Precision agriculture is a data-driven farm management approach that uses technology like GPS, sensors, drones, and Artificial Intelligence to collect and analyze detailed information on crops, soil, and environmental conditions in real time.

These tools can help farmers account for variability within fields, track and analyze soil quality, crop health, pest infestations, and temperature levels, and apply inputs like water, fertilizers, and pesticides with greater precision. The aim is to improve resource efficiency, productivity, and profitability while reducing waste and optimizing decision-making.

Precision agriculture tools can be used separately or combined into integrated data-driven platforms. GPS-guided tractor systems seek to improve field accuracy by minimizing overlaps or gaps in herbicide or fertilizer application. And yield monitoring technologies collect and map GPS and farm equipment data to guide decisions about when to sow, fertilize, or harvest.

Drones and remote sensors capture high-resolution imagery to assess crop health and detect variability. Variable rate technology uses this data to adjust the application of inputs like fertilizers and pesticides in real time.

As investment accelerates, the digital farming sector has grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry, valued between US$10 billion and US$30 billion  in 2025 with projections of doubling in the next decade.

Precision agriculture shows potential by enabling farmers to make timely, data-driven decisions tailored to conditions on their land. Precision tools can improve resource efficiency, support more precise decision-making, and facilitate adaptability, which researchers associate with lower fuel, labor, and maintenance costs. These capabilities may contribute to improved outcomes for soils, crops, livestock, and overall farm performance.

But many farmers cannot access precision agriculture technologies because high costs, infrastructure demands, and technical requirements create significant barriers. Farmers must navigate substantial upfront investments, limited training opportunities, and a reliance on consistent internet and electricity, which makes adoption especially difficult for small-scale producers and those in lower-income regions.

Most smallholder farms, which account for about 85 percent of farms globally, continue to operate without these tools, while adoption remains concentrated among larger, capital-intensive operations. Authors of a recent HEAL report warn that these disparities may further exacerbate deeply rooted racial and economic inequities in agriculture.

A report from the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES) links this dynamic to a broader shift toward farm consolidation, as alliances between major agribusiness and technology firms expand control over data, inputs, and decision-making across the food system. “They are shaping what technologies are developed, how food production decisions are made, and what the future of farming looks like,” IPES says.

In parallel, research evaluating environmental outcomes has found limited and inconsistent evidence that precision agriculture reduces inputs or emissions in practice. And there questions about whether the approach could deliver meaningful sustainability gains if it were more equitably accessible.

The wide-spread adoption of precision agriculture is a conflation between efficiency and sustainability, Celize Christy, Member Organizing Lead at HEAL Food Alliance, tells Food Tank. According to HEAL, the production and use of precision agriculture technologies relies heavily on internet-connected devices and energy-intensive operations which generate substantial global emissions.

While innovation is central to improving agricultural efficiency and sustainability, its benefits depend on how it is developed, governed, and deployed, experts caution.

IPES calls for “reclaiming innovation for people and planet,” emphasizing the need to strengthen public oversight, limit the concentration of power among major technology and agribusiness firms, and reshape dominant narratives about what constitutes innovation. HEAL Food Alliance suggests focusing on regenerative practices that regenerate soil, strengthen rural economies, and prioritize equity.

“Climate solutions should serve communities,” Christy tells Food Tank. “Not corporations.”

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Food and agriculture systems generate a variety of environmental, health, social, and economic impacts that are not generally reflected in the prices consumers pay for food, referred to as externalities in economics. True Cost Accounting (TCA) is an evolving, holistic framework for measuring and valuing the positive and negative externalities of the food system.

TCA seeks to make the impacts of food production, processing, distribution, and consumption more visible to support improved decision making by policymakers, farmers, and consumers and reduce the true costs of food. Drawing from the four-capitals framework of the TEEBAgriFood Evaluation Framework, TCA assesses four key capitals: natural, human, social, and produced.

The agrifood system generates myriad positive and negative externalities, says Salman Hussain, Coordinator The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Agriculture and Food initiative (TEEBAgriFood).

Common examples of positive externalities include a beekeeper incidentally providing a benefit to neighboring farmers when their bees pollinate the farmers’ crops and community cohesion. Examples of negative externalities include emissions from use of fuel in farm machinery, water pollution from fertilizer runoff, and healthcare costs for workers in unsafe conditions.

Though invisible in market prices, the costs of externalities across agrifood systems are nonetheless borne—just rarely by those who create them. Instead, they are passed on to the environment, workers, consumers, and society more broadly.

Environmental costs show up in the 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions that agriculture produces, soil degradation, and biodiversity loss. Workers in food and farming systems face risks like pesticide exposure and heat-related illness and death.

Consumers bear rising rates of diet-related diseases and issues that are linked to modern food environments. 2.5 billion adults suffer diet-related illnesses, 733 million people live in hunger, and 2.8 billion people are unable to afford a healthy diet. And these burdens are often disproportionately carried by vulnerable populations who face higher exposure to environmental risks, poor health outcomes, and economic instability.

The hidden environmental, health, and social costs of global agrifood systems amount to roughly US$12 trillion each year, according to a U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report that Lauren Baker, the Deputy Director of the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, calls a “startling call to action.” A Rockefeller Foundation study attributes US$1.1 trillion unaccounted-for costs to human health, US$900 billion to environmental and biodiversity damage, and US$100 billion in unaccounted livelihoods.

TCA evaluates four forms of capital—natural, human, social, and produced—reflecting the environmental, health, social, and economic dimensions of agrifood systems. The eco-agri-food system is like a puzzle, Alexander Müller, Study Leader for TEEBAgriFood, tells Food Tank. One only understands the full picture when all the pieces are considered together unclear.

TEEBAgriFood established the four-capital framework in 2018 with contributions from more than 150 researchers and experts across 30 countries. It now underpins most True Cost Accounting assessments used today.

Natural capital refers to the stock of physical and biological resources and ecosystem functions that sustain life and enable food production. In agriculture, this includes land, water, soil, biodiversity, and atmospheric systems.

