Dive deep into the global food scene with this list of compelling films and docuseries. These 18 documentaries unpack everything from the struggles of small-scale farmers to the incredible work of activists advocating for a more sustainable food future. Whether you’re a critic of the food industry, a keen home cook, or simply fascinated by the ties between food, personal identity, and social structures, this list promises to satisfy every curiosity.

1. A New Day

A New Day is a portrayal of the realities small-scale farmers face in the Global South. Through this film, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) advocates for increased investment in rural communities who are under constant threat from the climate crisis. Shot in Tunisia and directed by award-winning filmmaker Jonathan Pearson, the film vividly demonstrates the potential of transforming the food system through these farmers. Watch it on YouTube.

2. Common Ground (forthcoming 2023)

The sequel to Kiss the Ground, this film highlights the U.S. food system, detailing the human costs of policies that favor profit-driven agriculture. Common Ground criticizes the widespread use of agrochemicals in agriculture and highlights the issues plaguing the farming community, such as high suicide rates and the lobbying power of agricultural businesses. Featuring experts like Gabe Brown, Ray Archuleta, and Rick Clark, the film serves as a call to action against the status quo.

3. Cornwall Climate Stories: Food for Thought

Narrated by organic beef farmer Lisa Guy, Food for Thought examines the question of whether eaters should give up meat and dairy to combat the climate crisis. The film is set in Cornwall, England, where farming livestock is integral to the region’s agriculture. It showcases promising Cornish initiatives that aim to mitigate the negative environmental effects of animal farming. Watch it on YouTube.

4. Deep Rising

In Deep Rising, director Matthieu Rytz presents a tale of corporate, scientific, and geopolitical intrigue around the extraction of deep-sea metals for the electric battery revolution. Narrated by Jason Momoa, the documentary follows the journey of a startup who want to mine in the Pacific Ocean floor while marine geologists warn of consequences for ocean biodiversity and the communities that depend on it. The film questions humanity’s pattern of destructive extraction for profit, and challenges the viewer to question: who owns the uncharted sea?

5. Feeding Tomorrow (forthcoming)

Feeding Tomorrow illuminates the transformative power of food, brought to life through the inspiring stories of innovative leaders in agriculture, healthcare, and education. The film follows trailblazers who are combating the challenges of a broken food system and creating tangible, actionable solutions for a more regenerative future. Feeding Tomorrow offers a hopeful vision of a global system that is more equitable, sustainable, and focused on the wellbeing of our planet and its inhabitants.

6. Follow the Food

This comprehensive multimedia series investigates the challenges of global food systems. BBC explores the problems of soil loss, malnutrition, and the climate crisis, as well as innovative solutions evolving in the realms of farming and technology Watch and delve into the related articles here.

7. Food 2050 (forthcoming)

Produced in partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation and Media RED, Food 2050 captures the crucial efforts of a group of visionaries. The film is a continuation of the “Food 2050” mini-series, featuring 10 leaders working to improve global food and agriculture systems from the ground up. Amidst the collapse of profit-driven food systems and the accelerating climate crisis, these activists, farmers, doctors, and scientists are all working towards a sustainable and equitable food future. Their extraordinary endeavors offer hope and actionable solutions for transformation.

8. Food, Inc. 2 (forthcoming 2023)

Food, Inc. 2, the sequel to the Academy Award-nominated documentary Food, Inc., continues the original film’s exploration of the food industry’s and devastating impacts. The original film’s producers and narrators, Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan, return, joining directors Robert Kenner and Melisa Robledo for an expose into how our current food system isn’t good for people or the planet. Viewers can also check out companion book, featuring original essays from innovators and advocates, which encourages readers to take a more proactive role in the food system they participate in.

9. Food and Country

Renowned food writer Ruth Reichl and filmmaker Laura Gabbert join forces in this film that delves into the struggles of small farmers, ranchers, and chefs. These food producers are facing multiple challenges, but are innovating and surviving against the odds. As Reichl travels the United States, moving from fine dining rooms to rural farmlands, she unveils a series of riveting narratives. Through her eyes, Food and Country reveals not only the humanity behind our food system, but also the urgent need to reassess the nation’s values around food production.

10. Hope In the Water (forthcoming 2024)

Hope In the Water explores innovative approaches to restore the world’s oceans while responsibly producing food. Guided by the engaging narratives of a food travelogue and investigative journalism, the docuseries connects viewers to first-person stories from those most impacted by our stressed marine resources. Amid themes of sustainability, biodiversity, conservation, equity, and innovation, the series offers a hopeful perspective on restoring our oceans and ensuring food security.

11. La Cosecha

This short film features Nolvia Castillo, an immigrant from Chiriqui, Guatemala, as she embarks on a transformative journey in Austin, Texas. La Cosecha showcases her growth into becoming a key part of her community’s food distribution network. As filmmaker Ai Vuong captures Nolvia’s story, she also explores the profound role food plays in the shared immigrant experience. The film offers a heartfelt narrative about how one’s independence can bloom amidst the rich tapestry of community, culture, and sustenance. And it shows how food can act as a bridge between cherished pasts and envisioned futures.

12. Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food

Poisoned exposes the alarming realities of foodborne illnesses in the U.S., taking viewers from the infamous Jack In the Box E.coli outbreak in 1992 to today’s escalating concerns about the safety of food. Director Stephanie Soechtig digs into the labyrinth of food regulations, revealing the lack of effective enforcement and questioning the claims that the U.S. food supply is the safest in the world. Through harrowing stories of families affected by foodborne illnesses and tips for grocery shopping, this documentary compels viewers to reevaluate what’s on their plate and how it arrived there. Watch it on Netflix.

13. Reinventing Farming and Food Post-Globalisation

Reinventing Farming and Food Post-Globalisation is a compelling documentary based on the book, Homecoming: The Path to Prosperity in a Post-Global World by Financial Times’ global business columnist, Rana Foroohar. The film examines how neoliberal economics have disrupted food supply chains and forced small farmers out of business. Through conversations with farmers and food systems experts, Foroohar highlights the urgent need for localized economies, regulatory safeguards, and the creation of stronger, more sustainable industries. Watch it on Financial Times or YouTube.

14. Rich Appetites

Discover the impact of industrial agriculture on biodiversity, hunger, and small-scale farmers in Africa in this five-part short film series. Rich Appetites examines how billionaire philanthropic promote chemical-intensive agriculture model globally. Created by Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) Watch and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, this series challenges the dominance of corporate control over agriculture and explores sustainable alternatives. Watch and explore the companion guides here.

15. The Future of Food (forthcoming December 2023)

This documentary series by the World Farmers’ Organization addresses the critical role of farming in the face of global crises like climate change, food costs, and government inaction. Highlighting the challenges faced by the farming sector globally, The Future of Food showcases innovative local solutions and the resilient farmers implementing them, emphasizing the shift towards more sustainable, climate-resilient farming practices. Set to launch at COP28, the series aims to bridge the gap between farmers and the public, shedding light on the essential role farming plays in combating global challenges and shaping a sustainable future.

16. The Kitchenistas

This inspiring film showcases the transformation of National City, California, from a region struggling with obesity and diabetes to a vibrant community advocating for healthy food traditions. The story follows the Kitchenistas, who are graduates from the Cooking for Salud bilingual culinary program. These Latina women then become community leaders in teaching healthy eating and high-quality food practices. The film traces the personal journeys of several early-generation Kitchenistas, highlighting the power of education, human connection, and cultural understanding in creating lasting health changes. Watch it on multiple streaming platforms.

17. We Feed People

We Feed People illuminates the awe-inspiring journey of renowned chef José Andrés and his nonprofit, World Central Kitchen (WCK), from humble beginnings to a globally recognized disaster relief organization. Providing not just a meal, but “a plate of hope,” WCK’s work intersects food policy transformation, climate justice, and community building. The film traces WCK’s evolution, underscores the importance of human dignity in aid work, and showcases their notable responses to crises, from earthquakes in Haiti to the war in Ukraine and local tragedies in the U.S. Watch it on Disney+.

