A3. Agroecology

People of the Forest is working with the Yawanawá People of Mutum Village in Acre, Brazil to regenerate degraded forest, empower community members and leaders, and advance Indigenous food sovereignty. A new fundraising campaign aims to help the project deepen its impact.

The project uses agroforestry and Traditional Ecological Knowledge to regenerate degraded Yawanawá land, which spans approximately 500,000 acres of the Amazon rainforest. Their holistic approach aims to strengthen ecological leadership, learning pathways for young people, seed-saving, and community resilience.

“If you know how to use the resources you have in the forest, this is wealth,” Julia Yawanawá, a community leader, educator, medicinal plant wisdom keeper, tells Food Tank.

The project recently entered its third round of fundraising. Donations made through Ma Earth, a collaborative fundraising platform, will be matched through July 21. Provided by Biome Trust, Naia Trust, Imaginal Seeds, and Ma Earth Foundation, the matching funds will help increase the impact and create a greater opportunity for positive change.

According to Ma Earth, there is an estimated US$1 trillion per year funding gap preventing regenerative and community-led initiatives from accessing the resources they need.

Extractive practices, including logging, mining, and ranching, harm the local ecosystems of the Yawanawá territory. The effects of the climate crisis, industrialized farming practices, and the introduction of processed foods further threaten the community members’ wellbeing and livelihoods.

Three years ago, Chief Matsini invited People of the Forest to visit Mutum, the second-largest village of the Yawanawá, and collaborate on a project to support healthier food systems for his people. “A person with a bad heart comes—you give him food and he will feel good,” Chief Matsini tells Food Tank. “Food is the greatest unifier.”

The Indigenous-led initiative is hoping to restore a natural equilibrium between people and the land, which the Yawanawá have stewarded for thousands of years. Its three main goals are to regenerate food systems, reforest native plants, and educate the local communities.

More than 20 Yawanawá have been trained in regenerative practices and over 1,000 native fruit and nut trees have been planted. A 10,000-square-foot agroforestry demonstration plot offers community members a place to engage in land stewardship and ecological leadership. Film, photography, and field documentation also help to amplify Indigenous voices. Through mentorship, youth are learning how to tell their stories in their own voice.

“It is important that this project doesn’t depend on us, it is theirs,” Timo Granzotti, Co-Founder of People of the Forest, tells Food Tank.

The next phase will expand its agroforestry work into other communities by cultivating household kitchen gardens and building nurseries to propagate native species. It will begin community-led design of aquaculture infrastructure to further build local food systems and continue to educate community members. Funding will also provide emerging Indigenous leaders with scholarships to agroforestry schools in Brazil.

“We are not guardians. We are multipliers,” Yawanawá says. “We sow the world, we sow the forest. We are the hands that multiply the food.”

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Photo courtesy of Archie Macpherson

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Before I travel on ground-truthing trips to rural and agricultural communities around the globe, the Food Tank team does prep research. Sometimes, the first data points that jump out at us are challenges that folks are facing, global crises hitting close to home.

But here’s the thing: When I’m in Guatemala or Ethiopia or even at home here in Baltimore actually talking to people on the ground, what shines far brighter are the visionary individuals and organizations working hard to make their communities better.

By highlighting these stories of hope and success from on-the-ground efforts to build better food systems, Food Tank aims to be the antidote to the helplessness and hopelessness we might feel sitting at a computer or scrolling on our phones. There’s plenty of good in the world, too, if we open our eyes to it!

This week, we’re sharing 10 bright spots—big and small—in the world of food systems, guiding us like beacons toward more equitable, resilient, nourished communities.

Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming, India

This agroecology project, led by the organization Rythu Sadhikara Samstha, is one of the largest and most successful in the world. The project earned the 2026 Food Planet Prize for their work empowering women farmers, helping them transition to practices that are better for them and the environment.

“What we are doing is very simple but very profound. It’s something anybody can do anywhere in the world,” says Vijay Kumar Thallam, Executive Vice Chair.

Asociación De Agricultores Tinecos (ADAT), Guatemala

I was fortunate to spend time with women coffee farmers in the ADAT co-op during a ground-truthing trip to Guatemala, where I saw how women are involved in every part of the supply chain—from planting to harvesting to roasting to selling—giving them access to resources they often lack.

“Every step we take opens a door for another woman,” group members told me.

ARISE-Farmers, Asia-Pacific Region

Since ARISE-Farmers was launched in 2021 to champion producer-led solutions, the program has reached over 20,000 farmers in 12 countries across Asia. It’s supported by the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA), to strengthen food and nutrition security and improve livelihoods.

CIMMYT, Global

CIMMYT, a Spanish acronym for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, is demonstrating how science-driven approaches can help farmers respond to shifting weather patterns, improve local systems and access to innovations, and boost productivity sustainably.

“The innovations we invested in together are now protecting harvests and building resilience for millions of farmers across Africa and beyond. This is what science diplomacy looks like in practice — and it is a model the world needs to see more of,” says Gisele Fernández Ludlow, Ambassador of Mexico to Kenya.

In just a couple weeks, I’m heading to Mexico to visit CIMMYT researchers there, so stay tuned for dispatches from on-the-ground.

EMBRAPA (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation), Brazil

At EMBRAPA, researcher Mariangela Hungria was named the 2025 World Food Prize laureate for work helping Brazil become an agricultural powerhouse while proving that success is possible while reducing farmers’ reliance on harmful synthetic inputs. Take a listen here to a fascinating conversation I had with Dr. Hungria last year on the Food Talk podcast!

ROAM Ranch, United States

At ROAM Ranch in Texas, Katie and Taylor Collins are showing their neighbors the power of regenerative agriculture. Thanks to their stewardship practices, the creek on their property is flowing again after not flowing for decades, and wildlife from deer to birds have returned to the land.

OzHarvest, Australia

OzHarvest, Australia’s leading food rescue organization, is using innovative food redistribution models, social entrepreneurship, advocacy, and education to tackle food waste and deliver food to those in need.

“We have forgotten how to value our farmers’ effort it takes to grow food,” says Ronnie Kahn, OzHarvest Founder and “Visionary in Residence.” “If you can embed this in young people, perhaps we’ll start shifting and changing the narrative.”

Solid’Africa, Rwanda

Solid’Africa provides medically tailored meals to more than 100,000 patients in public hospitals, connect public schools with healthy food and nutrition education, and support market stability and training for regenerative farmers.

“If you are building toward regenerative school meals, hospital meals…it has to be a plate that is full of health, full of taste, and most importantly that’s full of dignity,” says Isabelle Kamariza, President and Founder of Solid’Africa.

Sicangu Food Sovereignty Initiative, United States

The Sicangu Food Sovereignty Initiative, rooted on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, is helping community members learn how to grow, produce, harvest, and prepare their own food. The initiative’s 7Gen project has also helped revive buffalo populations; the organization’s buffalo range has grown from 50 to 1,000 heads since 2020 alone.

Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Norway

Tucked inside a mountain in the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (or “Doomsday Vault,” as it’s sometimes known) is the largest backup facility for the world’s crop diversity. As of June 2026, new additions to the vault have brought the total collection to 1.4 million seed samples, a major milestone.

