Understanding and Reporting on the Farm-to-Table Transformation | Foodthink Media Workshop Call for Applications

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Over the past four decades, and particularly in the last ten years, China’s food system has undergone a profound transformation. Many have observed and experienced the following: local wet markets are quietly fading from mainstream daily life, while fresh food e-commerce and online grocery shopping have become the primary way many urban residents source their provisions; cheap food delivery now dominates the daily diets of city dwellers;

an increasing number of restaurants are relying on pre-prepared meals;

processed foods have become a staple in the daily diets of many, including children; the natural flavour of fresh vegetables and meat is increasingly being replaced by standardised sauces and flavour enhancers;

while we can source produce from ever-greater distances, finding seasonal food and local growers and suppliers has become increasingly difficult. We are moving towards a food system that is growing ever more industrialised and commercialised.

Yet in the public sphere, and especially within the media, discussion of the causes and consequences of these trends remains woefully inadequate. This is particularly true when it comes to the following questions:

  • How are farmers—particularly smallholders, as both producers and consumers—shaped by and involved in the transformation of the food system?
  • How does the food system drive climate change, biodiversity loss, and other environmental crises?
  • How do the environmental, social, and economic costs of different food consumption patterns and choices compare?
  • What policies can governments implement to address these issues and build a more sustainable and equitable food system?
  • What steps can consumers take to proactively improve our food system?…
As an independent non-profit platform focused on China’s food system, Foodthink will host an in-person media workshop in Beijing from 18 to 20 August. We invite media professionals to discuss the evolving food systems around us, share the challenges facing Chinese agriculture, explore the uncertainties surrounding modern food consumption, and examine actionable steps for both media practitioners and consumers. The workshop will feature scholars and practitioners from relevant fields who will share their latest research and experiences with journalists. We will also arrange a day of field visits, allowing participants to select from tours of Beijing’s small-scale ecological farms, farmers’ markets, wholesale markets, wet markets, internet-famous suburban markets, and waste treatment facilities. We are now opening applications to 25 media professionals. Whether you are a journalist or editor at a media organisation with an interest in food, agriculture, and sustainability; a freelance writer seeking fresh angles for your reporting; or a video creator or podcaster on the hunt for new stories—we welcome your application. We look forward to meeting new collaborators and creating more opportunities for dialogue and mutual learning!

Schedule and Location

Time

18–20 August 2023 (all day)

(Friday, Saturday, Sunday)

Location

Beijing

*Exact venue to be confirmed

Workshop Speakers

吕植

Professor in the College of Life Sciences at Peking University; Executive Director of the Centre for Conservation and Society (CCS), Peking University; Vice President of the Chinese Association for Women in Science and Technology; Founder of the Shan Shui Conservation Centre; Advisory Committee Member for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030). Alongside her longstanding research in conservation biology, Professor Lü has deep practical experience and insights into the relationship between agriculture and nature, as well as sustainable development.

刘娟

Associate Professor and PhD Supervisor at the College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University; Executive Editor of World Development. Her primary research areas encompass environmental social research and political ecology, international development and agrarian change, and rural development and rural revitalisation. In recent years, Professor Liu has published extensively on climate and environmental justice, agri-food systems, and farmers’ perspectives within rural revitalisation. Her papers on global environmental justice remain consistently highly cited, and her co-authored volume Rural Revitalisation from a Farmers’ Perspective has generated broad social and policy impact.

钟淑如

Anthropologist. Professor Zhong’s research encompasses food tourism, sustainable food systems, and food culture. She is particularly interested in the significance of food system traditions in the Pearl River Delta, alongside similar practice-based frameworks that move beyond East/West and traditional/modern binaries, for our everyday lives.

李雪石

PhD in Sociology from Michigan State University, USA. Previously undertook sociological research on organic food at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Currently based at the Department of General Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, where he leads the project “Alternative Food Systems, Standards, and Sustainability”. Research areas: sociology of food, environmental sociology, science, technology and society (STS).

李管奇

Head of the Eastern Office of the Peasant Seed Network, managing pilot schemes for ecological breeding and promoting seed and ecological agriculture initiatives across Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. He is involved in the “Lianhe Project”, a small-grant initiative for agricultural biodiversity co-launched by Foodthink and the Peasant Seed Network, serving as the project coordinator.