Social capital captures the networks, institutions, and shared norms that enable cooperation and collective action within societies. This can include labor conditions, fair wages, worker protections, community well-being, and the broader social impacts of food production, such as rural livelihoods, job creation or loss, and community stability.

Human capital refers to individuals’ knowledge, skills, health, and capabilities. This includes farmers’ expertise, agricultural training and education, food system innovation, and the health outcomes associated with both food production and consumption.

Produced capital includes the manufactured and financial assets that support economic activity. This encompasses physical infrastructure such as buildings, machinery, and irrigation systems, as well as financial and intellectual capital that enable food production, processing, distribution, and retail.

The goal of TCA is not to increase retail prices, according to Adrian de Groot Ruiz, Co-Founder of True Price, a Dutch social enterprise that helps identify and measure products’ social and environmental costs. Rather, TCA seeks to reveal information that can ultimately help improve the way food is made and reduce the true costs of food, De Groot Ruiz tells Food Tank.

When externalities go unmeasured, they remain unaccounted for in policy decisions, private purchases and markets fail to prevent or address them. Failing to put a value or price negative impacts “creates a dishonest pricing scheme and perpetuates farming systems which destroy our planet and cause a catastrophic impact on public health,” says Patrick Holden, Founder and CEO of SFT.

By identifying and valuing externalities, TCA can help governments, businesses, and investors design policies, legislation, incentives, and investments that reduce harmful impacts, reward practices that generate public benefits, and support food systems in which nutritious food is accessible, workers are compensated fairly, and consumers can make informed choices.

As detailed in FAO’s reports, The State of Food and Agriculture 2023 and 2024, identifying and assessing all hidden costs across agrifood systems is resource- and data-intensive, requiring collaboration between political, economic and social actors and prioritization of the most decision-relevant impacts.

To be effective, TCA must be incorporated into national and international policy frameworks, accounting standards, and performance evaluation systems, supported by standardized metrics that allow impacts to be measured consistently across food value chains, according to government bodies and industry experts.

Some organizations and researchers advocate for policies under which governments tax activities that impose environmental or social harm so market prices reflect their full costs, alongside subsidies or incentives for practices that generate positive externalities such as improved soil health or ecosystem protection. Ultimately, according to Nature Food, TCA calls for a fundamental change to the valuation of food.

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Carbon farming refers to agricultural practices designed to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in soils and plants. By increasing carbon sequestration, carbon farming aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while improving soil health and adaptability.

Human activities have increased GHG emissions—particularly carbon dioxide, the primary GHG emitted through human activity—intensifying the greenhouse effect and raising global temperatures.

Agriculture and land-use change are major drivers, and global food systems are responsible for about one-third of annual GHG emissions.

One of the agrifood system’s largest contributions to carbon emissions is soil organic carbon (SOC) loss. Soils have a tremendous capacity to store carbon and can function as either carbon sinks or carbon sources. “If soil is a bank account, soil organic carbon is the currency,” Rattan Lal, Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science at the Ohio State University and a Goodwill Ambassador for the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, tells Food Tank.

But modern agricultural practices have caused soils to emit more carbon than they retain. Soil organic carbon levels hover between 0.05 percent and 0.10 percent, well under the roughly 2 percent threshold that Lal identifies as necessary to sustain healthy, productive soils.

Converting forests or grasslands to farmland, and practices like over tillage, monocropping, heavy machinery use, overgrazing, and removing crop residues disturb soil structure, expose SOC to water and oxygen, and lead to SOC loss. Lower SOC levels weaken soil structure and diminish microbial activity and biodiversity.

Over the past 12,000 years and particularly in the last two centuries, agriculture has released about 133 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from soils, and in some areas, soils have lost up to 70 percent of their original SOC. Soils emit around ten times more carbon dioxide than fossil fuels.

Because of their capacity to store carbon, soils also have significant potential to help mitigate climate change. Research suggests that improved land management could enable croplands to sequester up to 1.85 gigatons of carbon per year, roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of the global transportation sector.

And soils in good condition could capture a meaningful share of the emissions reductions needed to keep global warming below 2°C. What we have taken from the land, Rattan Lal says, we can put back.

By increasing soil carbon storage and reducing the release of carbon into the atmosphere, carbon farming aims to shift soils from carbon sources to carbon solutions.

Carbon farmers earn credits for sequestering carbon, with each credit representing a measurable reduction or removal of GHGs. Carbon credits can be sold in carbon markets to companies or other buyers seeking to offset their emissions and meet climate goals. Companies like Grassroots Carbon are helping operationalize this model, recently delivering 1.9 million tons of verified carbon removals. Ranchers participating in these programs report generating meaningful new income streams and reducing operational costs while also improving soil health.

One common carbon farming approach involves adding organic materials to the soil, such as compost or biochar, increasing soil organic matter which in turn increases soils’ carbon storage capacity.

Planting perennial crops, which remain in the ground year after year, can also help store carbon. Their deeper and longer-lasting root systems allow more carbon to accumulate in the soil compared with annual crops that are replanted each season.

Another widely used practice is cover cropping. Farmers plant crops during periods when, or in areas where, fields would otherwise remain bare. These plants not only protect soils from water and air erosion, but they also capture carbon dioxide and transfer some of that carbon into the soil through their roots and plant residue. Cover crops add additional organic matter to soils when they decompose.

Other carbon farming strategies focus on minimizing the carbon that is released into the atmosphere by reducing soil disturbance, particularly through practices that minimize plowing or tilling.

In addition to mitigating GHG emissions, practices that increase or maintain SOC levels enhance soil structure, fuel microbial activity, and improve fertility. By improving overall soil health, these practices can increase agricultural yields while reducing the need for agricultural inputs.