Each of these bright spots began as a small, visionary point of light in a community. That, to me, is so inspiring because it reminds us all of our power to make a difference.

So let’s let these stories illuminate our own work to transform the food system, too!

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 Jono Hirst, Unsplash

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Meteorologists warn that this year’s El Niño may be one of the strongest on record. As communities around the world brace for more extreme weather events, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is helping farmers build resilience.

Every two to seven years, El Niño causes widespread disruptions around the world, from drought to heavy rains. Past ones “have left economies devastated,” Sara Mbago-Bhunu, Director of East and Southern Africa Division at IFAD, tells Food Tank. 

The U.N. agency works with governments and development partners to put prevention measures in place before a crisis hits. Seasonal climate forecasts and early warning systems can inform planning, identify vulnerable areas, and establish preparedness measures.

“All regions really should be willing to prepare for this,” Mbago-Bhunu says. Because El Niño will look different across geographies, mapping helps IFAD understand the likely impacts and how to adapt accordingly.

Ethiopia, northern Uganda, Zambia, and Mozambique, for example, are likely to see less rain during their main growing season. In these regions, water capture technologies must be scaled up. Meanwhile in Tanzania and coastal Kenya—likely to experience higher-than-average rainfall—flood-resistant roads, warehouses, and markets are needed.

Mbago-Bhunu says that governments across the continent understand the importance of building more resilient systems, not only to respond to El Niño, but also to the broader effects of the climate crisis.

“They understand if they don’t invest in their water tables, in their water towers, they will not be able to have productive capacities to feed their populations in the future,” she tells Food Tank. “They also understand that supporting soil fertility might not see immediate gains, but will definitely have future returns.”

But funding for climate adaptation in Africa remains inadequate. “We get a fraction of global funding as it is,” Mbago-Bhunu says. “So [governments] have to mobilize cheaper sources of financing domestically and then…channel those into longer term solutions.”

This approach pays off, Mbago-Bhunu argues. She points to the last El Niño in 2023, which affected more than 1 million Zambian households. Around US$900 was required to provide life-saving aid and early recovery assistance—far more than the cost of preventative measures.

“Investing in resilience is cheaper than responding to disaster.”

Listen to the full conversation with Sara Mbago-Bhunu to hear about the unique vulnerabilities women and girls face from extreme weather events, how IFAD leverages resources from its projects to respond to urgent needs, and what the private sector can do to support farmers and governments.

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Photo courtesy of Richard Nyoni, Unsplash

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No reform can transform the WTO into an institution that serves the people. The time has come to build a new system that prioritizes dignity, sovereignty, and the well-being of all peoples.

The post “No reform can transform the WTO into an institution that serves the people” appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

This article is part of Food Tank’s primer series, “Food Tank Explains.” Each installment unpacks the ideas, innovations, and challenges shaping today’s food and agriculture systems, offering clear insights into complex topics. To explore more articles in the series, click here.

One-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). Food loss occurs when food is damaged or spoiled before it reaches retailers or eaters; food waste refers to edible food that retailers or consumers discard.

Food loss and waste (FLW) undermines food security, generates substantial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, deplete land, water, and other natural resources, and impose significant costs on the global economy.

But certain researchers, governments, food waste nonprofits, and international organizations agree that much of FLW is interconnected and preventable, making FLW reduction a key strategy for addressing environmental, economic, and food security challenges simultaneously.

Food loss typically occurs before food reaches the retail stage—during harvesting, processing, and transportation. Limited access to storage facilities, refrigeration, and infrastructure can increase rates of food loss. Sometimes food loss is also a symptom of deeper political challenges tied to global trade says Moses Kansanga, Associate Professor of Geography and International Affairs at George Washington University.

Food waste occurs after food reaches retailers and consumers. It typically refers to food that is suitable for consumption but discarded, because of overproduction, cosmetic standards, over-purchasing, improper storage, or confusion over expiration labels.

According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 13 percent of food produced globally is lost between harvest and retail. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that an additional 19 percent of food is wasted at the retail, food service, and household levels.

High income countries generally waste more food per capita. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration estimates that 30 to 40 percent of the nation’s food supply is wasted. ReFED estimates that U.S. retailers generated 4.6 million tons of surplus food in one year, nearly one-third of which went to landfills or incinerators despite donation and recycling efforts.

And tragically, food loss and waste persist alongside global hunger. In 2022, 783 million people experienced hunger while more than 1 billion tons of food was wasted.

WWF estimates that the food lost and wasted each year could feed the world’s undernourished population nearly four times over. “Food waste is a global tragedy,” says Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “Millions will go hungry today as food is wasted across the world.”

Luiz Beling, CEO of Apeel, emphasizes that FLW is a major contributor to global GHG emissions. Producing of food that is never eaten causes 8 to 10 percent of annual GHG emissions, nearly five times the emissions produced by the global airline sector. It uses one-third of the world’s arable land and one-quarter of agricultural water, placing unnecessary pressure on soils, forests, grasslands, and biodiversity.

Discarded food continues to affect the climate after it is thrown away. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, food contributes to nearly 60 percent of landfill methane emissions.

And, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change estimates that food loss and waste cost the global economy approximately US$1 trillion annually.

Organizations and experts increasingly see FLW reduction as a powerful solution to multiple interconnected problems. Project Drawdown has described FLW reduction as a massive lever for change. According to the organization, reducing FLW can improve food security and conserve natural resources while reducing emissions and lowering costs.

Hongpeng Lei, Chief of the Mitigation Branch in the Climate Change Division at UNEP, explains, “Reducing food waste is a fast, cost-effective way to cut GHG emissions while boosting food security, saving households and businesses money, and easing pressure on land and water.” Dana Gunders, President of ReFED, describes reducing food waste as “like a Swiss Army knife.”

Because food loss and food waste occur at different stages of the food supply chain, they require different solutions. Reducing food loss often depends on investments in harvesting, storage, refrigeration, transportation, and food processing. WFP has helped reduce post-harvest grain losses by supporting the use of hermetic storage bags, moisture meters, and improved drying systems.

Reducing food waste often focuses on improving inventory management, expanding food donation programs, strengthening demand forecasting, helping consumers interpret food date labels, and encouraging meal planning, proper food storage, and the use of leftovers.

While improvements in infrastructure and technology are welcome, technical solutions alone cannot eliminate food loss, Kansanga says. He argues that reducing post-harvest losses also requires addressing the political and structural conditions that shape agricultural markets, including inequitable trade relationships that can undermine local producers.

Efforts to reduce food loss and waste are gaining momentum around the world. The United Nations established a global target to reduce FLW through Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, while UNEP and FAO now publish standardized indices that allow countries to measure food waste and food loss over time. In the United States, ReFED estimates that total surplus food fell by 2.2 percent between 2023 and 2024, driven in part by a 950,000-ton reduction in residential food waste.

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.

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"The effects on farmers, livestock and crops have been catastrophic. The AGRIFISH Council, which is due to meet on 13 July 2026, must include measures to tackle this situation."

The post ECVC: The AGRIFISH Council Must Take Action to Tackle the Intense Heatwave Situation appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison received the James Beard Media Award in Food Issues and Advocacy, highlighting the perspectives of incarcerated people and the critical role of food in supporting their health and livelihoods.