18. Wild Hope

An eight-part series, Wild Hope highlights the eco-changemakers who are coming together to restore the planet and protect local ecology. Episode 2, “The Big Oyster,” for example, documents the work of the Billion Oyster Project and Living Breakwaters to restore the waters of New York Harbor, once home to some of the world’s most extensive oyster reefs. And in Episode 7, “Coffee for Water,” the series turns its attention to the scientists, development experts, and local farmers working together to save Mount Gorongosa’s rainforest in Mozambique. Find all eight episodes here.

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In northern Louisiana, the organization Shreveport Green is working to address shortcomings in local and regional food systems and ensure that communities have access to fresh, nutritious food.

Based in Shreveport, the third most populous city in Louisiana, Shreveport Green strives to create healthy and economically robust communities. The organization operates different programs designed to address food apartheid, including their urban farm, mobile market, a volunteer program called ShreveCorps, and a community garden network. Shreveport Green also carries out city greening efforts, oversees litter cleanups, and helps to plant trees around the community.

A report by Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research shows that 32 percent of Black households face food insecurity in Louisiana. And according to Feeding Louisiana, there are severe gaps in food security for communities of color in northern Louisiana.

In Caddo Parish, a region served by Shreveport Green, up to 30 percent of food-insecure households fall above eligibility for programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Plan (SNAP) and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Shreveport Green’s urban farm, located in an area of Shreveport where the media annual income hovers around US$17,000, is critical to the organization’s work to address these gaps in food security. The farm is three acres and is the home to their community garden network and the main production site for their mobile market program.

“We want to connect people to their environment and help them recognize that they too have the ability to create systems of change in their communities,” Donna Curtis, Executive Director of Shreveport Green, tells Food Tank. “The primary objective of this program is to serve 150 families living in section-8 housing with weekly produce and free nutrition and gardening education opportunities.”

Meanwhile, the mobile market was Shreveport Green’s first program to specifically address food apartheid in Caddo Parish. Their work began in community gardens within the Shreveport City area, however the mobile market allowed Shreveport Green to access more easily those with the most need across the county.

Curtis explains that the organization used data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to identify community centers in areas where rates of food insecurity was high “so that our food—and other locally grown food—can be accessed in communities that need the food and resources on how to cook healthy food.”

Operators of mobile markets argue that a successful program must account for location, product prices, labor costs, transportation, and a host of other factors–something Shreveport Green reports they have been able to do successfully. Throughout the pandemic, the organization continued to operate their market and reach consumers in need.

“Since we had a database of our recipients, we were able to immediately contact them and offer home delivery of fresh produce through our Mobile Market Program,” Curtis tells Food Tank.

The mobile market provides fresh fruits and vegetables to 80 families. Lauren Jones, Urban Farm Director for Shreveport Green, believes that the mobile market model can fill the gap at food banks while also supporting small scale farmers. Their flexibility is an asset, she says, allowing them to meet residents when people cannot reach a traditional food pantry.

Shreveport Green’s programs run, in part, with the help of volunteers who participate in ShreveCorps. An extension of AmeriCorps led by Shreveport Green, ShreveCorps consists of community members and out-of-state volunteers committed to community education across various age groups.

ShreveCorps members plant and maintain the crops within both the community garden network and urban farm. These members also help distribute food through the Mobile Market.

Curtis says that Shreveport Green is partnering with Louisiana Small Scale Agriculture Coalition to create the first farmer training program in northern Louisiana. She also shares that they plan to expand the ShreveCorps education program to serve elementary through high school students.

“We need to train more farmers as soon as possible,” Jones tells Food Tank. “And they should be trained in Shreveport.”

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As world leaders from the public and private sectors gathered in New York City for the SDG Summit and the U.N. General Assembly, the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, The Rockefeller Foundation, and WWF, in collaboration with media partner Food Tank, hosted Pre-COP Food Day @ UNGA. During the event, food systems leaders gathered to raise the ambition on food systems transformation by amplifying and accelerating implementation across all levels. 

Below, find a few takeaways from some of the day’s incredible speakers along with a replay of the full program. And check out the final agenda for the day HERE.

“We’ve turned a page on climate denial. Now we must be careful not to submit to climate doomism and climate dithering.” —Anna Lappé, Executive Director, Global Alliance of the Future of Food

“There is no one-size-fits-all solution for food system transformation.” —João Campari, Global Leader, Food Practice, WWF.

“I heard a vision of the future where food is a solution to the climate crisis, where food enables us to create an equitable, regenerative, and nourishing future for our children.” —Roy Steiner, Senior Vice President, Food Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation.

“We have a responsibility to provide tools to the world but also to listen. There are Indigenous practices around the world that should inform how we do agriculture here in the U.S.”  —U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack

“We need to roll up our sleeves and get radical about collaboration.” —Sara Farley, Vice President, Global Food Portfolio, Food Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation

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The Decent Work for Equitable Food Systems Coalition has been formed by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and CARE International to tackle poverty and inequality for food systems workers.

According to the Coalition, food systems workers are often the most underpaid, overexploited, and poorly protected workers of any sector.

“In general, agri-food workers face high levels of working poverty, chronic food insecurity, poor health and safety conditions, and a lack of labor and social protection. Despite playing such a vital role in feeding the world, they are the most likely to be unable to feed themselves and their families,” Mollie Brennan, IFAD Youth Specialist and lead of the Coalition’s secretariat, tells Food Tank.

The Coalition formed to address this contradiction and other injustices that food systems workers face. Their work is focused on five priority areas: labor and human rights, employment creation, living wages, social protection, and social dialogue.

“The Coalition hopes to play on the joint mandates of the organizations to make faster progress,” Christine Campeau, Global Advocacy Director for Food Systems at CARE tells Food Tank.  “This means raising the profile of existing partnerships between the organizations; connecting the dots between regional IFAD, ILO and CARE offices to draw in expertise where necessary; highlighting the work our organizations already do in this sphere as separate entities; and developing new joint initiatives later down the line.”

The group is also tackling inequalities through their advocacy. “When food systems are being talked about, we want to ensure that livelihoods are front and center,” Brennan tells Food Tank.

The U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs reports that 4.5 billion people depend on food systems for their livelihoods. But those who work in agriculture are among the poorest in the world, and two-thirds of the world’s extreme poor are agriculturalists, the Coalition reports. According to the ILO, 90 percent of employment in agriculture is informal, which leaves workers open to exploitation by landowners, bosses, and middlemen.

With more than half the world working on food systems, Campeau says that achieving decent work for food systems workers is a critical avenue for eliminating poverty more generally. “We cannot address extreme poverty worldwide until we address economic justice and equitable livelihoods for every farmer, fisherfolk and worker in food systems,” she tells Food Tank.

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Photo courtesy of IFAD

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Over the past four decades, beef production has been the main driver of deforestation and conversion of habitat in South America. Leather is a byproduct of beef production, but it can play an oversized role in eliminating deforestation and conversion of the continent’s ecosystems.

Although not the primary output of beef production, hides provide more income for beef producers while reducing waste from an animal that is already going to be slaughtered. In addition, a greater percentage of the leather produced is exported than is the meat. This dynamic puts leather producers and leather-purchasing companies in a position to have significant influence on the creation of responsible beef supply chains.

We have a vision of the future in which leather-sector companies, from brands and retailers to tanneries and slaughterhouses, engage in building more resilient and transparent supply chains. They can do so by covering external costs and investments needed for this transition and supporting the development of deforestation- and conversion-free (DCF) production practices throughout supply chains.

Traceability and transparency are core to this vision. Credible traceability of cattle back to the farm of origin ensures that companies know where the animal has come from and how it was produced, including with practices that are more responsible and do not contribute to deforestation, conversion, or illegality.

