Labor in food and farming systems, migrant workers, labor rights, and changes in production-side work.
In the first part of ‘Notes on an Internship in a Desert Oasis’, I tried to lean into my professional instincts as a business journalist to explore the operational struggles of an ecological farm. But in truth, during my two months interning at the Zhiliangtian Farm in Alashan, my daily…
In May, I quit my job and left Beijing for a while, heading to the Zhiliangtian Ecological Farm in Alxa, Inner Mongolia, where I lived for two months. To my surprise, I spent every single day of my first month there drinking. Two-thirds of the beer in the farm’s coffee…
Today, the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change opened in Dubai. While humanity continues to bicker over the distribution of responsibility for saving the planet—who should pay how much, and who must step outside their comfort zone to alter existing economic development…
I. The Beginning In 2018, in a scattered village in Hong Kong’s New Territories that was facing imminent demolition, I baked my first sourdough loaf using a jar of fermented starter I’d just received from a friend. Looking back, it hadn’t really risen properly; it could hardly be called bread.…
The Forest and Farm Facility and IIED report that 1,800-plus smallholders in 13 countries spend, on average, 5,866 yuan out of pocket a year for climate adaptation. Most practices benefit ecosystems, yet international adaptation funding remains far below need. Can Dubai’s COP28 take them seriously?
New pests and diseases, unpredictable markets and dawn-to-dusk work show why smallholders in a Chinese county favour traditional white lotus over subsidised greenhouse vegetables, whose higher returns come at the cost of family life.
Industrial prosperity is a vital foundation for rural revitalisation. Perhaps inspired by Shouguang in Shandong, the centerpiece of agricultural industrial development in the rural central and western regions is often the promotion of greenhouse vegetable cultivation. Such is the case in Gong County (a pseudonym) in the central region. A…
This spring, before visiting Yan Ping’s “Happiness Fruit Herb Garden” in Guigang, Guangxi, I arrived with a misconception: that the place was remote and untouched, with a pristine ecological environment. In reality, the farm is surrounded by conventional orchards where the use of pesticides, chemical fertilisers, and herbicides is commonplace.…
Departing from Beijing Chaoyang Station, a high-speed rail journey of just over an hour brought us to Pingquan North Station in Chengde, Hebei, where Ren Yingying, the proprietress of Lianxiang Farm, was already waiting for us. Petite with her hair swept back, Yingying looked sharp and energetic, with a relaxed…
Foodthink says In 1924, Fei Dasheng and the teachers and students of the Jiangsu Provincial Girls’ Sericulture School arrived at Kaixiangong Village in Wujiang County and established the Silk Improvement Society, which has now existed for nearly a century. Later, the experiences of this cooperative were documented by Fei Dasheng’s…