The book highlights the work of criminal justice nonprofit Impact Justice. Written by Leslie Soble with Alex Busansky and Aishatu R. Yusuf, it showcases Impact Justice’s programs working to provide incarcerated people with healthy, nutritious food as a gateway to successful reentry into society. Marion Nestle’s What to Eat Now and Greg Mercer’s The Lobster Trap rounded out the nominees for the award category.  

“We work in the criminal justice space. Food is in every space, and one of the challenges we have is convincing people in the food space to care about the criminal justice space,” Impact Justice President and Founder Busansky tells Food Tank. “For us to get out of the echo chamber—in terms of funding, government, and the public—is really important. And that’s what we’re trying to do: open the aperture on how people think about criminal justice problems.”

Founded in 2015, Impact Justice conducts research and implements programs to support inmates and others involved in the criminal justice system. Eating Behind Bars was borne from the nonprofit’s 2020 report on the dehumanizing effect of prison food, which featured hundreds of surveys and dozens of interviews with state correctional facility staff and formerly incarcerated people.

The book’s first section, “Hidden Crisis,” illustrates many of the report’s findings: Beyond being bland and unhealthy, food served in prisons in the United States is often moldy, spoiled, and sometimes contains rats or cockroaches. Around 94 percent of people surveyed by Impact Justice weren’t served enough food to feel full during their incarceration, and many who worked in their prison’s kitchens had to cook and serve meat labeled “not for human consumption.”

For Impact Justice, the most important question isn’t why prison food is bad, but rather how it can improve. Criminal justice issues don’t always need criminal justice solutions, according to Busansky.

“This is a problem that can be solved. We know how to feed people—we do it in baseball stadiums, the military, schools, hospitals and nursing homes,” Busansky says. “We know how to feed them good food, food that they want to eat, food they ask for. Since we know how to solve that, how do we go about doing that?”

Over the last few years, Impact Justice has tested several pilot programs to change some of the ways people eat, learn about, and interact with food in carceral environments. Through Chefs in Prison, for example, prisons in Maine underwent improvements in their kitchen operations and menus—led by former Noma chef Dan Giusti—for no additional cost. Additionally, Impact Justice’s Harvest of the Month program provided inmates in each of California’s 31 state prisons with a rotating subset of local, fresh fruits and vegetables.

“Last year, we had pears delivered, and we had a gentleman that ate a pear and had the biggest smile on his face,” Yusuf, Impact Justice’s Vice President of Innovation Programs, tells Food Tank. “When asked why he was so happy, he said he hadn’t had a pear in 18 years.”

There’s also an economic case for improving the prison food system, Impact Justice argues. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is California’s largest purchaser of food, according to a 2023 report co-written by Impact Justice. By working with California-based Spork Food Hub to distribute produce from regenerative farms to prisons, the organization hopes to support a circular economy that benefits small businesses.

Impact Justice remains one of few advocates for a more sustainable, equitable prison food system in the United States. As its programs work to turn prison food from punishment to nourishment, the group continues to push the narrative on good food as a human right, including and especially for the incarcerated.

“We’re not talking about gourmet Michelin-star restaurants here,” Yusuf says. “We’re talking about lettuce—food that’s not moldy, that is fit for human consumption, that is nutritious.”

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Photo courtesy of Evett Kilmartin

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These technologies represent a new offensive by corporations to commodify life, seize control of seeds, and disregard the rights of the peoples who have protected biodiversity for millennia.

The post Latin American Organizations Unite Against Gene Editing in Agriculture and Seed Control appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

Let’s be ecologically and historically honest with ourselves. It’s not a fertilizer crisis we’re facing. It’s a soil health trainwreck brought on by the agricultural inputs industry itself.

In the global debate around food security, climate change, and sustainable agriculture, soil is finally receiving the attention it deserves. For decades, mainstream agriculture and policies around agriculture treated soil as an inert medium, ignoring soil biodiversity, both above and below ground. Understanding of fertility has been exceptionally narrow, with recommendations limited to a small number of nutrients supplied by synthetic fertilizers.

But this model is now showing strain. Across continents, soil has become increasingly degraded by global supply chains that favor monocultures and chemical inputs, perverse public subsidies, and self-serving narratives and advertisements that claim that industrial agriculture feeds the world (even as it ruins our soil). According to the World Atlas of Desertification, 75 percent of the land globally is degraded, with UNESCO warning that 90 percent of the land surface will be degraded by 2050.

Over thousands of years, long before the advent of industrial agriculture, farmers have sought to improve soil to grow nutritious and abundant food. During two days in May 2026, collaborative initiatives from India, Brazil, and Kenya, supported by the Agroecology Fund, shared insights in a conversation circle on soil health management as a climate resilience and food security strategy.

From India, organizations described how farmers they worked with faced soils left sterile by years of heavy chemical input use. Brazil’s Cerrado region, a vast, biodiverse tropical savanna, has been degraded by deforestation and monocultures dependent on the extensive use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. In Kenya, organizations highlighted declining soil fertility and the loss of beneficial organisms caused by hazardous agrochemicals.

These initiatives shared techniques to detect and improve soil biodiversity, including by applying participatory methodologies that value local knowledge. From India to Kenya to Brazil, successful soil restoration is emerging from collaboration between farmers, indigenous practitioners, and researchers.

Steve Vanek, a researcher in soil science at Colorado State University, and partner of the Manor House Agricultural Centre in Kenya, said that when farmer groups discuss the difference between good and poor soils, they often identify characteristics that align closely with scientific indicators. Farmers mention soils that are “easy to plough,” not crusty, rich in earthworms, and darker in color—observations linked to aggregation and organic matter.

In 2022, the Agroecology Fund joined a donor field visit to a diversified coffee farm on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. A foundation’s technical staff inquired about the technologies the farmer applied to measure carbon sequestration. The farmer crouched, scraped soil together with his fingertips, balled it in his palm and said, “this is how we know.”

Scientific research becomes powerful when it helps explain and strengthen farmers’ observations. It becomes more inclusive and accessible when it doesn’t rely on simplistic or reductionist metrics that may be misleading or onerous for farmers to measure.

In Kerala’s Wayanad district, a climate-vulnerable hilly region in southern India, farmers had long grappled with soil erosion, acidity, declining productivity, and the overuse of chemical fertilizers.

In response to this, Thanal Trust, an NGO based in the region and part of the conversation circle, established a local soil testing laboratory, generating soil health cards for farmers, and combining findings with field-level training rooted in agroecological practice. Farmers learned about structure, texture, microbial life, mulching, trap crops, green manures, and intercropping. Thanal invested in the farmer-to-farmer approach, working with a group of farmers—men and women—who became soil management experts, testing and validating the practices, and disseminating them within their communities.

As farmers observed improvements in their soil, they also scaled up traditional engineering practices on their farms, like mud pot irrigation—a traditional practice where water drips through micro-pores of clay pots to maintain moisture exactly where it is needed. Similarly, the practice of husk burial, where coconut husks are buried in trenches, serves to retain moisture and also provide potassium.

Sreelekshmi KJ from Thanal said, “The results were visible not only in yields but also in the soil itself. Organisms such as earthworms reappeared, soil microbes returned, and biodiversity thrived. Fields once described as sterile, lifeless mediums became living laboratories.”

