This year, whether in the city or the countryside, the rising cost of vegetables is on everyone’s lips. Yet, while we complain about inflation, the farmers in the fields are facing unprecedented challenges. Few stop to ask: why are prices rising like this, and are the farmers actually making…
As the twelfth lunar month approaches, the ultimate comfort food for people in Shaanxi is a simple bowl of mixed noodles: red-hued wide wheat noodles from Yan Gui Qing, oil-splashed chilli made from Qin peppers, and a topping of minced pork sauce made from mountain-roaming pigs—the true finishing touch. Every…
I first came across ecological agriculture around 2016. Through my involvement in nature education, I naturally connected with people practising it and realised that many were farming for the sake of healthy food and a sustainable environment and lifestyle. At the time, I was growing plants and flowers on a…
I. Smallholders at the mercy of the elements and mothers longing to escape the motherhood penalty Due to the weather, the survival rate of the seedlings planted late this summer was very low. Consequently, Hu Xuemei’s farm on the outskirts of Chengdu had no vegetables available for delivery a while…
Recently, “Food Talk” was delighted to receive the Annual Podcast Award in the Public Welfare and Environmental Protection category at the 3rd CPA Chinese Podcast Culture Festival. This award also sparked a chance encounter. On 23 November, “Food Talk” host Xiaojing met an old friend at the awards ceremony—Yu Jiangang,…
Foodthink says As delivery riders face exploitation and pressure, merchants contend with exorbitant commissions, and users worry about the lack of health guarantees for their food, an increasing number of people have begun to criticise and scrutinise platform enterprises. However, beyond mere criticism, can we imagine an alternative platform model?…
Foodthink Says This year is expected to be the hottest on record. However, at the recently concluded 29th UN Climate Change Conference, nations continued to clash over funding issues, leaving negotiations repeatedly deadlocked. The climate funding gap for agriculture is particularly vast. When we talk about agriculture adapting to climate…
Foodthink Insights What kind of agricultural training do farmers actually need? Lao Liu (Huang Guoliang), who has spent nearly 20 years working in rural communities across China, has some thoughts on the matter. In his view, to understand agricultural training, one must first address the question of what kind of…
“The American system considers itself a very successful culture because we have more people in prison than we have farmers. To feel smug about such statistics is utterly contemptible.” Five years have passed, and I still remember the shock of first reading Joel Salatin’s *Everything I Want to Do is…
Autumn harvest has arrived once more, and the question of whether straw should be burned has again become a focal point of public debate. In October, several areas in Hunan saw a rise in unregulated open-air straw burning, which worsened air pollution in some regions and led to the provincial…
