Extreme weather, agricultural carbon emissions, adaptation, and mitigation strategies.
The sweltering summer is about to end, but the autumn rains may prove just as chilling. This summer has been far from typical. Extreme rainfall and scorching heatwaves have swept across the country in quick succession. Surface temperatures in Shaanxi peaked at a staggering 72.9°C. Harbin, deep in the northeast,…
Foodthink says *Disappearing Food* is a book that explores the global crisis of food diversity, serving as a vital call to action for the conservation of local germplasm resources and the preservation of cultural heritage. On 9 July, Foodthink and Beiye Books jointly launched the *Disappearing Food* online reading group…
Not long ago, Nature Cities published an article detailing how urban residents in China shift the risks of heat exposure onto food delivery riders simply by ordering takeaway. The logic is straightforward enough, but when torrential rain or scorching heatwaves strike, the delivery rider is reduced to little more than…
If you visit Pu’er in Yunnan this spring, you’ll find coffee farmers everywhere in high spirits. Green coffee bean prices have been climbing steadily for a year, jumping from 38 yuan per kilogram in early 2024 to 66 yuan per kilogram by May this year—a surge that has even outpaced…
Foodthink Says This summer, extreme heatwaves have repeatedly struck Sichuan. Climate change is rendering the southwest region both hotter and drier. Those living in the countryside understand all too well what this entails: scorching temperatures force farmers to completely overhaul their working hours and significantly raise the risk of heatstroke…
I. Climate Change Through the Eyes of Smallholders: Spring Drought, Soil, and Grain Storage With just three days to go until the summer solstice, Yang Xiuyou finally welcomed a heavy downpour. The rain began on the evening of 17 June, alternating between heavy squalls and lighter spells, and continued well…
Foodthink Says Thirty-one elderly residents at a care home in Taishitun Town, Miyun, Beijing, have died. A minibus carrying fourteen female chilli-pickers in Shanxi vanished in the torrential downpours. In the aftermath of these record-breaking floods, each account is heartbreaking, yet they compel us to confront a pressing question: how…
Foodthink Editorial Torrential rain has struck Beijing once again. This time, the flooding has swept through the northern mountainous regions. Upstream of the Miyun Reservoir, water inflow reached its highest level since the reservoir was first constructed in 1959, peaking at 6,550 cubic metres per second — but what does…
Farmer Sun Wenxiang stood barefoot in the concrete courtyard to greet us, his feet broad and weathered. It was early July in Hongya County, Meishan City, Sichuan Province, and a series of heavy downpours had just moved through. These marked a rare few days of respite from the seasonal workload.…
Foodthink Says “Half the year we bake, the other half we drown.” Farmers across parts of Guangxi are weathering unprecedented natural disasters. It started with an once-in-sixty-years drought. From November last year to April this year, average rainfall across Guangxi fell nearly 70 per cent short of the long-term average,…