In the last decade, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has supported WWF-US and others to engage in several initiatives in South America to map the landscape of the beef and leather sector, understand the challenges and solutions available, engage stakeholders, and develop innovative approaches with downstream companies to make beef and leather supply chains more sustainable and resilient.

One initiative that has grown out of this is WWF’s partnership with the Tapestry Foundation, which in 2022 began supporting the development of DCF leather supply chains in Brazil. As part of this partnership, WWF is examining how companies can develop and implement credible DCF commitments and adopt systems and processes that will help measure, report, and verify performance against those commitments. The Tapestry Foundation is the philanthropic organization of Tapestry, Inc., the parent company of the Coach, kate spade, and Stuart Weitzman brands, which has committed to achieving 95 percent traceability and mapping of raw materials by 2025, to ensure a transparent and responsible supply chain.

Those initiatives are exploring different areas of focus, including the strengthening of traceability and monitoring systems, collaborative approaches that will connect downstream buyers to producers, the creation of incentives for the adoption of DCF approaches, and better cattle production practices and systems at the farm level.

Results from these pilot programs are still in their early stages, and challenges persist: a single cow can pass through multiple owners from its birth until it is ready for slaughter. But several tanneries are starting pilot projects that are intended to identify and address the challenges of tracing the origins of all hides.

WWF is also currently engaged, along with other key stakeholders in the supply chain, including slaughterhouses, tanneries, service providers, and industry organizations, in a pilot to connect traceability and monitoring tools using a leather supply-chain system run on blockchain technology.

This system will connect different tiers of the supply chain with verification tools that credibly document DCF status. It also will evaluate how technology can support the payment of incentives directly to farmers, supporting their journey towards compliance, legality, and a DCF future.

This approach is a crucial step in creating more transparent and responsible supply chains while helping farmers to manage the transition.

The leather produced from cowhides goes to a variety of uses, from automobile interiors to furniture to clothing, shoes, and handbags. The leather industry needs to take a similarly broad view of its ability to influence responsible methods of obtaining its raw materials, thereby contributing to a more sustainable future for us all.

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Silver Fern Farms, a New Zealand-based producer of 100 percent grass-fed beef, lamb, and venison, is working to address the climate crisis with its Net Carbon Zero by Nature program. The co-operative partners with 16,000 farmers across the country to create carbon-neutral meat products while utilizing scalable, technologically driven solutions.

The Net Carbon Zero initiative works to reduce emissions across the entire value chain. “We spent hundreds of hours with farmers to really understand their farming systems,” Kate Beddoe, Silver Fern Farm’s Chief Sustainability Officer, tells Food Tank. 

The initiative identified and classified 74 different types of vegetation into broader categories that could sequester carbon effectively. This was made possible through partnerships with two companies, Lynker Analytics and Carbon Forest Services: the first has satellite mapping and AI capabilities, while the latter specializes in forestry and carbon sequestration rates. 

“100 percent of end-to-end emissions in Silver Fern Farms’ Net Carbon Zero by Nature products have been inset– naturally sequestered by on-farm vegetation, leading to a more biodiverse and resilient landscape,” Beddoe states.

Utilizing their research, Silver Fern Farms provides guidance to partner farms in the pilot program on how to develop best practices for land management to maximize carbon sequestration and biodiversity outcomes. “More than 1,500 farmers have directly taken part in our ‘Know Your Number’ workshops throughout New Zealand to better understand farm emissions,” Beddoe tells Food Tank. 

A key aspect of the Net Carbon Zero initiative is Silver Fern Farms’ partnership with Māori communities. “We know that to become a nature positive producer, we need to collaborate with the expertise of mana whenua (local people of the land) and incorporate Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) into our practices,” Beddoe states. Their company values of Always Caring, Unstoppable Together, and Improving Tomorrow are underpinned by Māori values: manaakitanga, kotahitanga and kaitiakitanga. Beddoe explains that these values inform every decision that Silver Fern Farms makes across the value chain.

To ensure credibility, Silver Fern Farms works with Toitū Envirocare, an independent certifier. Their Net Carbon Zero claims are verified based on the British Standards Institute measure called PAS2050. Silver Fern Farms have also obtained labeling approval from the USDA on their Net Carbon Zero claims. 

Silver Fern Farms recognizes the need to adapt in the face of the climate crisis. The program has issued its first climate crisis Risk and Opportunities Disclosure, aligning its practices to the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework. This means the partner farms are transparently reporting on their financial risks and opportunities related to global warming, an important aspect of sustainable business practices.

Silver Fern Farms is excited about the potential of new strategies and technologies to enhance its sustainability practices and efforts. “Climate innovation is a major focus of our Sustainability Action Plan,” Bedoe says. “We’ve made significant progress in implementing bold initiatives to cut emissions and establish Silver Fern Farms as a leader in sustainable food production.”

And Beddoe remains optimistic: “In a world of declining trust– trust you can trace back to New Zealand is highly valuable. That really is creating goodness from the farms the world needs.”

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Photo Courtesy of Silver Fern Farms

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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently published its first ever Global Assessment of Soil Carbon in Grasslands. The assessment offers insight to governments seeking to establish policies for carbon sequestration in soils.

Grasslands cover nearly 70 percent of global agricultural area, according to a paper published in Agronomy. These ecosystems can support both wild species and grazing herds. Below the surface, these crucial ecosystems sequester carbon, drawing it out of the atmosphere where it contributes to the greenhouse gas effect. But The Nature Conservancy reports that these ecosystems are the least protected.

Grazing lands face threats from “urban sprawl, agricultural conversion and energy development,” according to The Nature Conservancy. The FAO assessment adds that grassland soils have “suffered” from human activities such as intensive livestock grazing and agriculture.

Grasslands currently hold about 20 percent of global soil organic carbon stocks, according to the assessment. Acknowledging the power of grasslands, the assessment covers both the current state of grasslands and estimates their potential to sequester carbon in the soil.

Among its key findings, the assessment reveals a negative carbon balance in East Asia, Central and South America, and sub-Saharan Africa. In soils, a negative carbon balance means organic matter outputs–losses from tilling, plant usage, and water leaching–are higher than organic matter inputs. This leads to unproductive, nutrient-depleted soils with low organic matter content.

The FAO assessment supports findings in a 2020 paper from Dr. Bezaye Tessema, Researcher and Postdoctoral Associate with Rice University, who studies grasslands in East Africa. The study summarizes carbon sequestration potential of grasslands in six East African countries, and uncovers “a lack of published studies on the soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration potential of grasslands in East Africa.”

Tessema says that although the region is still “underrepresented” in published research, the assessment brings attention to the subject. “Having this information from the FAO, especially on the negative carbon balance, is really a huge opportunity,” she tells Food Tank.

Tessema is currently investigating the potential of carbon markets in Africa and sees the assessment as a “timely resource” for furthering investment in the sector and the region. This is noteworthy given the FAO’s finding that “Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia show the highest potential for carbon storage on a per hectare basis.”

The assessment says that governments should work with the livestock industry to incentivize rotational, planned, or adaptive grazing methods. Laura Paine, Senior Outreach Specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Grassland 2.0, stresses the role of livestock in sustainable grassland management.

“The fifth soil health principle, and in my mind the most important one, is ‘integrate livestock.’ Farmers who have no livestock in their system have a limited number of tools…With the addition of livestock, there is the potential for perennial pastures, perennial hay, annual forages, and grazing crop residues, reducing tillage and increasing the return of carbon to the soil,” Paine tells Food Tank.

Both Paine and Tessema agree that the inaugural FAO assessment provides a comprehensive overview of grasslands. In terms of the assessment’s impact on U.S. policy, Paine doubts the assessment’s ability to confront the barriers to a sustainable livestock industry.