In Kenya, the Manor House Agriculture Centre (MHAC) developed accessible soil health tools that allow farmers to test infiltration, organic matter, and biological activity using low-cost materials.

Vanek, who is a researcher in soil science at Colorado State University, USA, said their work focuses on “the biological and physical aspects as well as some of the major chemical limitations” in smallholder systems while “building based on local knowledge.”

Instead of expensive labs disconnected from communities, MHAC came up with soil health assessment kits for smallholder farmers. These provide simplified methods to test soil health for smallholder farmers, research for development, and citizen science.

The laboratory uses 3D-printed troughs, or even simple sieves made from cardboard and old stockings. With these low-cost methods to measure particulate organic matter, farmers are quantifying the food available for the soil-food web.

These learnings are enhanced through a Farmer Research Network (FRN) supported by the McKnight Foundation, which brings farmers together to diagnose problems, test practices, compare results, and co-produce knowledge. Farmers rank their own soils, identify constraints, and learn simple methods to assess organic matter, infiltration, pH, and biodiversity.

The relationship between scientific research and farming communities is changing in both directions. Farmers are learning from researchers—just as researchers are also learning from farmers.

In Brazil, the Centro Ecologico described partnerships with academics from federal institutes to study soils biologically rather than only chemically.

Joaquim Martins, a family farmer, noted how their approach seeks to understand the vision and perspectives of farming families on soil health while helping strengthen their management practices.

“We conducted a series of interviews with farmers to analyze soils through the lens of their lived experiences, priorities, and local knowledge. The aim was to translate scientific data into the everyday realities of farmers’ lives. It also raises an important question: How can scientific research engage in meaningful dialogue with people’s knowledge systems, and how can we, as scientists, remain self-critical in that process?” he said.

The program has engaged 200 farming families on the northern coast of Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil. It has also involved Indigenous communities, who bring their own traditions of soil care and green manure practices, as well as women farmers who are helping share and strengthen local knowledge across the region.

Researchers applied the BioAS method promoted by the public Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) to examine respiration, carbon dynamics, and enzyme activity to compare conventional and agroecological systems. But just as importantly, they conducted participatory interviews to understand how families themselves define soil health: porous soils, moisture, insects, worms, easier rooting, and fewer hard crusts.

In other words, scientific research is beginning to respond to farmers’ diverse questions. Some traditional practices long treated as informal are now gaining recognition for their rigor.

Alessandra Karla da Silva from CEDAC, in Brazil, described work on “green nitrogen” produced from Gliricidia sepium biomass, a tree legume capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen and cycling nutrients through biomass. Researchers from EMBRAPA and farmers supported by CEDAC agroecological center, in a co-creation model, are exploring how it can reduce dependence on synthetic nitrogen fertilizers while maintaining productivity.

These approaches exemplify that the idea is no longer to choose between modern science and traditional wisdom, but rather how to combine them inclusively, intelligently, and effectively.

Simply put, the global soil crisis will not be solved by chemistry and simplistic metrics alone. It requires memory, biodiversity, experimentation, and a trusting collaboration with farmers who know their soils.

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 Thanal Trust

The post Op-Ed | How Soil Health Is Promoted Through Traditional Knowledge and Modern Science appeared first on Food Tank.

Each week, Food Tank is rounding up a few news stories that inspire excitement, infuriation, or curiosity.

USDA Reinstates $127 Million in Land Access Grants

Following a federal court order, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reinstated 24 grants totaling US$127 million under the agency’s Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program.

The program was designed to support underserved producers across the U.S. Amanda Koehler, who manages an informal network of the grantees, calls it “the largest public investment in land access in our nation’s history.”

The Trump-Vance Administration undermined the program for months before officially terminating funds for 49 of the 50 projects this past spring. But organizations fought back. Over two dozen joined a lawsuit last year to argue that the awards were canceled illegally.

This past week, Judge Beryl Howell granted a preliminary injunction and wrote that the plaintiffs, represented by Earthjustice, Farmers Justice Center, and FarmSTAND, demonstrated that they will suffer “irreparable harm in the absence of relief.”

Litigation will continue, but in the meantime, the 24 organizations can expect to hear from Farm Service Agency staff about their restored awards, which will support land access, farmer training, and infrastructure and market development projects.

Indian State Passes Bill to Empower Women Farmers

In India, the Maharashtra state Assembly voted unanimously last week to pass the Women Farmers’ Empowerment Bill.

The first of its kind in the country, the legislation aims to broaden the formal recognition of all women farmers, not just those who own land. This will make it easier for women in agriculture to access bank loans, crop insurance, government subsidies, training programs, farming technology, and more.

As a next step, the Bill will be taken up in the Maharashtra Legislative Council. Agriculture Minister Dattatray Bharane is confident that they will adopt it.

Plant-Forward Procurement Can Unlock €11.6 billion in the EU

Plant-forward public procurement practices in the European Union could generate over €11 billion annually, according to a new study commissioned by ProVeg International.

The study looked at the potential impact for three procurement strategies across all 27 EU Member States. Under the most ambitious plan, the total combined returns includes €3 billion in food budget savings, €4.7 billion in avoided environmental costs, and €4 billion in avoided societal health costs.

To unlock the full benefits, the researchers recommend reforming public procurement rules, updating the EU School Scheme to include more legumes and plant-based drinks, investing in skills and training for public catering teams, supporting farmer diversification, and using behavioral insights to make healthier and sustainable choices easier.

ProVeg calls public procurement “a strategic policy lever hiding in plain sight,” which can shape outcomes across public spending, health systems, food security, and climate.

Nigeria’s Hunger Crisis Deepens

The World Food Programme warns that Nigeria’s food security crisis is worsening faster than previously thought.

In the northern region, hunger levels driven by conflict are rising to levels not seen in nearly a decade. Kinday Samba, WFP’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa is particularly concerned by how the crisis is expanding, stating that “insurgent attacks and violence…are spreading across a much wider area and forcing people from farmland.”

Displacement and restrict, WFP can only reach around 740,000 of the 6.2 million people facing food insecurity in the northeastern states. Samba says “resources are at their lowest at the time they are needed most.”

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 Unsplash

The post Food Tank’s Weekly News Roundup: India Acts to Empower Women Farmers, $127 Million in USDA Grants Restored, Nigeria’s Hunger Crisis Worsens appeared first on Food Tank.

Climate change and chronic disease are often treated as separate challenges.

One belongs to environmental policy. The other belongs to healthcare. Different experts study them. Different institutions address them. Different budgets support solutions. But increasingly, both are being shaped by the same system: Food.

Food production contributes substantially to greenhouse-gas emissions (GHGs), land-use change, freshwater use, and biodiversity loss. At the same time, unhealthy dietary patterns are helping drive rising rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic illnesses around the world.

These trends are usually discussed separately. They shouldn’t be.

As a physician and clinical researcher, I spend most of my time studying nutrition and metabolic health rather than climate policy. Recently, my colleagues and I conducted a randomized clinical trial involving people with type 1 diabetes. Participants who adopted a low-fat plant-based diet improved insulin sensitivity, reduced insulin requirements, lost weight, and improved several cardiometabolic measures.

