Take a Small Step First, Then Talk About Bigger Things | Call for Food-and-Farming Climate Action

The Earth is on the verge of breaching the 1.5°C warming threshold. 84% of coral reefs worldwide are showing signs of bleaching – the largest and most severe bleaching event on record. The thawing of Arctic permafrost may accelerate the warming process. We are triggering the first climate tipping point.

No one is an island. In 2025 alone, Chinese agriculture has endured a string of record-breaking extreme weather events. Here are just some of the stories Foodthink has covered:

☔️ Half a year of drought, half a year of flood – Guangxi farmers mark record-breaking flood lines on their walls;

☀️ A once-in-60-years drought – Guanzhong, Shaanxi farmers worry over irrigating their wheat: “The more grain you grow, the poorer you get”;

⛈️ At four in the morning, a 400-mu farm in Miyun, Beijing is swallowed by floodwater;

🌾 Spring drought intensifies – Yunnan farmers begin planting upland rice;

💨 On the eve of harvest, Typhoon Huajiasha devastates cage aquaculture and fruit farming in Yangjiang, Guangdong;

⚡️ Extraordinary disasters have arrived, yet our response is still “Shennong tasting a hundred herbs”;

🌽 Prolonged autumn rain moulds the corn – will northern farmers soon need dryers as a basic necessity too?

Climate change’s impact on every bowl of rice and every meal extends far beyond how the land and farmers bear the brunt of heat, drought and flood, and spreading pest infestations. It shows up just as clearly in the rising price of vegetables in cities, in greens that have turned astringent, and in delivery riders’ feet, soaked through and macerated by the rain. When scorching heat and torrential rain pile on top of the delivery industry’s cutthroat competition, how is the risk of a consumer getting a hot meal passed on to the rider? When extreme weather becomes the norm, does outdoor work grow ever more hazardous? Are new mechanisms for sharing that risk needed?

Of course, from field to table, climate change does not bring only negative effects. The warming and wetting trend in northern China allows more “southern vegetables” to be “grown in the north,” and rising growing degree days are pushing winegrowing regions further north. In a word: the climate is changing, and we must change with it. The key question is how to rebuild resilience and turn crisis into opportunity as climate patterns depart further from the norm. The answers lie in diverse, place-based, and equitable practices at the frontline.

This has always been Foodthink’s guiding principle. Since launching the first round of the Lianhe Programme micro-action grants in 2019, we have supported 25 partners across three rounds, helping them organise ecological agriculture training, conduct food education, hold farmers’ markets and community seed banks, and carry out other projects rooted in land and community (see the selected projects from Round 1, Round 2, and Round 3). Two additional rounds of the Lianhe Programme have supported content production and creative work in the food-and-farming sector.

In September 2025, Foodthink published its research report, Action Pathways for Rural Social Organisations to Respond to Climate Change, which found that the core of climate resilience lies in empowering the people and communities directly affected by climate change. This empowerment is not only about technological progress but, more importantly, about mobilising the resources, knowledge, and experience that communities already possess to build cooperative relationships founded on deep mutual trust. And to strengthen agricultural resilience, the well-being and dignity of producers – that is, of farmers – must be safeguarded.

In recent years, new agricultural concepts have proliferated in the climate change space: climate-smart agriculture, regenerative agriculture, agrivoltaics, AI+agriculture, zero-carbon villages, and low-carbon agriculture has even been written into 2026’s Document No. 1… Yet beneath one seemingly perfect label after another, we rarely hear the voices of real people or see concrete methods that frontline farmers can actually use. We hope to explore climate solutions that are rooted in the land, grounded in real needs, and that activate communities’ own inner strength.

In light of this, Foodthink is launching the sixth round of the Lianhe Programme micro (action) grants, which will support local solutions for agri-food system transitions in the context of climate change. Selected recipients will receive grants of 5,000–30,000 yuan, along with communications and professional resource support. For projects that have not secured funding but are already underway or have concrete plans, we will also match them with communications resources and channels, helping to connect them with peers, pioneers, and experts – so that these projects can take root and be seen by more people. Through one flesh-and-blood case after another, we hope to enrich how all sectors picture the specific texture of resilience.

Foodthink looks forward to seeing and supporting your action!

 – Eligibility – 

 – Application Timeline and Process – 

 – Review Panel – 

Du Ling | Director, Chengdu Shuguang Community Development Capacity Building Centre

Meng Fanqiao | Professor, College of Resources and Environmental Science, China Agricultural University; Director, Environmental Impact Assessment Centre, China Agricultural University
Liu Juan | Associate Professor, College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University; Researcher, Beijing Innovation Centre for Rural Revitalisation and Urban-Rural Integrated Development

Li Dajun | Industry Development Programme Director, Beijing Heyi Green Public Welfare Foundation

Kong Lingyu | Programme Director, Foodthink

Partners in Guangdong are encouraged to prioritise applying for the Greater Bay Area Climate Action Micro-grants, jointly launched by the Guangdong Qianhe Community Public Welfare Foundation and the Guangdong Zhushui Yunshan Nature Conservation Foundation. Foodthink will also communicate with the project team to avoid duplicate funding.

Coordinated by: Lingyu

Project management: ZX