And carbon-rich soils are generally more resilient to environmental pressures. Higher levels of soil organic carbon improve water holding capacity and infiltration, helping farmland better withstand both drought and flooding. “If your neighbor’s land has twice as much carbon as yours, their land will sequester twice the amount of water as your land,” Peter Byck, Arizona State University Professor and Director, Producer, and Writer of Carbon Nation, tells Food Tank.

They also support more active microbial communities, boosting biomass by 40 to 70 percent, and stronger soil structure, enabling soils to absorb shocks and sustain productivity under stress.

Despite its potential to reduce emissions and nourish soils, carbon farming remains the subject of ongoing debate among scientists and policymakers. There is currently no universally accepted system for measuring, reporting, and verifying soil carbon credits, creating confusion for farmers entering carbon markets.

And significant uncertainty remains about how much carbon agricultural soils can store and how accurately sequestration can be measured. Because soil carbon levels can change quickly in response to management practices or weather, stored carbon may also be released back into the atmosphere, complicating efforts to treat soil carbon as a long-term or permanent climate solution.

Concerns about carbon farming also include rebound effects: if certain practices reduce yields, farmland expansion elsewhere could generate emissions that offset the original climate gains. Evidence also shows that widely used no-till systems often rely on herbicides for weed control, accounting for roughly one-third of U.S. pesticide use in corn and soy production.

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Earlier this year, President Donald Trump announced that John Deere will open two new U.S. facilities—a distribution center near Hebron, Indiana, and a manufacturing site in Kernersville, North Carolina.

According to a press release from Indiana Governor Mike Braun, the company plans to invest US$125 million to construct and equip a 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse and distribution center on 234 acres near Hebron. In North Carolina, Deere is putting US$70 million toward expanding its Kernersville plant, which will take over excavator production previously based in Japan.

John Deere estimates that each site will generate about 150 jobs, underscoring the company’s intent to continue driving U.S. innovation and jobs, says John May, Chairman and CEO of John Deere.

Deere has also pledged to invest US$20 billion in U.S. manufacturing and is reinstating some previously laid-off employees including 146 employees in Waterloo, 24 in Dubuque, and 75 in Davenport.

But the new facilities and limited callbacks make only a modest dent in the significant losses across Deere’s U.S. operations in recent years. John Deere, an American company with deep midwestern roots, began making substantial lay-offs in October 2023, when the company fired 225 production employees from a plant in East Moline, Illinois.

In 2024, Deere cut 2,167 jobs across key facilities, including nearly 1,000 in Waterloo and hundreds more in Davenport, Dubuque, Ankeny, Ottumwa, Moline, and East Moline. Layoffs continued into 2025, with over 500 workers let go in Iowa alone.

Deere says that about 80 percent of the equipment it sells in the U.S. is manufactured domestically. Nevertheless, its international operations remain integral to its business model and supply chain.

International markets are a major driver of Deere’s revenue, providing nearly half of its consolidated net sales and revenues. The company employs 75,000 people worldwide, but more than half are abroad: only 30,000 employees are located in the U.S.

The company manufactures equipment and components throughout a global network, producing backhoes and planting equipment in Brazil, tractor engines and combines in Argentina, crushers and sprayers in Germany, feederhouses in France, cotton harvesters in China, and tractor screens in India.

And Deere continues to expand internationally, prompting scrutiny over how the company balances U.S. manufacturing with global production. The company recently announced that they’re moving their skid steer and track loader manufacturing from Dubuque, Iowa, to a new facility in Ramos, Mexico, and confirmed plans to build a US$55 million plant in Nuevo León to manufacture mini track loaders and mini wheel loaders.

Trump has said Deere’s new facilities as a win for U.S. manufacturing, announcing the projects at a January rally and on social media. The White House also highlighted Deere’s U.S. projects as part of a list of new investments during Trump’s second term as evidence of the President’s “unwavering commitment to revitalizing American industry.”

However, the groundwork for both projects had been laid in 2024 under the Biden-Harris administration. Deere’s planned expansion in Kernersville was first announced in 2024, according to Reuters.

Plans for the Indiana site trace back to a land acquisition that same year, which details the purchase of a 234-acre undeveloped parcel in northwest Indiana that “will be the future site of a 1.2-million-square-foot John Deere warehouse/distribution.” When asked about the timing, the company noted that some of these plans had been disclosed earlier.

Deere has indicated that its long-term strategy will continue “regardless” of political developments in the U.S.. But policy changes under the Trump-Vance administration are proving expensive. According to The Wall Street Journal, Deere incurred roughly US$600 million in tariff-related costs in its 2025 fiscal year and expects that figure to climb to about US$1.2 billion this year.

The broader equipment manufacturing sector is also facing headwinds: output and employment have declined from 2022 levels, according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, prompting concerns about the long-term trajectory of U.S. production. “The path that we are on is leading us to less manufacturing in the United States,” says Kip Eideberg, the Association’s Senior Vice President of Government and Industry Relations.

The workers being called back represent a small but significant reprieve for communities hit hard by recent layoffs. “When those layoffs are announced, it doesn’t just throw the family—it throws an entire town into confusion and chaos and worry,” explains Charlie Wishman, President of the Iowa AFL-CIO.

But for many others, the damage remains: Deere’s sweeping changes to its U.S. workforce have sparked both uncertainty and outrage, leaving hundreds of families questioning how they will pay rent, put food on the table, and find new sources of income.

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Food sovereignty is the right of peoples, communities, and countries to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through socially just, ecologically sound, and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own policies, strategies, and systems for food production, distribution, and consumption.

While food security names the destination, food sovereignty defines a democratic path to reach it. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food security is a condition in which everyone has reliable access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food.

Food sovereignty accepts that objective but shifts the focus to power and governance, arguing that achieving lasting food security requires placing decision-making in the hands of the people who produce, distribute, and consume food, rather than markets or dominant governments.

Food sovereignty emerged in the 1980s and 1990s as a response and challenge to the social, economic, and environmental consequences of globalization and industrialized agriculture. 44 percent of the world’s population was living in extreme poverty in 1981, and the number of hungry people grew by 15 million between 1970 and 1980, even as surplus food flooded global markets.

