Analysis of agricultural product prices, supply chains, corporate behavior, and industry trends.
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…
Fair Trade, organic certification, Deforestation-free – ethical labels encode anti-capitalist longing into product entries, reducing the “right” choice to an illusion that perpetuates the system. The way forward lies in questioning the production system, not filling a more ethical trolley.
From their own vegetable plots in Qujing to a table on a steep Kunming slope, Tusheng Shiguan is fourteen years in; footfall has dropped from a full mezzanine to three staff, but its Slow Food way — no pesticides, no MSG — has not changed.
Foodthink’s Perspective Since the 1950s, a “Fair Trade” movement has emerged globally. Cheap agricultural products from developing countries are constantly imported into developed nations, yet the vast majority of profits from commodity prices are seized by large capital interests within the trade chain, leaving farmers and labourers with only a…
Unlike last year’s brief Typhoon Doksuri downpour, this year’s relentless North China rain has nearly wiped out leafy vegetables for Liu Gang, owner of Xiaoliushu Farm in Shunyi. Autumn planting is nearly a month late, and vegetable prices have risen 40% nationwide.
From saccharin and Agent Orange to Roundup and genetically modified seeds, its 115-year history shows how new agribusiness products created fresh problems while US regulation arrived only after harm.
Is a future where artificial intelligence replaces humans still far off? While some have already begun to fear for their livelihoods, the widespread adoption of algorithms in sectors such as food delivery and retail has already transformed the way ordinary people eat. But does new technology necessarily herald a progressive…
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.
When we think of Monsanto, it is easy to associate the company with the health risks of genetically modified (GM) foods. However, “Empire of Seeds” by Bart J. Elmore, a US scholar of environmental history, shows that the influence of agricultural capital—epitomised by Monsanto—on the human food system is actually…
On 17 July, on the eve of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, several international organisations launched an initiative called “Kick Big Soda Out of Sport”, declaring war on the world’s largest soft drink producers, including Coca-Cola. The initiative claims that “Big Soda”—represented by industry giants like Coca-Cola and Pepsi—uses…
