In an investigative reporting collaboration with Lighthouse Reports and other international media partners, The New Lede reveals the inner workings of a vast international campaign orchestrated by pesticide industry proponents to downplay pesticide dangers, neutralize pesticide critics, and promote policies that benefit makers of pesticides and genetically engineered crops. Some of the work, including the creation of critical profiles of individuals the pesticide industry sees as opponents, was financed in part by US taxpayer dollars, according to documents unearthed in the investigation.

The collaborative Poison PR series won the One World Media Environmental Reporting Award in June 2025, and in August 2025 was shortlisted as one of 10 investigations for the Investigative Journalism for Europe awards.