Environmental pressures, climate change, biodiversity, species protection, and pollution.
Foodthink Says “Tea plucked before Qingming is worth its weight in gold.” Spring teas harvested and processed ahead of the Qingming Festival often command premium prices, representing the most crucial annual yield for many growers. Should extreme weather trigger a shortfall, the notoriously brief harvesting and market window for this…
Over twenty years ago, a group of pioneering farmers and social organisations charted a path for ‘ecological agriculture’ in China. Motivated by a commitment to food safety and a profound dedication to environmental stewardship, they began cultivating the land without pesticides, synthetic fertilisers, or herbicides. Whether they were newcomers starting…
“Save our rice!” “IRRI, get out!” In October 2023, these furious chants echoed across several Filipino farmer protest rallies. The demonstrations took direct aim at the Sixth International Rice Congress, hosted by the International Rice Research Institute (hereafter IRRI). Against the backdrop of climate change and the drive to cut…
I. The fruit buyers didn’t come this year On 13 December 2023, in Huichang County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province – the heartland of Gannan navel oranges – Liao Hai, a farmer born in the 1990s, and his mother, Auntie Zou, were getting ready to start the harvest. Early that morning,…
A Note from Foodthink In early August this year, Wuchang in Heilongjiang province was struck by rare torrential rain and severe flooding, submerging around 40 per cent of its 2.5 million mu of farmland. Two months on from the floods, live-streaming hosts were already pushing Wuchang rice on e-commerce platforms.…
“When yellow croaker graces the table, it’s worth its weight in gold.” In Zhejiang and Shanghai, wild large yellow croaker has long been a traditional banquet centrepiece, chosen as much for its auspicious symbolism as its flavour. Along China’s coastline, perhaps no other fish has experienced a fate so fraught…
The 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) has opened in Dubai. While humanity continues to squabble over how to shoulder the burden of saving the planet—over who should bear the costs, and who must step outside their comfort zones to transform entrenched…
Over the past few years, media reports have frequently highlighted cases of street traders being fined for selling leeks, celery and other produce with pesticide residues exceeding permitted levels. Fines have ranged from as little as 5,000 to tens of thousands. High-end supermarkets and mid-to-upmarket online grocers, upon which both…
Torrential rain, flooding, typhoons, droughts… Under the threat of climate change, farmers are invariably the first to bear the brunt of the damage. Yet what is often overlooked is that, in seeking to avert these losses, they are also the most proactive in taking adaptive measures. Last year, the International…
Those who have studied permaculture will likely be familiar with the name Sepp Holzer. As a pioneer in the field, Holzer is almost a household name in Austria, and his book *Holzer’s Permaculture* has long served as a foundational guide for enthusiasts worldwide. This June, I travelled to Krameterhof, the…
