labor, the Inventory of Farmworker Issues and Protections in the United States (Bon Appétit, United Farm Workers, and Oxfam America, 2011). 

Vera’s research and reporting have been highlighted in the New York Times, Mother Jones Food, LA Weekly, Grist, the Aspen Institute, Worldwatch Institute, and Center for Science in the Public Interest. Her writing has been published in The Guardian, Food & Wine, Civil Eats, Bitch magazine, National Public Radio’s KQED, and Japan Agriculture News. Her photographs have appeared in TIME, CNBC, Forbes, National Public Radio, Grist, Crosscut, and Seattle Magazine.

Vera holds a Bachelor of the Arts with honors in Global Ethics from Carleton College and certificates in Ecological Horticulture from University of California Santa Cruz and Permaculture Design from University of Massachusetts Amherst. 

In the News

University of California Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management: Recent Photography Exhibition Features Work by ESPM Graduate Student (October 18, 2022)
University of California Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management: Vera L. Chang Selected as Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Fellow (June 25, 2021)
Coalition of Immokalee Workers: When Farmworkers Have the Opportunity to Transform Their Work Culture on Their Own Terms, They Seize it (June 22, 2021)
Coalition of Immokalee Workers: 2021 Fair Food Program Reading List (January 8, 2021)
Civil Eats: Our Best Food System Solutions Stories of 2020 (December 31, 2020)
Coalition of Immokalee Workers: Let’s Make 2021 the Year of Worker-driven Social Responsibility (December 29, 2020)
Civil Eats: 25 Reasons to Support Civil Eats on #GivingTuesday: A Selection of Our Best Stories this Year (December 1, 2020)
University of California Newsroom: Serve Your Community at Your Thanksgiving Table (November 19, 2020)
UC Berkeley Rausser College of Natural Resources: Student Spotlight: Vera L. Chang (September 3, 2020)
Green Queen: The World Must Protect Vulnerable Food and Farmworkers Amidst Covid-19 (April 27, 2020)
Artist David Bernie: World News #37: Risking Their Lives (Essential Workers) (April 16, 2020)
Othering and Belonging Institute, University of California Berkeley: Who Belongs? Episode 21: ICE Raids, Farmworkers, and the COVID-19 Crisis (April 14, 2020)
UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Management: PhD Student Receives Solutions Journalism Fellowship (March 13, 2020)
Food and Agriculture Reporting Network: FERN’s Friday Feed: Ending Sexual Harassment of Farmworkers (March 13, 2020)
New Hope Network: 5@5: Antibiotics’ Effects on Manure, Protecting Farmworkers, SNAP Rule Waivers Available (March 11, 2020)
Politico: Civil Eats Dives into How a Worker-Led Coalition has Nearly Eliminated Sexual Harassment (March 10, 2020)
Solutions Journalism Network: Solutions Story Tracker (March 9, 2020)
Bon Appetit Management Company: Celebrating 10 Years of the Fellows Program: Vera Chang (September 21, 2019)
Journalism.co.uk: #MeToo #SolutionsToo Grants Enable Journalists to Report on Sexual Offenses (January 22, 2019)
Civil Eats: Our Best Food Justice Stories from 2018 (December 27, 2018)
Civil Eats: The Inspiring Women Reshaping the Food System (August 6, 2018)
UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Management: Vera Chang Awarded Visual Sociology Prize (June 25, 2018)
Food and Agriculture Reporting Network: FERN’s Friday Feed: Fighting Harassment in the Fields (May 29, 2019)
Mother Jones Food: Top Food News (May 27, 2018)
Civil Eats: Our Best Environment Stories from 2016 (December 22, 2016)
The Aspen Institute: Five Best Ideas of the Day (December 21, 2016)
Heritage Radio Network (What Doesn't Kill You): Shelburne Farms: Episode 193 (June 6, 2016)
Babson College Blog: Contextualizing Food Entrepreneur Questions Series (January 19, 2016) 
Civil Eats: Editor's Note: 2015 Was a Big Year for Food & Farming News (December 14, 2015)
The New York Times: 36 Hours in Burlington, Vermont (August 19, 2015)
Heritage Radio Network: The Farm Report: Episode 236 (minutes 15:30-22:00) (June 2015)
WPTZ News Channel 5: People Attend Screening on Documentary About Farm Workers' Rights (April 2015)
Good Food Jobs Gastronomes: Vera L. Chang, Public Relations and Marketing Director, Shelburne Farms (Feb 2015)
WCAX: Art Exhibit Spans the State (Oct 2014)
Examiner.com: 10 Questions for Local Food Entrepreneur Vera Chang (Sept 2014)
LA Weekly: Read This Now: Bitch Magazine's Food Issue (Jan 2014)
The New York Times: Restaurant Chains Try to Woo a Younger Generation (June 2013)
Philip Ackerman Leist: Rebuilding the Foodshed: How to Create Local, Sustainable, and Secure Food Systems (2013)
Bon Appétit Management Company: “CEO Fedele Bauccio Honored for Supporting Farmworkers: California Rural Legal Assistance Bestows 2011 Cruz Reynoso-Ralph Abascal Don Quixote Award” (Oct 3, 2011)
California Institute for Rural Studies’ Rural California Report: “Farmworker Inventory Details the Situation in the Fields” (April 16, 2012)
Grist: Startling New Report Shines Light on Farm Labor Conditions – And They Ain’t Good (April 2011)
Civil Eats: New Farmworker Report Paints a Big, Grim Picture (April 2011)
Zester Daily: Better Food, Designed by Students (Feb 2011)
The Voice: Food for Thought (Carleton College alumni magazine cover story) (Winter 2008)
Minneapolis Star Tribune: Good Food? It’s Academic (Aug 2008)
Inside Higher Education: Energy in the Dorms (January 25, 2008)
Inside Higher Education: Campus Food From Around the Corner (Nov 2007)

Honors

Diverse Voices Fellowship, Food and Environmental Writing Workshop, Writing the Wrongs program at Sterling College, 2022
Dissertation Fellowship, University of California Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, 2021-2022
Awardee, Michael B. Winton Family Fund, 2021
Graduate Fellowship, Clif Bar Family Foundation, 2019-2020
Reporting Fellowship, Solutions Journalism, 2018
Finalist, Dorothea Lange Documentary Photography Fellowship, 2018
Graduate Research Fellowship Program, National Science Foundation, 2018-2023
Predoctoral Fellowship (honorable mention), Ford Foundation, 2018
Rachel Tanur Memorial Prize for Visual Sociology (third place), Social Science Research Council, 2018
Berkeley Food Institute Graduate Student Research Award, UC Berkeley, Summer 2017, Fall 2017, Summer 2018
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, UC Berkeley, Summer 2017
Graduate Division Travel Grant, UC Berkeley, Spring 2017
Environmental Science, Policy, & Management Starter Grant, UC Berkeley, 2016
Environmental Science, Policy, & Management Graduate Student Research Award, UC Berkeley, Fall 2016
Stewsie Sustainability Award, Carleton College, 2008
Student Leadership Award, Carleton College, 2008
Udall Scholarship (honorable mention), Udall Foundation, 2008
Environmental Studies Fellowship, Carleton College, 2008
Maitland-Will Prize, Carleton College, 2007
Parent’s Fund for Academic Excellence, Carleton College, 2007
Dean of Students Leadership Grant, Carleton College, 2007