The health benefits were encouraging. But what interested us afterward was a different question. What happened to the environmental footprint of participants’ diets? When we analyzed their dietary records, food-related greenhouse-gas emissions had fallen by more than 50 percent within just 12 weeks.

These findings were not theoretical projections or computer simulations. They reflected the choices of real people living their everyday lives.

One study does not solve the climate crisis. And dietary change alone cannot replace the need for clean energy, transportation reform, or industrial innovation.

But it highlights something important. Food occupies a unique position among climate solutions because it influences both human health and environmental sustainability simultaneously.

The same dietary patterns associated with lower greenhouse-gas emissions are also associated with lower risks of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and premature mortality.

Unlike many climate interventions, food can generate benefits that people experience personally and relatively quickly. Weight may decrease. Blood pressure may improve. Insulin sensitivity can increase. And environmental impacts decline at the same time. That alignment matters.

Many sustainability policies ask people to accept short-term sacrifices for long-term societal gains. Food often works differently. Personal and collective benefits can occur together.

This creates a rare opportunity. But food remains surprisingly underrepresented in many climate conversations. Climate discussions understandably focus on energy, transportation, and industry. Food systems deserve a larger place at the table.

Not because food can solve climate change by itself. It cannot. But because meaningful progress on both climate and public health will require addressing some of the same upstream drivers.

Agricultural policy, food marketing, pricing structures, supply chains, and food access influence what people eat. And what people eat affects not only human health, but the health of ecosystems as well.

Food systems are health systems. For decades, policymakers have treated climate change and chronic disease as separate crises. Increasingly, they appear to be two expressions of the same underlying problem.

That should give us hope. Because solutions that improve both human and planetary health are rare. And in an era of growing urgency, we cannot afford to overlook them.

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Photo courtesy of Ella Olsson, Unsplash

The post Op-Ed | The Food System Is Driving Two Crises at Once—and Could Help Solve Both appeared first on Food Tank.

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Part of the reason food and agriculture systems are so intriguing—why so many of us devote our lives to the questions of what’s on our plates and how it gets there—is that there’s both breadth and depth.

Food intersects with so many other social and cultural and economic systems; as we like to spotlight here at Food Tank, food and agriculture are the solution to an incredibly wide-ranging set of challenges. At the same time, food systems are full of fascinating pathways to explore, rabbit holes to dive into.

Pick any specific topic you’re interested in, or maybe one you’ve never even considered before: I can assure you that very smart and passionate people around the globe are pouring time and energy into helping us understand more. I don’t know about you—I’m a nerd, after all!—but I think that’s so exciting.

The thrill of a good deep dive, across disciplines and cuisines and continents, is what animates our summer reading list.

In “Consider the Anchovy,” food journalist Sudi Pigott asks us to do just that, arguing that the sometimes-maligned little fish plays a critical role not only in many global food cultures but also in protecting marine ecosystems. In “The Book of Coffee,” philosopher Julian Baggini explores why the beverage is so much more than just a wake-up jolt. In “Bitter Honey,” researcher Jennie Durant zooms in specifically on the bees pollinating California almond orchards to be able to more broadly explore the threats facing pollinators in an age of industrial agriculture, and in “Cheese Trekking,” cheesemaker Trevor Warmedahl takes us on a worldwide journey into the people and microbes keeping small, non-industrial food traditions alive.

And why stop there? We’ve got 23 books on this summer’s list, and each one is a telescope deep into a cultural cuisine, a specific food ingredient, a food justice movement, a challenge we need to address, or a social phenomenon shaping the way we eat.

Here are the books we’re reading this season:

Abiding Hunger: An American Paradox by Roger Thurow (forthcoming September 2026)

Bitter Honey: Big Ag’s Threat to Bees and the Fight to Save Them by Jennie Durant

Black Farmers in America: Fighting for an Equitable Food System by Mya O. Price (forthcoming August 2026)

Building a Sustainable Kitchen: A Practical Guide to Prioritizing the Planet from the Heart of Your Home by Naomi Hansen

Cheese Trekking: How Microbes, Landscapes, Livestock, and Human Cultures Shape Terroir by Trevor Warmedahl

Climate Change and Civic Engagement: The Origins and Future of the Climate Justice Movement by Paul Almeida (Forthcoming July 2026)

Consider the Anchovy: A Journey in Pursuit of the Little Fish with the Big Flavour by Sudi Pigott

Cooking the Borderlands: Spice and Smoke Between Mexico and the States by Claudette Zepeda

Eating on a Mountain at the End of the World: How I Found Love, Humor, and Beauty in My Quest for Ethical Food by Zackary Vernon

Eat to Hustle: 75 High-Protein Plant-Based Recipes by Robin Arzón

Fermenting for the Future: Japanese Pickles and Microbial Foodways by Aya Hirata Kimura

First Helpings: A History of Children and Food by Deborah Albon and Amy Palmer (forthcoming July 2026)

Food Policy Councils: Building Civic Engagement and Community Well-Being by Nessa J. Richman (forthcoming July 2026)

Ice Cream Queen: Flavors from Black America’s Past, Present, & Future by Lokelani Alabanza

It’s on You: How Corporations and Behavioral Scientists Have Convinced Us That We’re to Blame for Society’s Deepest Problems by Nick Chater and George Loewenstein

Our Knives Will Save Us: Dispatches from a White Mountain Apache Chef by Nephi Craig (forthcoming July 2026)

Plots and Deeds: Agrarian Annihilation and the Fight for Land Justice in Palestine by Paul Kohlbry

Soomaaliya: Food, Memory, and Migration: A Cookbook by Ifrah F. Ahmed

Spain My Way: Eat, Drink, and Cook Like a Spaniard by José Andrés and Sam Chapple-Sokol

The Book of Coffee: A Philosophy by Julian Baggini

The Farm Is Here by Jeff Tkach

Tin Can Coast: A History of Industry, Greed, and Fishing in the Golden State by Joseph Ogilvy (forthcoming July 2026)

Tiny Gardens Everywhere: A History of Urban Resilience by Kate Brown

You can learn more about all these books and how to add them to your shelf by CLICKING HERE.

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 Unsplash

The post The Thrill Of A Good Food System Literary Deep Dive appeared first on Food Tank.

David Chen grows more than 600 varieties of fruits, vegetables, and herbs at Zoe’s Garden in Layton, Utah. For him, farming is as much about cultivating resilience and community as it is about producing food.

“To me, the concept of sustainability always has been how to sustain myself,” says Chen.

This idea has guided Chen since he was a child, when his family emigrated to the United States from China in 1982. They came to Utah with little money, support, or English language skills. Chen remembers the conversations that followed: “We came together as a family and talked. How can we sustain ourselves?”

The family soon relocated to California. Chen decided to stay behind and live with an American family while working restaurant jobs. When his younger brother struggled, Chen took him in, and the question of how to sustain emerged again. Chen was still a teenager himself, and he says the experience of being responsible for family became his education.

“I did not get a college education,” Chen says. “I got my education from how to survive, how to sustain myself.”

Eventually, Chen started his own landscaping and nursery businesses. He grew poinsettias, which are popular tropical shrubs that are prone to pests, says Chen. He was spraying pesticides to keep pests at bay, but the heavy use of agricultural chemicals began to affect his health. When Chen and his wife decided to grow their family, he was forced to change practices.