Mechanization of agricultural tasks like sowing seeds, harvesting crops, milking cows greatly reduced and sometimes eliminated the need for human and animal labor, leaving many without jobs. The share of the U.S. workforce employed in agriculture fell from 41 percent in 1900 to 2 percent by 2000, and between 1950 and 1997 the average farm more than doubled in size while nearly half of farms disappeared.

The 1980s marked a sharp increase in global temperatures and, in 1988, NASA scientist James Hansen told Congress he was “99 percent sure” that global warming was upon us. Indigenous, rural, peasant, and small-scale farming communities were left facing overlapping crises of poverty, environmental degradation, and hunger.

Recognizing urgent necessity for an organized, collective, and internationalist response, La Via Campesina coined the term food sovereignty at the 1996 World Food Summit. A decade later, 700 delegates from five continents gathered at the 2007 International Forum for Food Sovereignty in Nyéléni, Mali to further deepen collective understanding on the topic, developing the six pillars of food sovereignty.

The framework centers food as a human need rather than a commodity, supports sustainable livelihoods for food providers, and localizes food systems and shortens the distance between producers and consumers. It places decision-making power in the hands of local communities, builds on traditional knowledge strengthened by research, and works with nature instead of industrial, energy-intensive models.

During Canada’s subsequent People’s Food Policy process, members of the Indigenous Circle added a seventh pillar, which states that “food is sacred,” asserting that food is a gift of life and must not be reduced to a commodity.

Nearly three decades after La Via Campesina introduced food sovereignty, the hunger, poverty, ecological degradation, and concentrated market power it sought to confront persist. Today’s industrial food system generates record levels of calories, yet nearly one-third of the global population remains food insecure. Food systems contribute up to one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, and agriculture threatens more than 80 percent of species at risk of extinction.

Corporate consolidation has deepened across the food system, with four firms controlling nearly 70 percent of the global pesticide and seed market. And small-scale and family farmers comprise over 98 percent of farms, but control just 53 percent of agricultural land.

Beyond codifying the right to food and control over food systems, and recognizing the contribution of indigenous peoples, pastoralists, forest dwellers, workers and fishers to the food system, food sovereignty offers a framework to address the harms of industrial agriculture.

By localizing production and prioritizing agroecological methods, food sovereignty can shorten supply chains and reduce emissions while restoring soil health and biodiversity. Research also finds that food sovereignty–based approaches, such as strengthening school food systems, improving soil fertility, advancing gender equity, and confronting structural racism, can support long-term health equity.

Scaling food sovereignty requires structural reforms that confront concentrated power and expand equitable access to land. IPES emphasizes the need to democratize governance and counter corporate control of the food system through stronger conflict-of-interest safeguards, revitalized antitrust enforcement to reduce market concentration, and stricter transparency and lobbying rules.

Others like the National Young Farmers Coalition call for eliminating inequities in land ownership, protecting farmland, securing affordable land tenure, and supporting farm viability and transition.

“If people don’t control the food, they don’t control the power,” Morgan Ody, General Coordinator for La Via Campesina, tells Food Tank.

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Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are products constructed from industrially produced ingredients and substances that are typically not available for home cooking. UPFs are designed to be hyperpalatable, conveniently accessible, and highly profitable, and include a wide range of commonplace items from soft drinks, chips, and packaged bread to jarred sauces, cereals, and ice cream.

Over the past century, traditional dietary patterns centered on minimally processed foods have gradually given way to diets dominated by ultra-processed items. UPFs make up around 75 percent of the U.S. food supply and more than half of the calories consumed by adults in high-income countries. Among children, and households with lower income and education levels, the rates are higher.

The rise of UPFs is displacing unprocessed or minimally processing foods and long-established dietary patterns, driving the rise of multiple diet-related chronic diseases globally.

Food processing has existed throughout human history. Global communities froze foods to prolong storage times, fermented foods with salt to improve nutrition, and preserved foods in honey or sugar to create new tastes and textures. Unlike historically processed foods, ultra-processed products are not simply altered whole ingredients but are manufactured from refined components and additives.

NOVA, the most widely used food classification system, does not define UPFs as food, but as industrial formulations. UPFs are composed primarily of chemically modified and industrially produced ingredients generally unavailable in home kitchens, like protein isolates or concentrates, hydrogenated fat, and modified starches.

They typically contain additives to enhance taste, texture, appearance, and preservatives to extend shelf-lives and undergo processing techniques that leave the final products bearing little resemblance to the original ingredients.

The ingredients and processes used to manufacture ultra-processed foods make them highly convenient and appealing, but often low in nutritional quality and liable to be over-consumed. UPFs are typically high in added sugars, sodium, modified starches, and saturated fat, and low in fiber, micronutrients, and phytochemicals.

UPFs are designed to be exceptionally appealing to the human palate, and their composition can stimulate the brain’s reward system and overrides satiety signals, making it difficult to stop eating. A study published in Cell Metabolism compared the effects of consuming two nutritionally similar diets differing only in their degree of processing. Participants assigned to an ultra-processed diet ate about 500 more calories per day and gained about 2 pounds more than those on the unprocessed diet.

Ultra-processed foods are associated with worse diet quality and a long and growing list of adverse health outcomes. Multiple studies link greater exposure to ultra-processed food with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer, and anxiety and depression, demonstrating adverse outcomes across nearly all organ systems.

Food processing is not inherently dangerous, and certain processing methods offer clear benefits. Pasteurization improves food safety and processes like freezing and canning can reduce food waste. Fortified foods, like milk with added vitamin D to aid calcium absorption or cereal enriched with fiber, can improve nutrition and address deficiencies. And some processed foods like whole-grain brain, yogurt, and baked beans are associated with a reduced risk of chronic disease like diabetes and obesity.

Consumers should limit UPFs in their diets, but also understand that there is nuance, says Dr. David Seres, director of medical nutrition and professor of medicine in the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University Medical Center.