“Many acres of native or unimproved grasslands in the American West are overgrazed and/or managed poorly, leading to soil carbon loss. The livestock economy doesn’t reward improved management that could lead to increased carbon storage,” Paine tells Food Tank.

By identifying hotspots where interventions need to be implemented, the FAO’s assessment could spur action, Tessema says. She hopes the assessment will encourage investment in specific, local data and, down the line, improve food security by improving soil productivity.

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Based in Beijing, The Institute for Global Decarbonization Progress (iGDP) is an independent think tank monitoring and providing recommendations on climate action in China. Their consulting platform is working to support low-carbon infrastructure and practices in the biggest manufacturing nation in the world, according to data from the U.N. Statistics Division.

iGDP tackles climate actions across multiple sectors primarily at the subnational level. Program focus areas range from clean energy to green finance to methane reduction. In all areas, the group is working to ensure long-term carbon neutrality. The organization recognizes the links between the agri-food system and the climate crisis. Their Food and Agriculture program examines opportunities for cutting emissions, eliminating waste, and responsibly feeding people.

According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, China leads the world in terms of the production of cereals, cotton, fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, eggs and fishery products.

iGDP recently released a working version of their large-scale food system analysis. “The Agri-Food System and Carbon Neutrality: An Analysis of Agriculture and Food-Related Greenhouse Gas Emissions Mitigation Pathways in China” summarizes key findings from the group’s work tracking greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation actions across China’s food system.

The analysis—because it is large in scope—gave iGDP the opportunity to collaborate with other nongovernmental organizations, researchers, and policy analysts. The group also conducted field work in Jiangxi and Sichuan to expand team members’ understanding of agri-food practices within the Chinese provinces.

Meian Chen, Program Director and Senior Analyst at iGDP, and Min Hu, President and Co-Founder, note the extensive aspects of the agri-food system analysis. “We [built] the first China-rooted and China-tailored analytical model to localize this global topic to China’s context. We have conducted massive expert interviews to complete the analysis. It took us over two years to have initial findings,” Chen and Hu tell Food Tank.

The initial paper says, “The green and low-carbon transition of the agri-food system can make a substantial contribution to GHG reduction, sustainable development, biodiversity conservation, social equity, and public health.” But significant challenges exist to making this transition. China’s large population and agricultural sector lead one of the highest levels of consumption and production in the world.

Transitioning to the sustainable and low-carbon production methods will require cooperation and contributions from farmers, says iGDP. At the same time, many farmers will need support as they make changes.

Chen and Hu tell Food Tank that resources for farmers are currently limited. “Traditionally, given the vital position of the agriculture sector, China has established a system of the Agricultural Technology Promotion Service Stations covering all over the country at various local levels. These stations can provide capacity building and relevant low-carbon practices information for farmers,” they say. “However, these technical service stations are still not equipped with the most up-to-date knowledge to guide the farmers on sustainable practices. Therefore, both policy and financial support is needed to help farmers shift to low-carbon practices.”

On the consumer side, iGDP’s working paper notes that, relative to other developed nations, animal protein consumption per capita in China is low but it may increase. “Numerous studies have shown that reducing animal food consumption has large emissions reduction potential, a dynamic that deserves greater attention,” says the paper.

Chen and Hu tell Food Tank that promoting China’s dietary guidelines, which encourage a sustainable balance between animal and plant protein consumption, can help combat diet-related agri-food emissions. Mitigation activities should be developed based on these guidelines, Chen and Hu say.

iGDP has a team “working on community engagement and consumption behavior change to promote lifestyle decarbonization,” Chen and Hu tell Food Tank. The team is working to make consumers aware of changes they can make, like switching to efficient cooking and cooling appliances in their homes.

At the next U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP28), “we would like to share our research work on China’s agri-food system and carbon neutrality, which will include both emissions analysis and case studies, and to collect feedback from different experts in the COP,” Chen and Hu tell Food Tank. “Based on our research, we are also hoping to stimulate discussion on challenges and opportunities facing the sustainable transition of the agri-food system at both global and regional levels.”

The full version of “The Agri-Food System and Carbon Neutrality” will be available in the Fall ahead of COP28.

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The social impact business Matriark Foods produces upcycled products to scale access to healthy foods that are good for people and the planet. 

Matriark converts surplus foods and produce scraps, which the company’s Founder and CEO Anna Hammond calls “remnants,” into foods for foodservice retail and emergency food aid. Currently, the company produces sauces and broth as well as soups and stews, all of which are Upcycled Certified.

“We mitigate the negative effects that food waste has on global warming while creating greater access to healthy food for all people and extra revenue streams for farmers,” Hammond tells Food Tank. 

During Matriark’s early days, they established relationships with manufacturing facilities that produced products such as carrot and celery sticks that didn’t use the entire vegetable. These partners “really saw a business opportunity to make money back on money they’d already spent.” This work also gave the companies a “great environmental impact story,” Hammond says, because they were preventing these remnants from ending up in landfills. 

Since the company’s start, the upcycled food movement has continued to grow thanks in part to the work of the Upcycled Food Association, of which Matriark is a founding member. The Association, made up of more than 250 companies, works to establish upcycling as a critical solution to tackle food waste and the climate crisis. 

In addition to awareness raising and working to increase investments in the upcycled industry, the Association developed the Upcycled Certified Program, the world’s first third-party certification program for upcycled food ingredients and products. 

“There’s always greenwashing out there, unfortunately, and you can just say that something is climate friendly,” Hammond tells Food Tank. But, she continues, “it actually has to be climate friendly in order to do the work we all strive for.”

The label displayed on certified products helps consumers put their dollars toward items that have a smaller impact on the environment.  

Eventually, Hammond hopes that companies opt for upcycled ingredients automatically. “In a perfect world this becomes the norm and we design waste out of the system, ” Hammond says.

And while there is still progress to be made before consumers fully understand and embrace upcycled products, Hammond tells Food Tank that it is possible to encourage this shift through meaningful connections with eaters. “You have to meet people on the platform that they care about.”

Listen to the full conversation with Anna Hammond on Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg HERE to hear more about the benefits of the Upcycled Certified program, Matriark’s recent work with food banks, and the changes Hammond sees in the world of food business.

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Photo courtesy of Nick Fewings, Unsplash

The post Matriark Foods Wants to Make Upcycled Products the Norm, Not the Exception appeared first on Food Tank.

In New York City, Choosing Healthy and Active Lifestyles for Kids (CHALK) is looking to transform healthcare’s role in community wellness with a food as medicine model. To advance this work they offer a training program to help pediatric residents better understand social determinants of health and the importance of interdisciplinary intervention.

CHALK is an obesity prevention program in collaboration with the Division of Community and Population Health at NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). Kyle Murray, Community Program Lead at CHALK, tells Food Tank that their workshop “serves as an entry point to CHALK’s expansive community work for the residents.”

The program is led by Murray, along with his colleague Dr. Ileana Vargas, an endocrinologist from the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center. Offered monthly, the 2.5-hour workshop, complete with a cooking demonstration, is attended by every class of pediatric residents at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

The workshop focuses on nutrition education strategies, and provides pediatricians with support in motivational interviewing—a client-centered counseling approach that takes a problem-solving approach—along with culinary medicine, and culturally competent medical nutrition therapy. By emphasizing food is medicine and challenging the typical nutrition education model, this training works to deepen the impact of clinical care plans and interventions.

According to Murray, social determinants of health, which can include a patient’s long commute, low wages and/or access to healthy food, can drive families towards convenient, low-cost, and often unhealthy, ultra-processed foods. This lack of resources, time, or money can also potentially lead to higher rates of chronic diseases.

By addressing social determinants of health alongside individual behaviors, CHALK advocates for sustainable, health-boosting dietary changes, offering support to families facing the daily challenges of being food insecure or other uncertainties. “By bridging the gap between the community work and the clinical work, while training pediatricians to lead on social drivers of health and interdisciplinary intervention, food as medicine becomes something more than a cliché,” Murray tells Food Tank.

