Analysis of national and local agricultural policies, food policies, regulatory changes, and governance mechanisms.
I was born in a small mountain village in Hunan where tea was grown. Growing up amongst the tea gardens and surrounding woods gave me a particular fascination with the tea industry. When I was a child, tea production in the village lacked a systematic approach. Every household treated it…
Is genetically modified rice truly safe? Why can it not be commercialised without scrutiny? On 18 April, a Philippine court ruled that the commercial promotion of Golden Rice is unconstitutional, once again reflecting society’s cautious stance towards GM staple crops. The court also ordered the Philippine government to revoke the…
Anyone who has visited the grasslands of Inner Mongolia will be familiar with steaming pots of salted milk tea and traditional Mongolian dairy foods. Last summer, during my fieldwork in Sangendalai Town, Zhenglan Banner, Xilingol League, Inner Mongolia, local herding households would invariably treat me to these delicacies. Initially, I…
One of the most significant stories from Europe recently has been the wave of farmers taking to the streets across the continent to protest EU trade and land management policies, with France serving as the epicentre of the demonstrations. According to leaders of the major French farming unions spearheading the…
Foodthink Says 315 refers to Consumer Rights Day. Each year on this date, the public habitually turns its attention to what new fakes CCTV has exposed. Yet in everyday life, products are not merely a matter of being genuine or counterfeit. Consumers also care about quality and whether they are…
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…
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…
Power generation above the panels, crop cultivation below: a single plot of land yields two streams of income. “Agrivoltaics” claims to deliver multiple benefits—including clean electricity, efficient land use, agricultural modernisation, and rural development—and is frequently hailed as a win-win technological innovation that simultaneously addresses food, energy, and climate challenges.…
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…
Thriving industries form a vital foundation for rural revitalisation. Perhaps inspired by Shouguang in Shandong, the primary focus for agricultural development in rural areas across central and western China has often been the promotion of greenhouse vegetable cultivation. Gong County (a pseudonym) in the central region exemplifies this trend. A…