Most global policies aimed at reversing the rise of UPFs worldwide have focused on reducing consumption of foods high in added fats, sugar, and sodium, many of which are UPFs. But public health experts have called for stronger and broader policies that provide clear dietary guidance and health objectives, warning labels, and consumer education.

And Marion Nestle, Professor Emerita at New York University, highlights the need for legal authority to regulate television and social media advertising, retail product placements, sales and service in schools, and other promotions directed toward children. UPF marketing, Nestle says, “must be stopped.”

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Founded by Allison DeHonney, the organization operates primarily on Buffalo’s East Side, where limited access to affordable, nutritious food contributes to high rates of diet-related disease including diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. 28.3 percent of Buffalo’s population lives below the poverty line, and 24 percent is food-insecure.

DeHonney launched Buffalo Go Green without formal training in agriculture or healthcare, instead drawing on experience in business and insurance to address structural drivers of poor health.

“The impetus of the organization, after doing research on health disparities, was addressing the lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables and the lack of knowledge surrounding healthy food choices,” DeHonney tells Food Tank.

DeHonney began by starting a farm, focusing on healthy soil, non-GMO seeds, and growing practices designed to produce nutrient-dense food. To fight health disparities and their effects, Buffalo Go Green developed produce prescription programs, where patients are provided with prescriptions for fruits and vegetables to bolster their health, and prepared meal programs for the underserved.

The organization operates year-round growing facilities that yield hundreds of pounds of organic fruits and vegetables. It also runs mobile produce markets to ensure Buffalo residents can access nutritious food where and when they need it.

As DeHonney spent time engaging with community members at markets and on the farm, education became a focal point. She found that access alone was insufficient, particularly in dense urban neighborhoods with limited growing space. “So much harm has been done in these communities,” DeHonney explains, noting that education helps build lasting skills and confidence around food choices.

Buffalo Go Green’s education programs now span home growing, greenhouse management, nutrition, cooking, and food systems literacy. Participants receive hands-on training, books for guidance, and exposure to the institutions working to improve food access in the area.

As New York expands Food is Medicine through a Medicaid 1115 Waiver, Buffalo Go Green has identified a critical gap between screening patients for food insecurity and delivering effective services. When individuals are deemed eligible under the waiver program, they are directed to a community-based organization, regional non-profits, or health care providers for support.

“Once people are screened as food insecure and navigated to us, life doesn’t stop,” DeHonney says, pointing to changes in housing, caregiving responsibilities, allergies, and weekly needs. Existing systems, she notes, are not designed to track those shifting realities over the months someone receives services. Without that information, providers risk missing opportunities to support the nuances of participants’ lives and sustained behavior change around shopping, cooking, and nutrition.

To address this gap, Buffalo Go Green is launching a new platform designed to strengthen service delivery under the 1115 waiver. Originally developed as a point-of-sale and inventory system for farmers markets, the updated platform will include a new layer focused on individual service delivery. The tool allows staff to capture what a participant needs week to week, while also generating aggregate data to inform program design and policy discussions.

“It’s based on the individual, but we can aggregate all of that,” DeHonney says, citing insights such as housing instability that are often invisible in traditional reporting systems. The platform is expected to launch imminently.

Along with on-the-ground service delivery, Buffalo Go Green participates in food policy coalitions and national networks, lending on-the-ground insight into how policy decisions affect implementation. DeHonney views this role as essential to ensuring Food Is Medicine policies translate into real-world impact.

The organization’s commitment to co-production with universities and partners has shaped both its programming and research collaborations. “These relationships don’t have to be complicated,” DeHonney says, emphasizing trust, responsiveness, and shared problem-solving.

Looking ahead, Buffalo Go Green is expanding through a holistic wellness and agricultural education campus that will include a teaching kitchen, a small market, a juice bar, and indoor hydroponic growing. The goal, DeHonney says, is to grow without losing the community-centered approach that has defined the organization’s work from the beginning.

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Food is Medicine (FIM) encompasses a variety of food-based interventions that aim to prevent and treat diet-related chronic conditions and advance health equity. Sitting at the crossroads of food and agriculture systems, nutrition, and healthcare, FIM programs focus on increasing access, availability, and affordability of healthful foods.

Poor diets are a major driver of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide, causing 45 percent of cardiometabolic deaths in the United States and 70 percent of new diabetes cases worldwide, according to a JACC State-of-the-Art Review by Dariush Mozaffarian, Director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University (FIMI). Globally, one in five deaths is attributable to poor diet—more than any other risk factor, including tobacco.

The burden of poor diets falls disproportionately on low-income communities and communities of color, where food insecurity and limited access to nutritious food contribute to higher rates of diet-related chronic disease. Among American Indians and Alaska Natives, food insecurity rates are roughly double those of white Americans in recent decades. Obesity rates are about 7 percent higher among Hispanic Americans and 15 percent higher among Black Americans than among white Americans.

Poor nutrition also carries a significant economic burden, contributing to chronic diseases that account for 90 percent of U.S. health care spending and more than US$1.1 trillion annually in combined medical costs and lost productivity.

FIM interventions span different levels of clinical intensity and support, with programs designed to match patients’ medical conditions and social needs. Produce prescription (PRx) programs, appropriate for the broadest group, provide patients with funds or vouchers to purchase fruits and vegetables from local food retailers, supporting both disease prevention and management.

Medically tailored groceries offer curated food packages selected by a registered dietitian nutritionist or other medical professional to address diet-sensitive conditions. These groceries are designed for patients who can shop and prepare meals.

Medically tailored meals (MTM) represent the highest-intensity intervention and are customized for patients with severe or complex conditions, who are unable to shop or cook and require comprehensive nutritional support. FIM initiatives frequently integrate nutrition and culinary education to reinforce preventive care and maintenance.

Farmers are central to all FIM initiatives and programs. Farmers supply the fruits, vegetables, and other foods used in FIM interventions, and their soil and crop management practices directly shape the quality and nutrient density of the food patients receive. Programs that source locally support farm income, reduce supply chain risks, and create economic benefits in rural communities.