CHALK’s training emphasizes that improving your diet doesn’t demand drastic lifestyle changes. “Less than 0.5 percent of pediatric patients in the United States eat the USDA-recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, so almost any change in eating patterns would make a positive impact,” Murray points out. He believes that small, positive shifts, such as incorporating more vegetables into traditional meals, can yield significant health benefits.

Recognizing the immense challenges posed by social determinants of health, CHALK’s work also extends beyond the clinician’s office. “We connect people to resources to lighten their social and material burdens,” Murray says. “Our role is to provide the right tools to address their needs, so that in the moment the patient is ready to make a move, they know they can use a resource we’ve furnished them.”

CHALK’s efforts have helped to shape a resource network involving families, schools, healthcare institutions, and community-based organizations. This comprehensive approach, such as providing fresh produce to food insecure families and offering health classes in public schools, is helping create a sustainable environment for healthy living.

For more than 15 years, this collaborative initiative by NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia University Irving Medical Center, has been a part of New York City’s public health infrastructure. With pediatric residents leveraging institutional resources for community benefit, CHALK’s culturally competent and empathetic training is reshaping wellness in Northern Manhattan and beyond.

“CHALK’s work is anything but typical,” Murray tells Food Tank. “This work helped us build trust and rapport with a wider swathe of our patients and wider community than ever before. It is a flagship example of our model wherein we provide patients with material and educational connections to strengthen our clinical work. The community responded to us with utmost gratitude, but we continue to be moved and driven by the needs we have yet to meet.”

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The Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and Food Systems for the Future (FSF) are co-launching a new report titled Transforming Agrifood Systems for People, Planet, and Prosperity. The report highlights the importance of embracing diversified, systems-oriented, and science-based solutions as we look to accelerate food system transformation and address the challenges of the climate crisis.

The report outlines the crucial role of agrifood systems transformation in securing nutrition, health, and well-being, while also mitigating and adapting to the accelerating climate crisis. It sheds light on the complex nature of the global food crisis, highlighting the necessity for a diverse range of solutions that can effectively navigate the intricate trade-offs among climate, health, and livelihood objectives. This multidimensional approach is illustrated through a series of case studies, which also introduce The Impact Fingerprint methodology – an evaluation tool which considers the different actors, time dimensions, and geographic scales of initiatives. The report closes with a resounding call to action for key agrifood system stakeholders, including policymakers, private financiers, and businesses, urging them to unite in the development of a coalition committed to catalyzing agrifood systems transformation. 

EDF, FSF, and The Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts are partnering during NYC Climate Week to host a report launch event on September 18th, 2023. Register for the event by clicking HERE, or using the link below, to learn more about transforming agrifood systems amidst the climate crisis, and be the first to view the report!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/transforming-agrifood-systems-amidst-the-climate-crisis-tickets-716165940607?aff=oddtdtcreator

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The post Revolutionizing Agrifood Systems: A Blueprint for a Sustainable Future appeared first on Food Tank.

A recent report from McKinsey finds that agriculture has the single largest impact on the environment of any economic sector. The report lays out 47 concrete actions that agriculture businesses can take to restore Earth’s ecological balance— while maintaining a positive return-on-investment.

The report uses the planetary-boundaries framework, which was first introduced in 2009 by Earth systems scientists at the Stockholm Resilience Center. The concept recognizes that in addition to climate change, there are eight other Earth systems that, if destabilized beyond a certain threshold, could trigger irreversible environmental changes.

“We are operating our world economy beyond a safe operating space. There is not enough focus on climate change, and there is certainly not enough focus on the eight other planetary boundaries. The climate crisis is not a standalone crisis,” Duko Hopman, a partner at McKinsey and co-author of the report, tells Food Tank.

The report analyzes six planetary boundaries. Mckinsey finds that human activity has already extended beyond the “safe operating space” for four of these boundaries: biodiversity loss, chemical and plastic pollution, nutrient pollution, and greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. As a sector, agriculture has the single largest direct impact on planetary boundaries.

McKinsey researchers conclude that food systems actors have an enormous role to play in bringing civilization back within planetary bounds. Targeting the private sector, the 47 actions offer guidance to help corporations address specific planetary boundaries.

For agriculture companies, these include implementing “regenerative agriculture, precision agriculture, agroforestry, new delivery models, biological pest control, drip irrigation, biodegradable packaging, and reducing food waste,” the report says.

Almost half of the impact of these nature-positive actions provide a positive return-on-investment (ROI). And if corporations fully implement just twelve of these levers, the report estimates these actions can amount to “an annual benefit of US$700 billion.”

According to Hopman, agri-food companies are facing real threats to their profits because of factors like declining soil health and nutrient pollution. With soil depletion progressing at its current rate, “there are only a few dozen harvest cycles left, so agribusiness is taking those predictions very seriously,” Hopman reports to Food Tank.

Hopman tells Food Tank that “the emitters right now might not be feeling the effect of carbon emissions on their operations. However, compared to climate, other planetary boundaries are much more of a localized issue. So these companies are feeling these effects faster.”

“It is one thing to argue against cutting down a forest because of climate change, but it’s an additionally interesting point to argue how cutting down a forest would reduce precipitation in the same region which may reduce crop yields in the area,” Hopman continues. “The more you can make those dynamics between environmental destruction and revenue loss transparent, the more you can affect decision making.”

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The post Report Finds That Agriculture Is Breaching Several Planetary Boundaries appeared first on Food Tank.

Foodshed.io is working to solve the inefficiencies of local food distribution by connecting sustainable producers to local wholesale and institutional markets across the United States. To strengthen local food systems and economies, Foodshed.io encourages local consumption and provides farmers with the resources to meet that growing demand.

Foodshed.io aims to enhance the efficiency, reliability, flexibility and transparency of local food distribution. The company provides a platform for farmers to list their available produce and set their own quantities and prices. Restaurants, supermarkets, and institutional buyers are then able to browse local products, place orders for multiple farms, and pay farmers all within one channel.

“We were able to make this something that was scalable and would follow a different pathway than some of the other attempts at [localizing food systems],” Dan Beckmann, the Founder of Foodshed.io tells Food Tank.

Beckmann co-founded Foodshed.io alongside Tom Hallaran, award-winning software engineer and entrepreneur, and Claire Sullivan, farmer and researcher of agricultural systems around the world. He says that the platform stemmed from an initiative that Hallaran and Sullivan had created years prior called Feedback Farms. Feedback Farms aimed to localize food in Brooklyn, but soon after its inception, found they were producing more food than they could sell. This disconnect between local production and consumption motivated the idea for Foodshed.io.

For its first three years of operation, the platform primarily connected local farms with restaurants in New York City. When Beckmann joined the team, he saw an opportunity to scale the initiative through expanding it to more mainstream food purchasing spaces like supermarkets.

“If you have a goal of regenerative agriculture and producing food in a way which means we can continue to do it, then you need to make it what it is for as many people as possible,” says Beckmann, “Mainstreaming this was a goal of mine.”

Now based in St. Louis, Missouri, the company partners directly with Schnucks Markets to help increase the accessibility and scalability of local food consumption.

Foodshed.io operates through a mobile marketing app and logistics platform. The technology streamlines and aggregates farm inventories, identifies route optimization, and provides real-time delivery and tracking updates to buyers and sellers.

“The more that everybody is working on helping to stabilize farms, and helping to stabilize markets for them…then the local food system is better for everybody. There’s more local food, more places can plug into it,” Beckmann tells Food Tank.

According to Beckmann, the company has launched a new pilot program this summer to enhance consumers’ knowledge of when their produce was harvested. Beckmann hopes this program will not only highlight the importance of local farmers in food systems, but also broaden community awareness and accessibility of these foods.