“I was spraying harmful chemicals, and they made me sick all the time,” says Chen. “My wife told me, ‘Are we going to start a family?’ … ‘Well, only if you stop killing yourself.’”

That meant rethinking how he grew plants. Chen completely stopped using chemicals and instead began farming vegetables in greenhouses. When his first daughter, Zoe, was born, he named the farm after her—a customer had told him that the name means “abundant life” in Greek.

Through Zoe’s Garden, Chen was among a small group helping build Utah’s local food movement and community-supported agriculture (CSA) network. Today, the farm supplies grown fruits, vegetables, and herbs to CSA members, farmers’ markets, and local restaurants.

Chen has involved his daughters in every aspect of the farm: planting seeds, harvesting crops, speaking with customers, and bringing food to market. And his daughters have picked up education of their own through the work.

Once, a farmers’ market customer offered Chen’s six-year-old daughter US$0.50 for a US$4 cantaloupe. She told the customer, “If you can’t afford it, I’m more than happy to give it to you.” She then explained the labor behind the food: how early she woke, how much work went into bringing produce to market.

“I didn’t teach her that,” Chen says. He was proud.

Last fall, his daughters organized a farm day, inviting customers to visit Zoe’s Garden, harvest produce, and experience farm life firsthand. Chen recalls one older visitor navigating muddy fields with a walker and a puppy, eventually picking flowers to assemble into a bouquet: “Everyone was really, really happy.”

For Chen, those moments reinforce how farming is about relationships: between people and food, growers and consumers, communities and the systems that sustain them.

“Part of our concept is how to maximize our ability to sustain ourselves,” says Chen. “We, as Zoe’s Garden, try to share this idea with the local community in every way that we can.”

Watch Chen’s story below and find others from our farmer storytelling events on Food Tank’s YouTube channel.

This article is part of Food Tank’s ongoing Farmer Friday series, produced in partnership with Niman Ranch, a champion for independent U.S. family farmers. The series highlights the stories of farmers working toward a more sustainable, equitable food system. Niman Ranch partners with over 500 small-scale U.S. family farmers and is committed to preserving rural agricultural communities and their way of life.

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.

The post At This Utah Farm, Resilience Starts With Food appeared first on Food Tank.

Given the volume of important developments in South Asia this month, and their relevance for La Via Campesina readers around the world, we’re sharing a summarized digest.

The post South Asia in Focus: Peasant Organizations Raise Alarm over Heatwaves, Delayed Monsoons, Free Trade Deals, and Land Acquisition for an “AI City” appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

Deadlines for Farm Service Agency programs are fast approaching! Explore available programs and check your eligibility for financial assistance.

The post 2026-2027 FSA Deadlines appeared first on RAFI.

Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) recently received the 2026 Food Planet Prize for their role in leading one of the world’s largest agroecology projects. The award will help the organization scale sustainable practices to the 6 million farmers in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and beyond.

The Food Planet Prize, the world’s largest environmental award of US$1.5 million, recognizes successful projects working at the intersection of food and agriculture systems and climate. This year, the committee recognized APCNF for demonstrating a scalable pathway for farmers to improve their livelihoods, resilience, and environmental outcomes. 

APCNF—led by the nonprofit Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS), which translates to the Farmer Empowerment Organisation—began with 40,000 smallholders practicing natural farming in 2016. Over the last decade, it has grown to reach 1.8 million producers.

Under the program, farmers learn how to use locally available biological resources, diversify crops, and introduce natural soil-enrichment techniques. Those who become experts in these practices, known as master farmers, take on the role of teachers in their communities. Each master farmer offers training and guidance to 100–150 neighboring producers.

At the center of this program are women, who make up over 60 percent of the master farmers in APCNF’s network. “They are the heroes of our work,” Vijay Kumar Thallam, Executive Vice Chair of RySS, tells Food Tank. “Women have played such a critical role as people who are experimenting because it’s not a top-down approach.”

Thallam sees every farmer as a scientist, adding to the knowledge pool, helping to refine innovations, determining what strategies work, and where. “That’s the beauty of this,” he says.

But the transition isn’t without uncertainty, and Thallam feels immense gratitude to everyone who puts their trust in natural farming. Without deep resources to fall back on, farmers are putting their livelihoods on the line. “It’s a very big risk when they shift.”

Fortunately, their work is paying off. “The poorest farmers believed in us,” Thallam tells Food Tank. “They experimented in this, they found success, they expanded the area, and inspired others.”

In Andhra Pradesh, natural farming plots have grown more resilient to extreme weather patterns—something that will become particularly important this year during El Niño. Heavy rains may destroy plants on chemically-treated fields, but when farmers use natural farming techniques, their crops better withstand the conditions. As the approach scales to other countries, including Zambia and Sri Lanka, producers are seeing similar results. 

“What we are doing is very simple but very profound,” Thallam tells Food Tank. “It’s something anybody can do anywhere in the world.”

Watch the full conversation with Vijay Kumar Thallam on “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” to hear more about the journey farmers take with APCNF, why chemical-based agriculture is built on the wrong science, and plans to bring natural farming to more producers 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 Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming

The post ‘Simple But Profound’: Natural Farming Is Changing the Lives of Millions in India appeared first on Food Tank.

When you walk into Magnolia Cafe in Dunn, North Carolina, you are greeted by a friendly kitchen and the smell of comfort food. A mural of colorful magnolias covers one wall while another showcases the phrase, “Where Dignity Meets Delicious.” Despite being a new cafe, it feels like a place where the locals are regulars. Behind the locally sourced ingredients and the display case of banana pudding, there’s something that makes this cafe extra special.

The post Magnolia Cafe in Dunn, NC | Where Dignity Meets Delicious appeared first on RAFI.

Last week the United States decided not to renew the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

United States trade representative Jamieson Greer announced the decision in a statement, but did not explicitly state the reason. He referenced “shortcomings” and “trade deficits” that the U.S. will continue to address with Mexico and Canada.

The USMCA Agriculture Coalition, representing farm and agricultural groups, and 20 House Agricultural Committee Democrats sent letters to the Trump-Vance administration encouraging the renewal and expressing concern about the future of North American trade. Set to expire in 2036, USMCA will now be reviewed annually and subject to negotiations.

House Democrats wrote in their letter, that “by not renewing USMCA, the president and his administration are threatening one of his legacy achievements, and the last source of trade certainty our farmers have.”

USMCA, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 2020 under the first Trump administration, serves as an agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada and is intended to strengthen North American trade and support economic stability. In 2024, “agricultural and seafood exports to Canada and Mexico generated US$149 billion in total economic contribution to the U.S. economy and supported nearly half a million jobs,” according to a study by the Agricultural Coalition for USMCA.

The current Agreement maintains NAFTA’s elimination of tariffs on almost all U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico and Canada. According to the International Trade Administration, major differences between the two Agreements include the modernization of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, which ensure food safety for agricultural products, and the creation of standards for handling evolving biotechnologies, such as gene editing. It also expands market access for U.S. products, including dairy.

A study by Purdue University finds that trade agreements, including USMCA, have significantly lowered food prices for Americans and created access to seasonal produce year-round.

