2026 · CLIMATE
Quebec · Land & environment
The Last Catch
On the St. Lawrence, a world is vanishing with the last people who still know how to read it.
Read the story →© Nicolas Mesly
01 / 08
FIELD REPORTING · AUTHOR · PHOTO ESSAYS · INVESTIGATIONS · AGRICULTURE · ENVIRONMENT · FIELD REPORTING · AUTHOR ·
NICOLAS MESLY / INDEPENDENT FIELD JOURNALISM
20+years in the field
30journalism awards
3languages
10+countries
Latest · 2025—2026
Agriculture on the front line.
Recent reporting on climate, trade power and food sovereignty.
WASHINGTON · FARM BILL · TRADEDOSSIER · U.S. AGRICULTURAL POLICY
Washington, seen from the fields.
For nearly twenty years, Nicolas Mesly has followed the American decisions reshaping agriculture, trade and food sovereignty.
Explore the dossier →
Nicolas Mesly · Author
Terres d’asphalte
Quebec farmland under pressure
An essential investigation into Quebec farmland—under pressure from speculation, urban sprawl and a changing climate.
Discover the book →Selected work · 2002—2020
Stories of land, water and power
Long-form field reporting from the places where agriculture meets ecology, economics and human life.
01Quebec · 2020
The Last Catch
Roger Michaud is one of Lake Saint-Pierre’s last commercial fishers. An ancestral knowledge risks disappearing with him.
Read the story →
02Eeyou Istchee · 2017
The Matsutake Mercenaries
In James Bay, a mushroom worth more than gold draws pickers, entrepreneurs and competing claims.
Read the story →
03Haiti · 2014
The Black Slave of White Rice
Should Haiti remain dependent on American rice—or rebuild support for its own agriculture?
Read the story →
04Quebec · 2018
Farming the Shoreline?
Lake Saint-Pierre is dying. Intensive farming on its floodplain sits at the heart of the investigation.
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05Quebec · 2016
Antler Wars
An award-winning photographic investigation into a territory, its wildlife and those who pursue it.
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06Alberta · 2015
In Alberta, Water Catches Fire
Beneath the prairie, energy extraction transforms water, farms and entire communities.
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07Oaxaca, Mexico · 2015
The Price of the Tortilla
In Oaxaca, corn, migration and women’s labour reveal a global food crisis.
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08Quebec · 2018
When Farming Kills
An in-depth investigation into suicide and psychological distress among Quebec farmers.
Read the story →Talks · Keynotes
Defining issues, told from the field.
Nicolas Mesly turns more than twenty years of reporting into rigorous, vivid and accessible talks.
- 01Dangerous connections — agriculture, power and global trade
- 02Water, the defining issue of the 21st century
- 03Terres d’asphalte — land and food sovereignty
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EDITORIAL POSITION
The field before the noise.
Neither spectacle nor distance. Immersive photography, journalism built on presence, and stories patient enough to reveal what power would prefer to leave outside the frame.
EDITORIAL TRUST
Trusted by editors.
“Our contributor Nicolas Mesly is one of the few journalists focused on agricultural and agri-food issues. He brings the rigour of investigative journalism.”
Jean-François Harel · Editor, Coopérateur
“He has a gift for explaining new agricultural technologies. He finds headlines readers want to open, and his work is rigorous.”
Yvon Thérien, agr. · Editor, Le Bulletin des agriculteurs
“Nicolas writes with a rare commitment to his craft, using techniques of world-class journalists to bring his stories and the people in them to life.”
John Morriss · Associate Publisher, Farm Business Communications
The eye
Understand before showing.
Nicolas Mesly is a Canadian reporter, photographer and agronomist based in Montreal. For more than twenty years, he has documented agri-food, ecological and human issues in Quebec and around the world.
30+ / HONOURS
Kenneth R. Wilson Awards · National Magazine Awards · AJIQ · ACRA
PUBLICATIONS & COLLABORATIONS
L’actualitéRadio-CanadaQuébec ScienceThe Globe and MailCountry GuideLa France AgricoleASSIGNMENTS · TALKS · COLLABORATIONS