Start Small, Before Tackling the Big Picture | Food & Agriculture Climate Action: Call for Applications

The Earth is on the brink of breaching the 1.5°C warming threshold. Coral bleaching has affected 84% of reefs worldwide, marking the largest and most severe bleaching event on record. As Arctic permafrost thaws, it threatens to accelerate the warming process further. We are now triggering the first climate tipping points.

No one is an island. Throughout 2025 alone, Chinese agriculture has been struck by a series of record-breaking extreme weather events. The incidents documented by Foodthink so far include:

☔️ Half a year of drought, half a year of floods: Guangxi farmers mark record-breaking flood lines on their walls;

☀️ A drought unseen in sixty years leaves Guanzhong, Shaanxi farmers worrying over watering their wheat, “the more grain you grow, the poorer you get”;

⛈️ At 4 a. m., a 400-mu farm in Miyun, Beijing is swallowed by floodwaters;

🌾 Spring droughts intensify, prompting Yunnan farmers to turn to upland rice;

💨 Just before harvest, Typhoon Huajiasa severely damages cage aquaculture and fruit farming in Yangjiang, Guangdong;

⚡️ Unprecedented disasters are here, yet our disaster response remains a trial-and-error approach, reminiscent of Shennong tasting a hundred herbs;

🌽 Relentless autumn rains cause maize to rot; will farmers in northern China soon need grain dryers as a must-have?

The impact of climate change on our daily meals extends far beyond how farmland and farmers endure extreme heat, droughts, floods, and spreading pests. It is just as evident in cities, where vegetable prices soar, produce turns bitter, and delivery riders are left with waterlogged, blistered feet. When sweltering temperatures and torrential rain coincide with cutthroat delivery competition, how is the burden of securing a hot meal shifted onto riders? As extreme weather becomes the new normal and outdoor work grows increasingly perilous, do we need new risk-sharing mechanisms?

Of course, from farm to fork, the effects of climate change are not exclusively negative. For example, warmer and wetter conditions in the north are allowing more “southern vegetables” to be cultivated further north, while rising accumulated temperatures are pushing wine-growing regions northward. Simply put: the climate is shifting, and we must adapt alongside it. The crucial question is how we can rebuild resilience and turn crisis into opportunity as climate patterns increasingly drift from the historical norm. The answers lie in diverse, place-based, and equitable frontline practices.

This has long been Foodthink’s guiding principle. Since launching the first phase of the “Lianhe Plan” small-action funding in 2019, we have supported 25 partners across three rounds, helping them deliver projects rooted in the land and community—such as organising technical training in ecological agriculture, running food education programmes, hosting farmers’ markets, and establishing community seed banks (view the selected projects from Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3). Two further phases of the “Lianhe Plan” have been dedicated to supporting content creation and production within the food and agriculture sector.

In September 2025, Foodthink published the research report *Action Paths for Rural Social Organizations in Responding to Climate Change*, which found that the core of climate resilience lies in empowering the people and communities directly affected by climate change. This empowerment is not merely about technological advancement, but about mobilising existing community resources, knowledge, and experience to build cooperative relationships grounded in mutual trust. Furthermore, strengthening agricultural resilience must ensure the wellbeing and dignity of producers—that is, farmers.

In recent years, the climate sector has seen a proliferation of new agricultural concepts: climate-smart agriculture, regenerative agriculture, agrivoltaics, AI-enabled farming, zero-carbon villages, and low-carbon agriculture, now featured in the 2026 No. 1 Document. Yet behind these seemingly perfect labels, there is rarely a place for the voices of real people or practical methods that frontline farmers can actually use. We aim to explore climate solutions that are rooted in the land, driven by genuine needs, and harness the intrinsic strengths of communities.

With this in mind, Foodthink is launching the sixth phase of the Lianhe Plan micro-grant to support place-based solutions for transforming food systems in the context of climate change. Selected applicants will receive funding between 5,000 and 30,000 RMB, alongside communications and professional resource support. For projects that do not secure funding but are already underway or have concrete proposals, we will also provide communications resources and channels, helping to connect applicants with peers, pioneers, and experts. This will help bring these projects to life and bring them to a wider audience, enriching the sector’s understanding of the practical textures of resilience through vivid, real-world examples.

Foodthink looks forward to witnessing and supporting your action!

 – Eligibility – 

 – Application timeline and process – 

 – Review panel – 

Du Ling | Director of the Chengdu Shuguang Community Development Capacity-Building Centre

Meng Fanqiao | Professor, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University; Director of the Environmental Impact Assessment Centre, China Agricultural University
Liu Juan | Associate Professor, College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University; Researcher, Beijing Rural Revitalisation and Urban-Rural Integration Development Innovation Centre

Li Dajun | Director of Industry Development Projects, Beijing Heyi Green Charity Foundation

Kong Lingyu | Project Director, Foodthink

Partners in Guangdong are encouraged to prioritise applications for the Greater Bay Area Climate Action Micro-Grant, jointly initiated by the Qianhe Community Charity Foundation of Guangdong Province and the Zhushui Yunshan Nature Conservation Foundation of Guangdong Province. Foodthink will coordinate with the grant team to avoid duplicate funding.

Coordinator: Lingyu

Project Manager: ZX