Throughout history, food has been understood as a source of healing across cultures and medical traditions. Indigenous communities have “long known that food is medicine,” says Kate Nelson, an award-winning writer and editor and Alaska Native Tlingit tribal member. Indigenous foodways recognize food as inseparable from health, Nelson explains, with seasonal, regionally specific, and culturally grounded foodways understood as essential to healing both people and land.

In seventh-century China, physician Sun Simiao included food prescriptions in Recipes Worth a Thousand Gold, in the hope that sick people would alter their diet before trying drugs. In the U.S. FIM efforts trace part of their origins to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, when organizations such as God’s Love We Deliver and Project Open Hand emerged to provide nutritional and social support to individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Over time, these programs evolved from providing basic sustenance to offering medically tailored groceries and meals designed to support long-term health outcomes.

Despite its long cultural history, FIM has played a limited role in Western healthcare. Clinicians have had few practical tools to address patients’ diets, compounded by insufficient medical nutrition education and inadequate incentive and policy infrastructure.

In recent years, however, FIM is gaining rapid momentum across the U.S. health care sector, with interventions such as MTM and PRx moving into the mainstream. Public and private organizations have committed nearly US$10 billion to address diet-related disease and hunger, and companies such as Instacart have launched initiatives aligned with FIM strategies.

Early research indicates that FIM interventions are associated with improvements in dietary quality, food security, and health outcomes, along with reductions in health care utilization. A systematic review found that 21 of 22 PRx studies reported increased fruit and vegetable intake, and modeling suggests that national implementation could avert 274,000 cardiovascular events.

According to research conducted by FIMI, MTM have been linked to improved health and fewer hospitalizations, and are estimated to save US$23.7 billion in healthcare costs.

Existing evidence supports the promise of Food Is Medicine and justifies broader implementation, but indicates the need for more rigorous research, stronger clinician training, and sustained funding to scale these interventions equitably.

“Food is the big missing thing in how we approach our health in this country,” says Mozaffarian, expressing hope that eventually food will be prescribed as readily as a drug or surgery.

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Regenerative agriculture is a holistic approach to farming and ranching that prioritizes soil restoration, equity within food systems, and the long-term health of land, water, and climate. Rather than maintaining conditions and resources, regenerative agriculture seeks to improve ecosystem health and strengthen the resilience of agricultural landscapes.

Healthy soils are the foundation of productive food systems, shaping outcomes from farm yields to community well-being and ecological stability. But intensive farming practices that rely on heavy machinery, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides have contributed to soil degradation across a majority of the world’s agricultural land.

Regenerative agriculture prioritizes restoring soil health and function, supporting crop growth, nutrient cycling, and biodiversity through a range of practices. To rebuild soil health, regenerative farmers reduce or forgo tillage, avoiding the erosion caused by conventional plowing. This approach keeps soil intact, preserving soil structure, protecting fungi, and keeping carbon in the ground.

Planted in soil that would otherwise be bare before or after harvest, cover crops shield soil from wind and water and restore nutrients to the soil. They also keep living roots in the soil, providing natural tillage and mitigating fertilizer runoff.

Growing just one or two crops year after year on the same land can deplete soil nutrients and degrade soil health over time. Diversifying crops improves water and nutrient retention and supports pollinators and wildlife. Crop diversification can also reduce pests and weeds—and reduce the need for artificial fertilizer.

“It turns out it really helps to have some diversity,” Sieg Snapp, Associate Dean for Research for Washington State University’s College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences, tells Food Tank. According to Snapp, diverse crops above ground feed a wider range of soil microbes below ground.

To restore soil nutrients and reduce fertilizer use, some regenerative farmers integrate livestock into cropping systems. Rooted in Indigenous land management traditions, rotational grazing involves moving livestock between pastures, mimicking the way animals historically moved in herds across grasslands. This method allows vegetation to recover while improving soil fertility through manure and organic matter inputs.

Regenerative practices often extend beyond soil health to include broader ecological and social considerations, emphasizing animal welfare and worker well-being. Many regenerative farmers prioritize fair treatment of workers, including freedom of association, safe working conditions, living wages, and participation in farm decision-making.

Some also seek to address the legacy of discriminatory policies that have limited land access and support for Black, Indigenous, and farmers of color, recognizing that regenerative agriculture must confront longstanding inequities within U.S. agriculture.

We need agriculture that “does not deplete our people,” says Leonard Diggs, Director of Farmer & Rancher Opportunities at Pie Ranch, an incubator farm supporting early-stage regenerative farmers and ranchers, focusing on communities who have historically been denied access to land.

Regenerative agriculture can improve profitability and strengthen farm performance while reducing environmental impact. By reducing dependence on fertilizers and pesticides, regenerative farms often lower costs, and research indicates regenerative systems can deliver long-term yield gains and profits up to 120 percent higher than conventional operations.

Soil-focused practices also improve water management during droughts and heavy rains, cut greenhouse gas emissions from machinery and nitrogen inputs, and increase carbon sequestration. Project Drawdown estimates that restored agricultural lands could remove 2.6 to 13.6 gigatons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually.

Scaling regenerative agriculture requires reducing the financial risk farmers face during the transition by providing technical support, upfront capital, and reliable markets that offset short-term costs, according to industry experts.

Global organizations like the World Economic Forum and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development contend that actors across the value chain must align on common metrics to measure and reward environmental and socio-economic outcomes, enabling coordinated incentives, investment, and regulatory compliance.

Momentum behind regenerative agriculture is building and spans global coalitions and community-based initiatives. Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) builds on the USDA Organic standard by adding requirements for soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness within a tiered certification framework, bringing the three pillars of regenerative organic agriculture into a single certification framework.