Prior to the renewal period, the Agriculture Coalition for USMCA sent a letter to the U.S., Canada, and Mexico trade representatives urging them to renew the Agreement. In light of the U.S.’ failure to renew, Bryan Goodman, a spokesperson for the Coalition, tells Food Tank that  “U.S. farmers continue to seek the renewal and strengthening of USMCA… President Trump is a strong negotiator, and we look forward to working with the administration to renew the agreement.”

While the U.S. declined renewal, Canada and Mexico expressed their support of the Agreement in the meeting. “We agreed on the importance of continuing our discussions and identifying ways to ensure trade and investment frameworks… to support North American prosperity and competitiveness,” says the Honorable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs, Internal Trade and One Canadian Economy.

The U.S. will meet with Mexico in two weeks to continue negotiations.

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 Howard Walsh, Unsplash

The post Agriculture Groups Push for Renewal of USMCA Trade Deal appeared first on Food Tank.

The resolution would open doors to speculative trade on seeds, making it prohibitively expensive for peasant farmers and Indigenous peoples who feed the territories.

The post Chile: Peasant And Indigenous Organizations Reject Government Proposal To Commercialize Peasant Seeds appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

This summer, find time to explore new practices, solutions, and more with Food Tank’s 2026 summer reading list.

1. Abiding Hunger: An American Paradox by Roger Thurow (Forthcoming September 2026)

For nearly 20 years, Roger Thurow’s books on hunger have taken readers around the globe. His fifth lands in the United States—both one of the world’s biggest food producers and the home of nearly 50 million people experiencing food insecurity. In Abiding Hunger, the former Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent and global agriculture senior fellow at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs traces a history of “hidden hunger” and the systems that continue to fuel it.

2. Bitter Honey: Big Ag’s Threat to Bees and the Fight to Save Them by Jennie Durant

The title of this book has two meanings for Jennie Durant. On one hand, it references the bitter honey produced by bees when they pollinate almonds—a massive industry that drives nearly all of the nation’s commercial bees to California every year. It’s also a nod to the challenges faced by beekeepers in the United States. Durant, a researcher and former U.S. Department of Agriculture fellow, highlights the communities at the forefront of America’s bee crisis and ultimately vouches for a food system that “works with nature, not against it.”

3. Black Farmers in America: Fighting for an Equitable Food System by Mya O. Price (Forthcoming August 2026)

Mya O. Price is no stranger to the work of food justice, community building, and health advocacy. In Black Farmers in America, Price—a professor at George Washington University’s Global Food Institute—unravels America’s Black agricultural history, present, and future through case studies centering both the resiliency of Black farmers and the benefits of local food systems. Focal points include cooperative farming models in the South, urban agriculture in Detroit, and land reparations in the Mississippi Delta.

4. Building a Sustainable Kitchen: A Practical Guide to Prioritizing the Planet from the Heart of Your Home by Naomi Hansen

For Saskatchewan-based food writer Naomi Hansen, the kitchen is a place where even small habits become gateways to the larger ecosystems that govern our food, environment, and daily lives. Each chapter of Hansen’s Building a Sustainable Kitchen is a crash course in different everyday interactions with food: buying, preparing, eating, disposing, and beyond. Hansen draws connections between how those behaviors matter deeply to a range of environmental issues. She offers tangible strategies on how to improve them, like repurposing leftovers and growing food at home.

5. Cheese Trekking: How Microbes, Landscapes, Livestock, and Human Cultures Shape Terroir by Trevor Warmedahl

After a decade of cheesemaking in the United States, Trevor Warmedahl found himself managing a cheese plant in Mongolia—kickstarting his fascination with and documentation of pastoral cheese production around the world. Cheese Trekking follows Warmedahl across the Eurasian continent, where he discovers everything from yak milk-based aaruul in western Mongolia to goat cheese in the Italian Alps. Combining intimate reflection with technical know-how, the book is an ode to non-industrial cheesemaking traditions and the many living things that partake in them.

6. Climate Change and Civic Engagement: The Origins and Future of the Climate Justice Movement by Paul Almeida (Forthcoming July 2026)

Social movements expert Paul Almeida examines how communities fight for decarbonization and just climate transitions in this data-forward book. It tells success stories of civic engagement and subsequent policy implementations, taking particular interest in the San Joaquin Valley, California’s agricultural hub. Almeida discusses community members’ willingness to pursue climate action as a testament to how deepened public participation can build sustainability practices for generations. He makes a compelling case for the paramount role of collective action.

7. Consider the Anchovy: A Journey in Pursuit of the Little Fish with the Big Flavour by Sudi Pigott

Ask Sudi Pigott about anchovies, and she’ll give many reasons why these “eco saviors” are not only “worthy of appreciation, but of respect and protection.” The food journalist unpacks the small fish’s outsized role in both marine ecosystems and food cultures across the globe, taking readers through anchovy explorations in Athens, Basque Country, the French Riviera, and more. Restaurant owners, fishers, and sobadoras—women who filet anchovies in Cantabria, Spain—are among those who share their expertise in Consider the Anchovy, where each chapter ends with a recipe from its region of focus. 

8. Cooking the Borderlands: Spice and Smoke Between Mexico and the States by Claudette Zepeda

Claudette Zepeda was “raised with one foot in each country,” she writes in Cooking the Borderlands. In her first cookbook, the San Diego chef and former Top Chef competitor showcases the diverse foodways of cities in a region often used as a “pawn in a political game.” The chapters move through Zepeda’s memories along the U.S.-Mexico border, from Mexicali—once the home of 19th-century Chinese immigrants working on railroads—and its Chinese food infused with Mexican flavors to Coahuila and Tamaulipas, where Tex-Mex was born and red meat is king.

9. Eating on a Mountain at the End of the World: How I Found Love, Humor, and Beauty in My Quest for Ethical Food by Zackary Vernon

Zackary Vernon’s journey to find balance in his food world—to find ways to “fail better,” as he says—is both deeply relatable and uniquely illustrative in its depiction of alternative foodways. The memoir documents Vernon’s attempts to ethically source, cook, and eat in a tiny Appalachian town, where he grapples with questions that define American food culture and the food choices of many. How much of a difference does buying from local farmers make? What does it mean to eat ethically, and is it feasible to achieve? 

10. Eat to Hustle: 75 High-Protein Plant-Based Recipes by Robin Arzón

Robin Arzón didn’t come from a plant-based household. The head instructor at Peloton describes a dinner table filled with Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Jewish staples—and while she maintains a plant-based diet today, the goal has always been to keep flavor and fuel a priority. With advice from registered dietitian Dalina Soto, Eat to Hustle is Arzón’s take on exciting, on-the-go, meatless eating. She includes a macronutrient breakdown in each of her recipes, which incorporate a range of legumes, veggies, and protein supplements into everyday meals. (She is also one of Food Tank President Danielle Nierenberg’s favorite instructors #Robin’sWolfPack).

11. Fermenting for the Future: Japanese Pickles and Microbial Foodways by Aya Hirata Kimura

Consumers might recognize tsukemono as the pickled vegetables in a bento box. Aya Hirata Kimura, however, knows that it’s much more—a small but mighty dish with over a thousand years of history encompassing intersections of health, art, industrialization, and biodiversity in many forms. As fermented foods maintain their popularity in modern wellness culture, Kimura—a multidisciplinary researcher and professor who grew up in Japan and Singapore—traces connections between the environmental, political, cultural, and anatomical elements of the food system, all via a deep dive into this everyday Japanese staple.