Foodshed.io hopes to increase their network of local farms, while continuing to acknowledge and sustain the different legacies and histories across communities.

“If there’s a drought somewhere then there’s probably water somewhere else. It’s just a good idea that every place grows food now and that’s our ambition,” Beckmann tells Food Tank.

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The post Foodshed.io Connects Sustainable Producers to Wholesale Markets, Empowering Farmers for Success appeared first on Food Tank.

This year, the international peasant movement La Via Campesina is celebrating its growth with the official launch of its 10th region. 

For more than 30 years, La Via Campesina has advocated for food sovereignty, environmental justice, and peasants’ rights. 

“If people don’t control the food, they don’t control the power,” Morgan Ody, General Coordinator for La Via Campesina tells Food Tank. Food systems transformation, they believe, lies “in the hands of peasant women, of the peasant youth, of artisanal fisherfolk, of the people who are really producing the healthy food.”

The movement is made up of more than 200 million peasants spread out across more than 80 countries. While each organization that comprises La Via Campesina works to address the specific needs of their region, they stand in solidarity with one another to achieve shared goals. 

“The value of solidarity is very important,” Ody says. “So when one of our organizations or peasant leaders, or someone in one of our organizations faces a huge problem, we try to be in solidarity with this organization or with this peasant leader.”

This year, La Via Campesina shared that 2023 will mark their official expansion into the Arab and North Africa region as they foster new and existing relationships with local organizations. 

“We really thought a few years ago that we needed to put more energy toward trying to support a peasant organizations and agricultural workers organizations in this region, which has been hurt by so many wars,” Ody tells Food Tank. 

She explains that their work is complicated by a political climate that is hostile to peasant movements. But, Ody continues, “we know that in these societies, the peasants are really the basis of life. If the peasants were not there to continue to produce food, it would be even more complicated.” La Via Campesina hopes that in the coming months, they can bring in new organizations from the region. 

La Via Campesina is also looking ahead to their eighth international conference, coming up in December. “It’s going to be such an exciting moment,” Ody tells Food Tank. Bringing together more than 500 peasants, “it’s a great moment of celebration,” she says. “But it’s also a moment of debate, discussion over the priorities of our peasant movement for the next years.”

Listen to the full conversation with Morgan Ody on “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” HERE to hear about creating opportunities for youth in agriculture, reclaiming term peasant, and why La Via Campesina’s fight to democratize food systems is so critical.

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Photo courtesy of Amany Firdaus, Unsplash

The post The International Peasant Movement Is Growing appeared first on Food Tank.

In partnership with the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) West Asia and food technology company Winnow, Hilton recently announced that it achieved a 61-percent reduction in food waste across three major hotels in the Middle East during Ramadan festivities this year. Now, Hilton hopes the campaign’s success can serve as a blueprint for other organizations to reduce their own food waste.

“We’re in a linear economy where we take, make, and waste,” says Emma Banks, Vice President of Food and Beverage Strategy and Development at Hilton. “We said, why don’t we try to close the loop and create a circular economy process?”

According to UNEP’s 2021 State of Food Waste in West Asia report, food waste increases by 25 to 50 percent during religious and social festivities in the Middle East. Hilton’s initiative combined messaging from the UNEP West Asia Recipe of Change Sustainable Ramadan campaign, which aims to raise awareness of food waste and trigger behavioral change, with Winnow’s artificial intelligence system, which collects food waste data.

The campaign saved 7,628 pounds of food and US$41,597 between the first and fourth week of Ramadan, a 61-percent reduction in food waste. 

“When you know the key items that you’re throwing away and you can track it, very small tweaks go a long way in driving down food waste,” says Marc Zornes, Co-Founder and CEO of Winnow. 

During the Ramadan campaign, Winnow’s touchless system automatically captured both the weight and a photo of food thrown in the garbage. According to Zornes, paying attention to not only the amount of food but also the kind of food that is thrown away is critical to any effective food waste strategy.

“We at Winnow have been focusing more and more on looking at the entirety of food waste that an operation generates and developing strategies where you can not just reduce back-of-house waste, but also drive down plate waste,” says Zornes.

Hilton’s campaign was the first time that Winnow collected large-scale data on both pre-consumer food waste, or food that is thrown away during kitchen preparations, and post-consumer food waste, or food that is thrown away at the end of customers’ meals. This more holistic dataset was a key factor in the campaign’s success.

Within the first few days of Ramadan, for example, the data showed that large quantities of bread were being wasted across all three hotels. Moving forward, instead of offering self-serve rolls at the Ramadan buffets, Hilton’s kitchens offered freshly baked bread upon request. Banks says that this resulted in few requests for bread, as eaters were helping themselves to so many other dishes. When eaters did request it, though, they were delighted to receive warm, freshly baked bread at their table. 

The hotels’ post-consumer food waste plummeted immediately after this change, says Banks.

“There is a false belief that if you introduce sustainability messaging to try and correct behavior, you diminish the guest experience,” says David Jackson, Director of Marketing & Public Affairs at Winnow. “But what we were finding was that, if you have the data, you can create elevated customer experiences whilst reducing food waste and doing the right thing for the environment at the same time.”

Hilton worked with UNEP to deploy Sustainable Ramadan messaging at the buffets, encouraging eaters to make what Banks calls “climate-conscious choices.” This included labels around plant-based foods and the carbon footprint of different dishes.

“The messaging was very respectful and low-key…People enjoyed the fact that they were getting to taste local produce. In Qatar, people were not aware that we had such good quality Qatari honey, for example,” says Banks. “It was really quite educational.” 

To further reduce waste, Hilton’s chefs worked closely with kitchen staff to use parts of ingredients that would otherwise be thrown away, as well as dehydration and other preservation methods. The hotels also composted and donated food locally.

Hilton plans to roll out the Green Ramadan initiative across all its relevant Europe, Middle East, and Africa hotels in 2024.

“We don’t have to hold our head in our hands and say that there is no way we can make buffet formats more sustainable, because this has proved you can,” says Banks. “It’s just going to involve people rolling up their sleeves, doubling down, and making it happen.”

Zornes hopes that the Green Ramadan campaign’s success can serve as a template for reducing food waste at other religious events around the world. “It’s not something that has to be exclusive to Ramadan,” he says.

In the months leading up to the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, Winnow is investing heavily in illuminating the possibilities of holistically addressing food waste, hoping to inspire other organizations by showing what’s possible through data.

“We’re really trying to push the envelope on what’s possible and create proof points,” says Zornes.

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Photo courtesy of Duane Mendes, Unsplash

The post Hilton Reduces Food Waste by 61 Percent During Green Ramadan Campaign appeared first on Food Tank.

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It’s time to get to work to solve the climate crisis.

The end of the year is bookended by three major, global events: NYC Climate Week, which begins next week in New York City to coincide with the United Nations General Assembly; the UN Food and Agriculture Programme’s World Food Day on October 16; and COP28, the annual UN climate change conference, which will take place in Dubai starting at the end of November.

With so many high-level leaders and changemakers coming together, we have an opportunity to demonstrate the incredible momentum of the food movement—and show the world how food and agriculture can be part of the solution to the climate crisis.

Food Tank’s Climate Week programming will kick off next Thursday, Sept. 14, when Food Tank, WWF, Wholechain, and NYU Steinhardt will present a Summit called “Food and Agriculture as a Solution to the Climate Crisis” in collaboration with five global partners: the World Food Program-USA, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization North America, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Our goal for this event is to highlight the crucial role of food and agriculture in working to solve the climate crisis, domestically and internationally.

