Digital technology, agricultural technology, AI, and biotechnology applications in food and farming.
Foodthink says As delivery riders face exploitation and gruelling workloads, merchants struggle with exorbitant commissions, and consumers are served food without proper health safeguards, a growing number of people have begun to critique and scrutinise platform enterprises. Beyond mere criticism, however, can we envision an alternative platform model? What would…
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…
Foodthink Says 16 October marks the 44th World Food Day, with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) designating this year’s global theme as: “Food Security for All, Building a Better Life, Creating a Brighter Future.” Advocates and promoters of GM technology have long packaged it as the premier solution…
A Note from Foodthink Released this August, the film Another Day Full of Hope stands out not only as the most profound exploration to date of food delivery and algorithms, but also as a rare work of realist cinema in recent years. On 4 September, Foodthink invited director Liu Taifeng…
In August 2024, two feature films about the food delivery industry premiered. Coinciding with their release, Hangzhou witnessed two sudden incidents involving delivery riders: in August, a confrontation between a rider and a security guard sparked a collective protest by nearby couriers; in September, a top-performing rider known as a…
Do we truly understand today’s agriculture and food? When it comes to farming, the first image that springs to mind for many is still that age-old picture of farmers toiling in the fields. Yet in reality, propelled by technology and capital, the landscape of modern agriculture has been transformed beyond…
Is the future where artificial intelligence replaces humans still a long way off? Some have already begun to worry about having their jobs snatched from under them. Meanwhile, the widespread deployment of algorithms in sectors such as food delivery and retail has already transformed the way ordinary people eat. Yet…
What shocks me about this man’s suffering is that it was unnecessary. — Bertolt Brecht The film *Against the Flow*, which centres on food-delivery riders, has been in cinemas for over a week. Few films provoke such widespread and heated debate before they even premiere. Two sharply opposing viewpoints have…
When we think of Monsanto, it is easy to associate the company with the health risks of genetically modified (GM) foods. However, “Empire of Seeds” by Bart J. Elmore, a US scholar of environmental history, shows that the influence of agricultural capital—epitomised by Monsanto—on the human food system is actually…
“These oats were sown in mid-October last year, and we found the ‘Eagle’ variety gave the best performance. If we opt for closer planting, the yield per hectare will be higher.” “Have you ever tried wider spacing?” On 12 June, at Gut Wilmersdorf, an organic farm an hour’s drive from…
