Environment
Food and farming
From the world’s powerful agribusiness lobbies to the farmers on the frontlines of climate change, we consider the contemporary challenges of food and farming. Amid water shortages, global conflicts and trade politics, millions of people are living hungry. We focus our coverage on the complex causes and impacts of food insecurity to shine light on those living in scarcity.
Food barons are making a killing from this crisis
Ahead of their event on resisting monopoly capitalism, Global Justice Now’s Nick Dearden explains the rise of ‘food billionaires’, and what we can do to challenge their power.
Old school adaptation
Moushumi Basu reports from Assam, India, on the people turning to traditional ‘home grown’ strategies to keep their communities fed and deal with the uncertainty of climate change.
How to achieve full decolonization
Southern governments are captive to the demands of international capital, which stops them from meeting people’s real needs. Modern monetary theory offers a path to true economic sovereignty, says Jason Hickel.
Digital dinners
Pat Mooney explores what happens when Big Data meets Big Ag. Interview by Nick Dowson.
Where does all the food go?
There’s more than enough food – if it’s shared out evenly. A data visualization by David McCandless.
‘Food is love’
Urban growers Dee Woods and Stefanie Swanepoel compare notes across continents with Amy Hall.
Taking back the peanut basin
The soil is dying, the water’s running out, and climate change is rendering the future even more uncertain. Hazel Healy speaks to farmers in Senegal who are ready for a different system.
Zambia’s meal-finishers
Audrey Simango reports on the phenomena of young men taking over abandoned meals.
When KFC came to Kenya
As Big Food spreads throughout the Global South using the tobacco playbook, Kabugi Mbae investigates the rise in obesity – and non-communicable diseases – in Kenya.
Freedom food
Rebel chefs are on a mission to decolonize diets across sub-Saharan Africa. Kareem Arthur goes in search of new ingredients.
The interview: Michael Fakhri
Michael Fakhri, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, has a bold vision for a trade system that reflects how people actually eat.
Business interests have hijacked the UN food summit
Small farmers, social movements and human rights are being elbowed out, says Kirtana Chandrasekaran.
How ancient forest gardens keep hunger at bay
Tesfa-Alem Tekle showcases the unique agroforestry system that sustains communities in Ethiopia’s southern highlands.
Planet farm
Rob Wallace connects industrialized farming to the emergence of ever more deadly pathogens.
9 inspiring food-aid projects
Emergency relief can be done in ways that go beyond sticking-plaster solutions. Frideswide O’Neill and Hazel Healy profile nine groups doing things differently…
How foodbanks went global
The rise of food charity in some of the most affluent countries is surely a sign that something has gone badly wrong. So why is this broken model being exported to the rest of the world? Charlie Spring investigates.
‘People can't afford to eat'
Penny Walters bears witness to food poverty in the UK and suggests a way out of it. As told to Hazel Healy.
Death by Covid-19 – or hunger?
The pandemic has left millions of people on the brink of starvation. Hazel Healy asks why our food system is failing the poorest so badly – and offers a glimpse of a more equitable path. With extra reporting by Mohamed Camara.
Introducing… the Food Justice files
New Internationalist launches a one-year series dedicated to unpicking why hunger persists.
Organic food is a ‘human right’, says leading food scientist
To stamp out pesticides from our fragile food systems is to protect those most prone to ill health, Friends of the Earth’s senior staff scientist, Kendra Klein explains to Yasmin Dahnoun.
Criminalizing hunger
In Chile, state security forces are increasingly detaining, beating and harassing the volunteers of community-led soup kitchens. Carole Concha Bell speaks to the organizers resisting this intimidation.
The hidden polluters
Agricultural air pollution seems to be a tough nut to crack. Amy Hall explores the air-pollution problem down on the farm.
The plight of Spain’s migrant workers
Many in Southern Spain's migrant workforce have long been alleging systematic exploitation from employers. Clare Carlile explains the repercussions for workers demanding more during this crisis.
Is vegan activism too confrontational?
Is challenging members of the public with the reality of animal suffering and slaughter counterproductive? Vegans Chris Saltmarsh and Hannah Short agree to disagree.
When it is illegal to waste food
By supermarkets, that is. Timothy Baster and Isabelle Merminod on the progress of a much-lauded French law.
Time for Roundup to wind up?
After decades muddying the science, Monsanto may at last account for its weedkiller’s effects, writes Claire Robinson.
If we all became vegan tomorrow
The Guardian repeats the myth that becoming vegan is the ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth. Chris Saltmarsh and Harpreet Kaur Paul disagree.
The road to food sovereignty
Peasants, not industrial agriculture, are the way to feed the world, argue Pat Mooney and Nnimmo Bassey.
How corporate giants are automating the farm
Precision agriculture is where it’s at – according to the corporate giants. Jim Thomas inspects their plans.
Agribusiness seizes Brazilian power
Vanessa Baird writes on how agribusiness has mounted a coup against rural Brazilians.
A bee-friendly path to a healthier future
In Italy, organic farmers are helping to keep pollinators – and crops – flourishing.