12. First Helpings: A History of Children and Food by Deborah Albon and Amy Palmer (Forthcoming July 2026)

First Helpings explores the history of children’s foodways and the people, corporations, places, and systems that influence their diets and perceptions of food itself. Beyond the question of what kids should eat, the book examines the politics of school meals, social cues at the dinner table, and the historical struggle of child hunger. Focusing on children in Britain, childhood studies professors and former teachers Deborah Albon and Amy Palmer point to food as a crucial gateway to understanding children’s history and bettering their futures.

13. Food Policy Councils: Building Civic Engagement and Community Well-Being by Nessa J. Richman (Forthcoming July 2026)

The United States is home to more than 300 food policy councils—although few Americans know that they exist or what they do. Nessa J. Richman—the executive director of the Rhode Island Food Policy Council—offers a look at the regional and local groups of food-focused citizens working for increased food access, sovereignty, and more in their communities. The book gives advice for existing councils on bolstering civic participation, fundraising, and working with elected officials, as well as a roadmap for food systems advocates to build new councils from the ground up.

14. Ice Cream Queen: Flavors from Black America’s Past, Present, & Future by Lokelani Alabanza

Sarah Estell, a Black woman who owned an ice cream shop in the 1840s, was known as the “Ice Cream Queen.” In Ice Cream Queen, Lokelani Alabanza honors the Black pioneers who “deserve front-and-center placement in the canon of American ice cream.” The Nashville-based pastry chef highlights Southern Black foodways with recipes like Pepper Jelly & Cream Cheese and Juneteenth Sorbet swirled with raspberry-hibiscus syrup. The cookbook is also ripe with historical knowledge, featuring a timeline of Black ice cream makers and brief lessons on the cultivation of ice cream’s key ingredients.

15. It’s on You: How Corporations and Behavioral Scientists Have Convinced Us That We’re to Blame for Society’s Deepest Problems by Nick Chater and George Loewenstein

Consumer responsibility isn’t everything, and big changes require new rules, behavioral scientists Nick Chater and George Loewenstein argue. The food system comes into play several times in It’s on You, which unpacks how the United States tried to fight its obesity epidemic by “blaming the victim” and how eaters are expected to reduce their carbon footprints to mitigate the climate crisis. The book provides a unique take on personal responsibility, criticizing “nudge” policies for preventing communities from making real progress.

16. Our Knives Will Save Us: Dispatches from a White Mountain Apache Chef by Nephi Craig (Forthcoming July 2026)

The healing power of cooking is the heart of Our Knives Will Save Us. Nephi Craig—who grew up on the White Mountain Apache reservation in Arizona—recounts the journey of personal hardship, culinary and cultural rediscovery, and revitalization that took him across the globe before landing back in his hometown of Whiteriver. The memoir expounds Craig’s studies of Indigenous foodways, which catalyzed both the formation of his identity as a chef and his 2021 opening of Café Gozhóó in Whiteriver, an Indigenous restaurant that employs individuals recovering from substance abuse.

17. Plots and Deeds: Agrarian Annihilation and the Fight for Land Justice in Palestine by Paul Kohlbry

Paul Kohlbry brings readers to three Palestinian villages, where he met peasants operating a food cooperative, sowing seeds, and protesting land theft. The anthropologist and professor challenges assumptions of peasants as either “heroic revolutionaries or tragic victims” and unravels how Israeli occupation, inflation, and real estate developers’ commodification of land merge to create “agrarian annihilation.” In doing so, Kohlbry amplifies the voices of farmers fighting for “both the return of the land that was taken, and a return to the land.”

18. Soomaaliya: Food, Memory, and Migration: A Cookbook by Ifrah F. Ahmed

“Because of Somalis’ historic reliance on a rich oral tradition,” Ifrah F. Ahmed writes, you won’t find many Somali cookbooks. Restaurants too are relatively few abroad, where Somali food is often misattributed or lumped under the umbrella of a large region, according to Ahmed. Soomaaliya—named for the country Ahmed and her family left in 1996 as refugees—is the writer and chef’s way of spotlighting her homeland and its diaspora. Its recipes, including green hot sauces and teatime beignets known as bur, are accompanied by vivid profiles of Somalian restaurateurs, food producers, and more.

19. Spain My Way: Eat, Drink, and Cook Like a Spaniard by José Andrés and Sam Chapple-Sokol

José Andrés has always kept his roots in Spain, where he was raised and learned to cook and which he now celebrates with Spain My Way. The restaurateur and humanitarian—with Sam Chapple-Sokol, editorial director of his restaurant group—presents 130 recipes encapsulating what he likes to cook at home, including both Spanish staples and unique local specialties. The cookbook is a love letter to commensality, and full of lessons in what Andrés calls the two distinguishing traits of Spanish food: “amazing products and a deep respect for time.”

20. The Book of Coffee: A Philosophy by Julian Baggini 

The Book of Coffee positions its subject as something that is ubiquitous, mundane, and sometimes, an afterthought. Mundane in this case, however, doesn’t mean boring, but wonderfully simple in how easily coffee exemplifies much more than a hit of caffeine. With beginning and ending words from barista and content creator James Hoffman, food philosopher Julian Baggini navigates the beverage’s social meanings with curiosity and joy. He uncovers how modern coffee culture has come to not only inspire aesthetic appreciation but represent a desire for “a life that is at ease with itself.” 

21. The Farm Is Here by Jeff Tkach

Combining memoir, agriculture research, and deep reflections on what it means to nourish the soul, The Farm Is Here is a look into the minds of one of regenerative agriculture’s biggest cheerleaders. Jeff Tkach, the CEO of the Rodale Institute, recounts how his own battle with a disease led him to discover intimate relationships between soil health and human health. The book urges readers to find meaning in connecting deeply and sustainably with their food—especially on the farm, which Tkach believes can “transform nearly every area of our lives.”

22. Tin Can Coast: A History of Industry, Greed, and Fishing in the Golden State by Joseph Ogilvy (Forthcoming July 2026)

As tinned fish packed in fancy olive oil remains all the rage on store shelves, Joseph Ogilvy takes the conversation to California, whose complicated fishing history remains overlooked. Tin Can Coast reckons with the state’s often exploitative relationship with its coasts. The chef and writer explores how the California Current—once home to troves of large yellowfin tuna, abalone, and sardines—became a gold mine for profit. Ogilvy traces the geopolitical, capitalist, and cultural forces that led to the growing popularity of seafood, racist immigrant policies, and the depletion of sea once brimming with life.

23. Tiny Gardens Everywhere: A History of Urban Resilience by Kate Brown

Urban sprawl and a lack of green space dominate the ecological narrative of today’s cities, but Tiny Gardens Everywhere rejects that notion. Environmental historian Kate Brown unpacks how small gardens run by the working class across Europe and North America gave roots to community building, surprising biodiversity, and nutritious food production in unexpected places. The book gives long-overdue credit to the 19th- and 20th-century urban gardeners who achieved “many of the goals of contemporary food sustainability reformers.” 

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