Foodthink has compiled a 2025 reading list from the new books on food and agriculture, ecology and sustainability received in 2024 — from delivery riders’ working conditions to the ecological lessons of fungal networks.
Starting with the 2,282-hectare community forest in Cambodia guarded by Bunong villager Long Heng, the report surveys global debates over REDD+, the voluntary carbon market and indigenous land rights, and asks whether emissions-reduction promises are credible.
Eighty years ago, Albert Howard warned that chemical fertilisers would sever the mycorrhizal network sustaining the soil; Swiss research later confirmed no mycorrhizal keystone species could be found on conventionally managed farmland. Under chemical fertilisers and pesticides, can ancient underground symbiotic relationships open another path for agriculture?
A Beijing discussion of the book Empire of Seeds, with Foodthink and the Farmers’ Seed Network, examines how seed standards, crop diversity and industrial agriculture shape the flavour of tomatoes, rice and wheat.
Foodthink’s Perspective 15 August is National Ecology Day. When we speak of ecology and biodiversity, our thoughts immediately turn to wildlife or the Amazon rainforest; few consider the mutual influence between agriculture and ecosystems. In fact, over the last 70 years, the expansion and intensification of agriculture have increasingly degraded…
I. My Story with Fireflies As a Northerner, I had never seen a firefly before the age of fifty; my limited knowledge was confined to the idiom “studying by the light of reflected snow and fireflies in a bag”. That was until I found myself immersed in a sea of…
Li Pengyue, a former IT professional now running an ecological orchard in Weihai, Shandong, compares crop losses from birds and rabbits to a trapped snow leopard and nine dead sheep, and the real question is who pays when wildlife damages crops and livestock.
Foodthink Says As May arrives, it is once again the season for foraging mushrooms in the mountains of Yunnan. In recent years, wild vegetables and wild fungi have become increasingly popular. Not only are various premium wild greens and mushrooms appearing in mainstream supermarkets, wet markets, and online fresh produce…
Foodthink’s Perspective Today is the International Day for Biological Diversity. This year’s theme is “Biodiversity for Sustainable Development” (Be part of the plan). For the average person, the most direct way to get involved is through eating. By doing so, we can appreciate the beauty brought by biodiversity, but we…
More than 20 years ago, a group of pioneer farmers and social organisations blazed a trail for “ecological agriculture” in China. Driven by a desire to ensure food safety and a commitment to protecting the environment, they began experimenting with cultivation free from pesticides, chemical fertilisers, and herbicides. Whether they…