Environmental pressures, climate change, biodiversity, species protection, and pollution.
This year, whether in town or in the countryside, everyone agrees that vegetable prices have soared. Yet as we complain about rising food prices, those working the land face challenges like never before. Few stop to ask: why have prices climbed so sharply, and are the farmers growing them…
I first encountered ecological agriculture around 2016. Through my work in nature education, I naturally crossed paths with practitioners in the field, learning that many were cultivating the land to produce healthier food, foster sustainable environments, and build a better way of life. Back then, I was tending flowers and…
Foodthink Says This year is on track to be the hottest on record. Yet at the recently concluded twenty-ninth UN Climate Change Conference, nations continued to dispute funding allocations, repeatedly bringing negotiations to a standstill. The climate finance gap for agriculture, in particular, remains staggering. So, when we talk about…
It is autumn harvest season once again, and whether crop stalks should be burnt has once more become a widely debated social issue. In October, open and uncontrolled burning of crop residue showed a rising trend across several areas in Hunan province, worsening air pollution in some districts. As a…
Sichuan Pepper Trees Are Moving Uphill In 2004, I was conducting field research in a village in Mao County, Sichuan. A local resident remarked, “Sichuan pepper trees are moving up the mountains.” He meant that these trees once thrived in the river valleys, but conditions have changed. They now grow…
As global warming intensifies, fall armyworm infestations have emerged as a new threat to global agricultural production. During our fieldwork in the summer of 2019 in Jixian County (a pseudonym) on the North China Plain, the arrival of the fall armyworm put the entire county on ‘wartime’ footing. The fall…
I. A Village Party Secretary, Out of Nowhere “Ecological farming?” Fan Hanquan, who had been facing away from us, suddenly turned around. “I’d like to give it a try.” I was taken slightly aback. It was 23 February 2022. I remember the date so clearly because, since I first arrived…
Today, 13 October 2024, marks the 35th International Day for Disaster Reduction. Established by the United Nations, this observance aims to draw international attention to the importance of disaster prevention and mitigation. Over the past year, increasingly erratic natural disasters ravaging regions across the country remain the greatest threat to…
In late September, as the rainy season in Xishuangbanna draws to a close, Qin Xianrong—a youth from the post-90s generation who has returned to his roots—drove us north from Mengyang Town in Jinghong City to visit his ecological planting base in Dadugang Township. To reach Dadugang, one must pass through…
Last week, the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai region endured back-to-back strikes from two typhoons registering Category 10 or above, all within four days—a historic rarity. Around 7:30 am on 16 September 2024, Typhoon Koppu made landfall near Lingang New City on the Pudong coast, Shanghai. At landfall, it packed Category 14 winds near…