The Rockefeller Foundation has committed more than US$220 million to its “big bet” for food systems transformation to benefit farmers, feed more children, and improve nutrition and soil. This includes their US$100 million commitment to advance universal locally grown and regenerative school meals in the United States and globally, US$100 million to scale Food is Medicine solutions in the U.S., and over US$20 million for the Periodic Table of Food Initiative, which is providing standardized tools, data, and training to map food quality of the world’s edible biodiversity.

RegenAG has worked with thousands of Australian farmers since 2010 through training and consultancy programs focused on soil carbon, profitability, and lower input costs, while Kiss the Ground advances regenerative agriculture in California through education and demonstration projects, and La Delia Verde applies soil-centered practices in Argentina to restore biodiversity, store carbon, and strengthen regional food systems.

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Agroecology is an approach to agriculture that applies ecological and social principles to the design and management of food systems, from production through consumption. A transdisciplinary concept grounded in the recognition that food, health, natural resources, and economic security are interconnected challenges, agroecology manifests as a science, a set of practices, and a social movement.

As a science, agroecology applies ecological concepts and principles to the design and management of sustainable food systems. This dimension draws on ecology to understand how relationships among plants, animals, soils, and people shape agricultural outcomes across landscapes.

As a set of practices, agroecology seeks to improve agricultural systems by working with natural processes rather than replacing them with external inputs. Agroecological practices emphasize beneficial biological interactions and synergies within agroecosystems, reduce reliance on synthetic and toxic inputs, and make use of ecological processes in farm management.

As a social movement, agroecology aims to transform agriculture by building locally relevant food systems that strengthen the economic viability of rural areas. This dimension emphasizes short supply chains, fair and safe food production, and support for smallholder farmers, rural communities, food sovereignty, cultural identity, and Indigenous rights related to seeds and breeds.

Agroecology emphasizes locally rooted approaches rather than standardized technical solutions, relying on bottom-up, territorial processes that respond to local environmental, social, and economic conditions. These approaches depend on the co-creation of knowledge, combining scientific research with traditional, practical, and local knowledge held by producers and communities.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) identifies horizontal exchanges, like farmer-to-farmer, producer-to-consumer, and intergenerational learning, as core mechanisms for developing and adapting agroecological practices.

The social component and collective action beyond farm-level production are essential to agroecology, particularly in the face of a changing climate, Million Belay, General Coordinator of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, tells Food Tank. “Cohesiveness is very critical when you’re attacked by a climate crisis,” he says. “You can mobilize together. You can help each other.”

Farms that transitioned to agroecological practices saw an average 11 percent increase in crop yields, and a 49 percent increase in farmer income due to lower input costs, according to a study conducted by the Global Alliance for the Future of Food.

Agroecological practices boosted biodiversity, strengthened social cohesion in communities, and reduced health risks, with farmers reporting 33 percent fewer sick days, says Anna Lappé, Executive Director of the Global Alliance.

Agroecology has expanded conceptually over time from a practice on individual fields and farms to an approach that encompasses entire food systems. The Agroecology Fund traces the approach’s roots to Indigenous Peoples’ food systems and documents its presence in scientific literature since the mid-twentieth century. The concept has since been embraced by governments, international agencies, and U.N. institutions.

FAO developed the Ten Elements of Agroecology framework, outlining essential components and desired enabling conditions that help guide planning, decision-making, and assessment when transitioning to agroecology. The Ten Elements include diversity, co-creation and sharing of knowledge, responsible governance, and circular and solidarity economies.

Alongside this framework, the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition, a science-policy interface of the U.N. Committee on World Food Security commissioned by FAO, published the Thirteen Principles of Agroecology. While FAO’s Ten Elements guide countries operationalizing agroecology through a holistic, multi-stakeholder approach, the Thirteen Principles are designed to provide more specific, actionable tools for farmers implementing changes on the ground and developing relevant policies. The Thirteen Principles address areas including recycling, input reduction, soil and animal health, social values and diets, and land and natural resource governance.

FAO connects agroecology with a broader global shift toward holistic and systems-based approaches that aim to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and poverty while respecting human rights. The organization links agroecology to progress across multiple Sustainable Development Goals, including those related to hunger, poverty, climate action, biodiversity, gender equality, youth engagement, and human rights.

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Agricultural Leaders Warn of Collapse Without Congressional Action

A bipartisan coalition of former U.S. Department of Agriculture officials and agricultural leaders is warning of a potential “widespread collapse of American agriculture,” citing policy failures and economic stressors, the New York Times reports. In a letter sent to Congressional agriculture committee leaders, the authors point to mounting farm bankruptcies, rising production costs, labor shortages, and declining profits.

The letter argues that the current administration’s actions and Congressional inaction have “increased costs for farm inputs, disrupted overseas and domestic markets, denied agriculture its reliable labor pool, and defunded critical ag research and staffing.”

It urges lawmakers to pass a new Farm Bill, expand international market access, restore research funding, and relax trade tariffs.

Jon Doggett, former CEO of the National Corn Growers Association, says that farmers are deeply concerned but that “we’re not having this discussion in an open and meaningful way.”

Mozambique Expands Farmer-Led Seed Systems with ICRISAT, FAO Support

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are expanding support for farmer-led pigeonpea seed enterprises in Mozambique. The effort aims to strengthen food security, boost rural incomes, and improve soil fertility through the distribution of improved pigeonpea and groundnut varieties via local cooperatives.

“Farmers are becoming seed entrepreneurs and reliable suppliers within their own communities,” says James Mwololo, ICRISAT legume breeder. Though 70 percent of Mozambicans rely on agriculture, only 10 percent of arable land is cultivated, presenting an opportunity for farmers to expand production.

The initiative comes as Mozambique experiences historic flooding. More than 60,000 hectares of farmland and over 58,000 livestock have been lost, according to Mozambique’s disaster agency, highlighting the urgency of resilient seed systems and sustainable production models.

Farmers in Karnataka Pivot to Pulses Amid Climate Shifts

Farmers in Karnataka, India, are shifting away from traditional cereal and commercial crops due to climate variability and labor shortages, turning instead to pulses and horticulture.

