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.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2023/03/17/food-profit-crisis

    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.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2022/01/14/old-school-adaptation

    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.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2021/08/09/money-ultimate-decolonizer-fjf

    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.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2021/08/09/digital-dinners-fjf

    Digital dinners

    Pat Mooney explores what happens when Big Data meets Big Ag. Interview by Nick Dowson.

  • New Internationalist image for /immersive/2021/09/20/disappearing-senegalese-sardines-fjf

    The disappearing Senegalese sardines

    Hazel Healy sheds light on a deeply dysfunctional food chain.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2021/08/09/no-more-green-revolutions-fjf

    No more green revolutions

    Raj Patel critiques input-heavy agriculture.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2021/09/21/where-does-all-food-go-fjf

    Where does all the food go?

    There’s more than enough food – if it’s shared out evenly. A data visualization by David McCandless.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2021/08/09/food-love-fjf

    ‘Food is love’

    Urban growers Dee Woods and Stefanie Swanepoel compare notes across continents with Amy Hall.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2021/08/09/land-beautiful-agroecology-senegal-food-fjf

    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.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2021/08/09/10-steps-end-world-hunger-fjf

    10 steps to end world hunger

    1 Put food before trade

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2021/06/08/what-if-food-was-guaranteed-fjf-justice

    What if…food was guaranteed?

    Hazel Healy sketches out a world with nutritious diets for all people.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2021/06/11/zambia-meal-finishers-fjf

    Zambia’s meal-finishers

    Audrey Simango reports on the phenomena of young men taking over abandoned meals. 

  • New Internationalist image for /immersive/2021/06/08/when-kfc-came-kenya-fjf

    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. 

  • New Internationalist image for /immersive/2021/03/26/freedom-food-fjf

    Freedom food

    Rebel chefs are on a mission to decolonize diets across sub-Saharan Africa. Kareem Arthur goes in search of new ingredients.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2021/02/08/interview-michael-fakhri-fjf

    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.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2021/03/17/business-interests-have-hijacked-un-food-summit-fjf-emergency

    Business interests have hijacked the UN food summit

    Small farmers, social movements and human rights are being elbowed out, says Kirtana Chandrasekaran.

  • New Internationalist image for /immersive/2021/01/06/sheltering-fjf-forest

    How ancient forest gardens keep hunger at bay

    Tesfa-Alem Tekle showcases the unique agroforestry system that sustains communities in Ethiopia’s southern highlands.

  • New Internationalist image for /immersive/2021/01/06/planet-fjf-farm

    Planet farm

    Rob Wallace connects industrialized farming to the emergence of ever more deadly pathogens.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2021/01/06/return-fjf-wild

    Back to the wild

    Natalia Torres Garzon on the return to wild food sources in Mexico.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2020/11/17/9-inspiring-food-aid-projects

    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…

  • New Internationalist image for /immersive/2020/11/10/how-foodbanks-went-global

    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.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2020/10/06/witness-hunger-food-poverty

    ‘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.

  • New Internationalist image for /immersive/2020/09/29/death-covid-19-or-hunger

    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.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2020/09/29/introducing-food-justice-files

    Introducing… the Food Justice files

    New Internationalist launches a one-year series dedicated to unpicking why hunger persists.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2020/09/23/organic-food-human-right-says-leading-food-scientist

    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.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2020/07/27/criminalizing-hunger

    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.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2020/04/07/hidden-polluters

    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.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2020/04/27/plight-spain-migrant-workers

    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. 

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2019/02/11/debate-vegan-activism-getting-too-confrontational

    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.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2018/11/01/illegal-waste-food

    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.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/web-exclusive/2018/08/22/time-roundup-to-wind-up-monsanto-bayer-glyphosate

    Time for Roundup to wind up?

    After decades muddying the science, Monsanto may at last account for its weedkiller’s effects, writes Claire Robinson.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/web-exclusive/2018/06/06/vegan-climate-carbon

    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.

  • New Internationalist image for /blog/2017/12/14/peasants-feed-world

    The road to food sovereignty

    Peasants, not industrial agriculture, are the way to feed the world, argue Pat Mooney and Nnimmo Bassey.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2017/11/01/agriculture-robots

    How corporate giants are automating the farm

    Precision agriculture is where it’s at – according to the corporate giants. Jim Thomas inspects their plans.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/2017/10/01/agribusiness-seizes-power

    Agribusiness seizes Brazilian power

    Vanessa Baird writes on how agribusiness has mounted a coup against rural Brazilians.

  • New Internationalist image for /features/web-exclusive/2017/02/02/italy-bee-friendly-farming

    A bee-friendly path to a healthier future

    In Italy, organic farmers are helping to keep pollinators – and crops – flourishing.