Amazing speakers and moderators will be joining us, including (in alphabetical order): Alysia Reiner, American actress; Carolyn Dimitri, NYU Steinhardt; Cassie Flynn, United Nations Development Programme; Chloe Sorvino, Forbes; Chris Adamo, Danone; Dan Colen, Sky-High Farm; Danielle Nierenberg, Food Tank; Deena Shanker, Bloomberg; Didier Toubia, Aleph Farms; Dr. John de la Parra, The Rockefeller Foundation; Dr. Rebecca Shaw, WWF; Dr. Selena Ahmed, American Heart Association; Dr. Stefanos Fotiou, UN FAO; Earlene Cruz, Kitchen Connection; Edward Wyatt, WWF; Fernando Bellesse, WWF USA; George Ronald Gray, UNDP; Haile Thomas, The Happy Org; Jahan-Zeb Chowdhury, The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); Jayson Berryhill, Wholechain; Jeff Gordinier, Esquire Magazine; Jennifer Baumwoll, UNDP; Jennifer Berg, NYU Steinhardt; Jessica Fanzo, Columbia University Climate School; Jocelyn Zuckerman, James Beard Award-winning journalist; Joe Sellwood, Rever; Jonathan Papoulidis, Food for the Hungry Inc; José Luis Chicoma, UNDP; Kem Seesink, World Food Program USA; Lana Weidgenant, Act4Food and ProVeg International; Lara Gilmore, Food for Soul; Logan Duran, Tapestry Inc; Mark Bittman, American food journalist, best-selling author, and former columnist for The New York Times; Michael Chorske, Pegasus Capital Advisors; Monica Ellis, Global Water Challenge; Nona Yehia, Vertical Harvest; Olowo-n’djo Tchala, Alaffia; Padma Lakshmi, Goodwill Ambassador, UN Environment Programme (UNEP); Paola De Almeida, formerly of Mars; Paula Perez, Oatly; Pierre Thiam, Chef, Author, and Social Activist; Raquel Lagunas, UNDP; Rene Edde, Accenture; Rick Duke, United States Deputy Special Envoy for Climate; Sage Lenier, Sustainable & Just Future; Simballa Sylla, Sustainable African Foods; Stacey Vanek Smith, National Public Radio; and Zoya Teirstein, Grist. Catering provided by Great Performances and Oatly.

Join us FREE via livestream by registering HERE. The in-person event is at capacity, but if you’d like to be added to the waitlist, let us know by emailing Kenzie at Kenzie@FoodTank.com.

In the evening, Food Tank and Participant Media are co-presenting a special advanced viewing of the sequel to the acclaimed Academy Award-winning documentary Food, Inc. After the screening, we’ll have a fireside chat featuring luminaries Michael Pollan, Marion Nestle, and Eric Schlosser. We will also be hearing from the filmmakers, Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo.

The event is at capacity but video of the discussion will be free and available immediately after the event on Food Tank’s YouTube page.

And don’t forget, Food Tank members get advance invitations to our Summits before they’re sold-out. So if you’re not already a member, now’s a good time to join at FoodTank.com/Join.

Food Tank’s programming continues throughout Climate Week in New York City. Here are some highlights:

Monday, Sept. 18: Along with the James Beard Foundation, we’re presenting “Climate Week: What Can Chefs Do About Climate Change: A Conversation About Solutions, Hope, And Deliciousness.” This panel features Anne E. McBride from JBF, Naama Tamir, Co-Owner of Lighthouse Restaurant, and chefs Mavis-Jay Sanders and Daniel Humm. It’s free but hurry and register HERE—it’ll sell out quick.

Tuesday, Sept. 19: I’ll be moderating a panel discussion on combating food waste that’s free and open to NYC Climate Week registered attendees. Later that evening, we’ll be at the Earth Shot Prize Innovation Summit with His Royal Highness Prince William.

Wednesday, Sept. 20: As part of Food Day 2023, I’ll be moderating a panel at a Summit with The Rockefeller Foundation, WWF, and the Global Alliance for the Future of Food. The agenda includes: Anna Lappe, Global Alliance for the Future of Food; Julia Moskin, The New York Times; Erika Xananine Calvillo Ramirez, Indigenous Youth Leader from Mexico, Elizabeth Yee, The Rockefeller Foundation; Carter Roberts, WWF; H.E Minister Mariam Almheiri, United Arab Emirates; Karen Washington, Rise and Root Farm; Reema Nanavaty, SEWA India; Maximo Torero, Chief Economist, FAO, and more. Register for the livestream HERE.

In the evening, chef Sean Sherman is curating the Eat4Change Dinner @ UNGA, an evening celebrating the power of food to transform people and the planet. In person tickets are sadly already sold out.

Thursday, Sept. 21: Join us for a special Climate Week “Feast to Fix the Future of Food” Culinary Adventure—a multi-course dinner with an incredible lineup of chefs, storytellers, and more. Themed around celebrating the “Beans is How” campaign, this event will take place at Platform (the James Beard Foundation Pier 57) space. Featured chefs include: Chef Anita Jaisinghani, award winning chef and co-owner of Pondicherri, Houston; Chef Grace Ramirez, TV celebrity chef, author, and advocate; and Chef Lorna Maseko, International celebrity chef, TV presenter, award winning cookbook author and former Prima Ballerina South Africa. Buy tickets HERE.

And these are just some of the highlights!

As a Food Tanker, let me share also my personal Climate Week schedule with you so you can join me whenever possible. Loop me in via email at danielle@foodtank.com about how you’re meeting the moment when it comes to climate, whether you’ll be at Climate Week in person or supporting from around the world.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Habr, Unsplash

The post With Climate Week Coming Up, It’s Time to Act on Climate Change and Food appeared first on Food Tank.

In the north of Thailand, the Hin Lad Nai, a community of the Karen people, are receiving international recognition for their conservation of the land. Despite their accomplishments, the Thai government’s conservation strategy has historically neglected Indigenous knowledge and criminalized many Indigenous practices. The recent Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) may provide a new opportunity to support these traditional approaches to agriculture that benefit communities and the Earth while securing communities’ rights.

After a logging company destroyed much of their jungle’s ecosystem in the 1980s, Hin Lad Nai community members banded together immediately after the forest was ravaged to begin restoring their home. The base of the restoration work is in their rotational farming system, also called the fallow system or swidden agriculture.

Hin Lad Nai habitants communally clear a section of the forest by cutting down trees (but leaving large stumps to encourage regeneration) and applying controlled burning. A farmer then cultivates that plot of land before leaving it fallow for seven-to-ten-year cycles. Transition periods between active to fallow land are also accompanied by spiritual rituals.

The type of rotational farming that Hin Lad Nai engages in, which includes what is sometimes known as slashing and burning, did not originally fit with the Thai government’s conservation strategy.

“The discourse on rotational farming is that it is the cause of deforestation. But Hin Lad Nai has proved through scientific research that rotational farming is not causing climate change, but the opposite,” says Karen researcher Dr. Prasert Trakansuphakon to Food Tank. Trakansuphakon has advocated for Hin Lad Nai and Indigenous rights for decades, speaking at the United Nations (UN) and other international forums.

Hin Lad Nai partnered with Thai researcher Prayong Doklamyai and the organization Oxfam International to study the community’s carbon footprint. They report that while rotational farming releases about 480 tons of carbon per year through controlled burning, the regenerative fallow system stores 17,000 tons in the same time period.

And through another partnership with SwedBio, a program at the Stockholm Resilience Center, Hin Lad Nai co-authored a report which explains the spiritual significance of the rotational farming system, while also providing statistical evidence of its value for biodiversity. Their co-created research found that on some farms, the rotational fallow system led to greater agrobiodiversity, greater production, more reliable production, and richer soil.

Pernilla Malmer, Senior Advisor at SwedBio, tells Food Tank about the “multiple-evidence base approach”, which shows that “traditional knowledge of local communities is equally valid to science and brings critical value for complying with international environmental agreements.”

