Food production, farmers, rural society, and ecological farming practices.
Early in 2024, Foodthink opened applications for the third edition of our Ecological Agriculture Internship Programme. Our aim is to connect young people eager to pursue careers in ecological agriculture with established eco-farms. This will equip the newcomers with practical farming knowledge and skills, while allowing experienced growers to document…
How do you tell if your fruit and vegetables are any good? Judging them purely by how neat and uniform they look? Yet why do all those irregular, “ugly” fruits and vegetables vanish the moment they reach the shelves? It isn’t a genetic mutation; it’s market selection. If consumers judge…
As 2024 began, farmer protests swept across Europe, spreading like wildfire from Germany. At the peak of the demonstrations in mid-January, over 30,000 farmers drove more than 5,000 tractors from across Germany to protest in Berlin. The direct trigger for these protests was the German government’s announcement at the end…
Foodthink Says Organic farming is no pastoral idyll, and young people joining Foodthink’s Lianhe Project ecological farming internship programme have long been mentally prepared for this. Yet, once out in the fields, through day-to-day labour and observation, they develop an entirely fresh perspective on farmers, ecological agriculture and farm management,…
Near San Yuan Bridge in Beijing sits an unusual community greengrocer. Every fruit and vegetable arrives directly from local ecological smallholder farmers. Each item is individually identifiable, grown without pesticides or synthetic fertilisers, and adheres to rigorous production standards. The shop, named Jishi, is run by the Beijing Organic Farmers…
Since its establishment in August 2017, Foodthink has chronicled the stories of dozens of small-scale ecological farmers across the country. Standing apart from conventional agriculture, they have navigated numerous setbacks and learned through costly experience. Yet, after years of dedication, they have amassed a wealth of practical expertise in production…
Over a year ago, the entire Foodthink team “took over” a community produce shop run by the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market. For a single day, we handled every aspect of the shop’s operations, delivered impressive sales figures, won our “wager,” and successfully completed the first ever “Occupy the Shop” mission!…
Foodthink Says In the final episode of the recently acclaimed drama Blossoms Shanghai, protagonist Bao Zong quotes a famous line from Gone with the Wind — “Only land remains eternal” — before retiring to the fields of Chuansha on Shanghai’s outskirts. Had his plot not been sold to Disney or…
Longtime Foodthink readers will likely already know the name ‘Grandma Kouzi’. Since 2021, this woman nearing sixty has chosen to relocate to ‘Evil Valley’ in Fujian, building her own home, tending the crops herself, carving out a sanctuary from barren land, and exploring a self-sufficient way of life. In this…
“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…