Break Free From Plastic

Established in 2018, the initiative is an environmental organisation dedicated to tackling plastic pollution. Through corporate advocacy, public outreach, and policy recommendations, it works to eliminate plastic contamination from our daily lives and the natural environment. Their slogan is “Together towards a future free from plastic pollution”.

More experts and practitioners will also be attending the workshop

Venue & Organisation Profiles 

Xinfadi Agricultural Products Wholesale Market

As one of Asia’s largest wholesale markets for agricultural produce, Xinfadi supplies fresh vegetables and a wide array of food staples to almost the entirety of Beijing, serving as a microcosm of our contemporary food system. Yet, many may only be familiar with its name from its association with a pandemic outbreak in 2020. Led by academics and veteran journalists, we will visit Xinfadi late at night to see how the city’s food supply operates in practice, and to investigate the profound transformations taking place across this sector in recent years.

Traditional Rural Markets Around Beijing

Last year, traditional country fairs—including those on Beijing’s outskirts—began gaining traction as viral, internet-famous destinations. While countless produce markets have followed suit in recent years, can younger generations truly forge a meaningful connection with these traditional market ecosystems? What unique social and economic value do such gatherings hold that cannot be replicated elsewhere?

Ecological Farms in the Beijing Region

Beyond large-scale, certified organic operations, there exists a network of farmers working on a smaller scale yet equally committed to ecologically sound practices. How do small-scale agroecological systems actually function in production and sales, and how do they differ from mainstream organic farming? How do external uncertainties impact these farms? To answer these and other specific questions about this alternative approach to agriculture, we have invited farmers on the ground to share their insights.

Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market

Initiated voluntarily by a group of conscious consumers, the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market was created to build a direct bridge between growers practising organic agriculture and the public. By facilitating open dialogue, it helps shoppers access safe, trustworthy produce while enabling farmers to expand their distribution channels. Ultimately, it aims to encourage more growers to transition to organic methods, thereby reducing the environmental impact of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, safeguarding food security, and promoting fair trade. Since its launch in September 2010, the market has hosted over 1,000 events and now operates two community retail outlets alongside an online store.

Integrated Waste Treatment Facilities

At the very end of the food chain, China generates roughly 100 million tonnes of food waste annually. The food and hospitality sectors simultaneously produce vast quantities of other refuse, with the food delivery industry alone accounting for 1.6 million tonnes of plastic waste each year. What strain does this place on the environment and municipal waste management? Under what conditions can such waste be safely processed or resource-recovered?

Support & Awards for Pioneer Food Systems Journalism

Can the media shoulder the responsibility of broadening perspectives and responding to public concerns amidst the ongoing transformation of food systems? This is precisely why we are hosting this workshop. We sincerely hope that journalists, regardless of the size of their outlet, will use their reporting to venture into rarely explored territories, enrich our collective understanding of these issues, and help sustain a shared space for public discourse. We will also select outstanding independent creators from among this workshop’s participants and provide grants ranging from ¥3,000 to ¥20,000 based on their reporting proposals. Following this workshop, Foodthink will establish the Pioneering Food & Agriculture Reporting Award, dedicated to recognising exceptional journalism in the food and agriculture sector this year, with a particular focus on in-depth reporting. At that stage, we will prioritise submissions and recommendations from workshop participants, and we also look forward to collaborating with more media professionals in organising and judging the award.

Registration

Eligibility

Media professionals and independent content creators covering agriculture, food, environment, health, society, and related interdisciplinary topics. Applicants must be able to attend the full three-day programme.

Application Deadline

23:59 on 11 August 2023

Participation in the workshop is free. On the 18th and 20th, the organisers will provide zero-waste lunches and dinners made from produce sourced from small-scale ecological farms.

Foodthink will cover travel expenses for participants from outside the local area, including high-speed rail, hard sleeper, or economy-class airfare to and from Beijing, plus four nights’ accommodation (17–20 August). Venue details, accommodation arrangements, and the full schedule will be shared with confirmed participants afterwards.

Please click here to submit your application

We will contact all applicants by phone or email before 15 August to confirm their acceptance.

Special Thanks 

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

Sustainable Catering Provided By

Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market

Workshop Curator: Qi Ran

Editor: Wang Hao

Published by Foodthink