In three decades, Hin Lad Nai has restored 80 percent of their previously destroyed forest and revitalized populations of many animal species, some endangered. According to the Swedbio report, there are some 207 food crops cultivated in the rotational farming system used by Hin Lad Nai. “They earn income from forest products and beekeeping. That’s why they don’t have to do cash cropping and why they prohibit chemicals in the area,” Trakansuphakon tells Food Tank.

Hin Lad Nai uses their agricultural and spiritual system to feed themselves, keep their forest healthy and biodiverse, and earn a sustainable income. Convincing the Thai governments of these benefits took time, but partnerships with researchers helped them secure their rights to the forest.

Hin Lad Nai has also leveraged awards from agenda-setting organizations including the United Nations to prove the value of their agricultural practices. A Hin Lad Nai community leader won the U.N.’s Forest Hero Award, their village was established as a Special Cultural Zone by the Thai Ministry of Culture, and the UN now recognizes rotational farming as a protected cultural heritage.

But Hin Lad Nai’s success is not shared by all Indigenous communities across the country. In 2021, the Thai government came under the international spotlight for burning Karen peoples’ homes, arresting women and children, and forcibly evicting Karen people from their ancestral lands in order to expand Kaeng Krachan National Park.

One of the GBF’s targets is to designate 30 percent of Earth’s land and sea as protected by 2030. And it emphasizes the importance of upholding Indigenous people’s rights to achieve these goals.

In response to the new GBF, Alice Matthew of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity tells Food Tank: “We hope that states will be more open to working with Indigenous Peoples and will focus on ending their suffering caused by ‘conservation.’”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Pernilla Malmer

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Small-scale farmers are among the original influencers growing the food that sustains and shapes us. But their position at the beginning of global supply chains often leaves them with little influence over market decisions that affect their future. As interest in sustainable production grows among consumers and the climate crisis worsens, the world needs to honor farmers’ perspectives.

The Small Farmer Atlas, a new study from Solidaridad, represents an effort to learn from farmers’ views on sustainability. This data-rich report, based on interviews with 10,000 small-scale farmers in 18 countries, covers issues from prosperity and income, to bargaining power and land use.

Small-scale operations account for nearly 90 percent of the 570 million farms around the world. Small-producers, however, are not a contiguous group; how we understand their needs varies widely by product or country, land size or access to market.

The Small Farmer Atlas covers eight commodities: coffee, tea, cocoa, bananas, cotton, oil palm, soy or sugarcane. These commodities are produced by roughly 120 million small-scale farmers, the majority of them in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The report is focused on semi-commercial and small-commercial small-scale farmers. Farmers in these groups can typically cover their basic needs with the cash crops they produce, yet prosperity often remains out of reach. With sufficient income and resources, these farmers have the potential to turn their farms into reliable businesses. Understanding how they see their prospects can be indicative of the overall health of the sector. 

Over half of the farmers interviewed express confidence in their ability to meet basic needs. This can indicates that sustainability interventions and work with farmers have had a positive impact, even though the pandemic and the related economic downturn when the survey was conducted.

However, the majority of farmers express that they are ill-equipped to handle price volatility or climate shocks. Women, in particular, are concerned with their ability to achieve a fair income, to find market support, and produce in harmony with the natural environment.

Across all regions, farmers indicate they are concerned about issues related to sustainability.

Over 50 percent of those surveyed indicate that they could not cover basic expenses if prices they receive drop by 25 percent, a regular occurrence in commodity markets; more than half of them lack access to markets, financing and information that would allow them to realize their full potential; and women experience a heavier burden and more inequality than men. Overall, female farmers were more negative than male respondents in their answers.

And yet, the impacts of a changing climate loom as their biggest concern. Nearly two thirds of farmers struggle with a lack of resources needed to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Furthermore, across all 18 countries covered, farmers express grave concerns about deteriorating soil quality and water scarcity: 60 percent express serious concern about the quality of their soils and the capacity to improve soil health; 60 percent express dissatisfaction with the availability of water for irrigation; and 57 percent do not have the resources to adapt to climate change.

“Economically, things have improved a lot. We have increased our incomes, sent our children to school, improved our houses… and even managed to save some money. But in the last 10 years, farming has become increasingly difficult,” says Edwin Nunjar Peña, who produces bananas with his partner Jessica Paola Mondragón Mendoza on a small farm in Peru. Nunjar Peña highlights increased problems with pests and disease that are exacerbated by a changing climate.

The Small Farmer Atlas is an invitation to companies, policymakers and non-profit organizations to center the perspectives of small-scale farmers in the design of procurement processes and sustainability policies. Overall, the Small Farmer Atlas illustrates the need for two key interventions. One, profit-sharing across agricultural value chains that directly benefit farmers, and improve their business case so they can invest in their farms and access finance; and two, the need for systemic change that prioritizes the perceptions of small-scale farmers and grounds interventions in their needs.

This means understanding and prioritizing the interests and agenda of these ‘original influencers’ rather than imposing top-down solutions. It is essential to incorporate the perspectives and practical know-how of small-scale farmers into practices and policies that affect their livelihoods.

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Photo courtesy of Allison Malpartida

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Farmers Post, a pilot program launched by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), is enabling farmers from eastern Connecticut to ship their products to local households through the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). The initiative aims to tackle food waste and decrease supply-chain emissions while ensuring that small farmers are compensated for their hard work.

Farmers Post leverages the USPS’s Connect Local program, which allows small businesses to provide same-day and next-day delivery at a low cost. Julia Kurnik, Senior Director of Innovation Start-ups for the Markets Institute at WWF, tells Food Tank that “the USPS is an ideal partner because they are already going to everyone’s door. It allows us to reach everyone, regardless of geographic divides.”

Initiated by WWF in 2020, the program enables farmers to ship their products through existing postal routes, avoiding market markups and additional fees.

“Fruit and vegetable farmers in the United States actually only keep about seven to eight cents of every dollar that we spend on fresh produce in a grocery store,” Kurnik points out. “It’s a very long, complicated supply chain, so farmers only get to keep a very small percent of that revenue.”

This is where Farmers Post comes into play. “By providing a much more direct connection for farmers to sell to consumers, farmers get to keep almost all of the revenue,” Kurnik tells Food Tank. She adds that Farmers Post is especially beneficial for smaller farms or farms located in areas that are unlikely to have access to farmers’ markets that sell directly to consumers.

According to the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, approximately one third of the country’s available food supply at the retail and consumer levels goes uneaten. About 16 percent of this waste occurs on farms, WWF reports, often because of the cosmetic specifications from buyers. The direct sale model helps to tackle food loss and waste by rescuing produce that may not fit the marketing standards of grocery stores. According to an open case study by the University of British Columbia, 12 percent of fruit and vegetable loss comes from retail, with outdated cosmetic standards for fruits and vegetables. Local transport also prevents fresh produce from going bad as it travels.

WWF also hopes that Farmers Post will help to  tackle food insecurity, an issue affecting approximately 34 million people in the U.S., according to Feeding America. “When we overlay maps of all the vegetable farms in the country with maps of food deserts– they heavily overlap. A lot of people are struggling to access food even in counties where it’s being grown,” says Kurnik. “We are hoping that Farmers Post can help address that access issue.”

Congressman Joe Courtney of Connecticut’s second district, a long-time champion of community-supported agriculture, has voiced support for the Program. The program has also caught the interest of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, who sent a representative to visit participating farms. “Farmers Post is exactly the kind of creative solution Canada’s food system needs,” the union states.

As Farmers Post scales, WWF hopes it will help make food systems more environmentally friendly, financially sustainable, while improving public health through fruit and vegetable consumption. Another pilot site will soon launch in the Virginia and Washington, D.C. area. “I’m personally very excited, because if we can nail down logistics with these pilots, the program could scale extremely quickly,” says Kurnik.

From there, Kurnik hopes that program will only continue to grow. “If successful, Farmers Post will move far beyond the World Wildlife Fund,” she tells Food Tank.

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Photo courtesy of Trinity Nguyen, Unsplash

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