Between 2020 and 2025, crop area for cereals like rice and maize declined by 4 percent, while the area under pulses rose 10 percent, the Times of India reports. Farmers also doubled their cultivation of minor millets and increased spice production by 19 percent.

Erratic rainfall patterns have led to crop losses for approximately 1.5 million farmers annually, with Rs₹4,401 crore (US$48.58 million) in insurance claims between 2023 and 2025. Dr. M.N. Thimmegowda of the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bengaluru explains that “increased pre-monsoon showers in April-May allow short-duration crops like pulses” to thrive.

Officials including C.B. Balareddy, Director of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare say the shift toward horticulture, particularly arecanut and spices, reflects an effort to adapt to changing climate conditions and labor dynamics.

Study Flags Methane Blind Spot Among Global Investors

A new report by the Changing Markets Foundation and Planet Tracker finds that most of the world’s largest asset managers are failing to address methane emissions from agriculture in their climate strategies. The analysis reviewed 25 major investors, including Vanguard, BlackRock, and Fidelity, and found that only four explicitly recognized methane’s climate impact or mitigation potential.

Methane is over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period and is responsible for roughly 0.5°C of global warming, yet most investors treat it as a secondary concern with no standalone targets or agriculture-specific policies, according to the report.

Only Norges Bank Investment Management includes agriculture-related methane in its climate strategy and references the Global Methane Pledge. Others, like J.P. Morgan and State Street, focus solely on oil and gas.

Without immediate action, the report warns, investors face mounting risks, including falling productivity and disrupted supply chains. It calls on investors to “act decisively” to address this blind spot, offering recommendations that include adopting methane policies and frameworks, and redirecting capital toward sustainable proteins and resilient food systems.

Deadly Nipah Virus Detected in India, But Risk of Spread Remains Low

Two cases of the Nipah virus have been confirmed in Barasat, West Bengal, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Both cases were identified in healthcare workers from the same hospital.

Nipah is a zoonotic virus with a fatality rate between 40 and 75 percent. Humans can contract it through direct contact with infected animals, such as fruit bats, pigs, or horses, or by consuming contaminated fruit products. While human-to-human transmission is possible, it is uncommon, according to the WHO.

The WHO emphasized that there is no evidence of increased transmissibility and assessed the risk of spread beyond India as low. Nevertheless, airports across Asia, including those in Thailand, Nepal, and Vietnam, have heightened screenings.

India’s health ministry reported that the cases were contained quickly. The source of the current outbreak is still under investigation.

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Tribal Nations Move Toward Establishing Formal Agricultural Authorities

Tribal nations are increasingly moving to establish formal departments of agriculture as part of a broader effort to assert their sovereign authority and control over food systems. The Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF) and the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative (IFAI) are encouraging tribes to occupy this regulatory space before state or federal agencies do so by default.

Though tribes hold inherent powers of self-government and sovereign authority, including the ability to regulate food safety, land use, and public health, only a handful of the 574 federally recognized tribes have formalized that authority through dedicated agriculture departments.

One example is the Oneida Nation, which adopted a food sovereignty policy and established self-regulation to support local food enterprises. “It’s such a great example of exercising tribal sovereignty and self-regulation,” says Vanessa Miller, food and agriculture area manager for Oneida Nation.

NAAF and IFAI recently worked with the members of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) to pass a resolution supporting the establishment and empowerment of Tribal Departments of Agriculture.

Such departments can help tribes “steward their lands, support their people, and ensure agriculture leads to healthy food on tables, income for producers, and futures for our next generation,” according to NCAI President Mark Macarro. Kelli Case, senior attorney with IFAI, highlights the importance of food systems to sovereignty, stating, “Tribes cannot be truly sovereign unless they can feed themselves.”

Chile’s Wildfires Are Burning Far Larger Areas Than Usual

Chile is facing a severe wildfire season marked not by an unusually high number of fires, but by the scale and intensity of the land being burned.

Recent wildfires in central and southern Chile have swept through forests and farmland, and killed at least 20 people, forcing around 50,000 people to flee, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The fires have destroyed at least 325 homes and tens of thousands of hectares of land.

Scientists say the total number of fires this season remains within typical ranges, but the area burned is nearly three times larger than average.

“We are living [in] a particularly critical situation that is very far from the usual averages,” says Miguel Castillo, Director of the Forest Fire Engineering Laboratory at the University of Chile.

Experts link the fires’ rapid spread to high summer temperatures, prolonged drought, strong winds, and changes in land-use patterns that allow flames to move. Virginia Iglesias, Director of Earth Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder, says preventing future disasters will require reducing ignitions, managing fuels, addressing climate change, and redesigning communities to limit fire risk.

WHO Releases New Global Guidelines on Healthy Eating in Schools

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released new global guidelines to help Member States develop evidence-based policies that improve school food environments and promote healthy eating among children. The guidelines aim to address rising rates of diet-related disease by targeting the foods available, sold, and promoted in schools.

“Getting nutrition right at school is critical for preventing disease later in life and creating healthier adults,” says WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The recommendations call for increasing access to nutritious foods through standards for school meals and foods sold on campus, alongside “nudging” interventions that encourage healthier choices without restricting options.

WHO data show that 104 countries have policies on healthy school food, and nearly three-quarters include mandatory nutrition criteria, but only 48 restrict marketing of foods high in sugar, salt, or unhealthy fats.

The agency says stronger action is needed as childhood overweight and obesity continue to rise globally. In 2025, the number of school-aged children living with obesity—about one in ten worldwide—surpassed the number who are underweight, underscoring the urgency of healthier school food policies.

Ethiopia Faces Growing Hunger Crisis in the Face of USAID Cuts

Humanitarian conditions in Ethiopia have deteriorated following the suspension of U.S. food assistance, particularly in the northern Tigray region. Before the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) halted aid in 2023, Ethiopia, grappling with drought and civil conflict, received over US$1 billion in US emergency aid, making it the largest recipient of US assistance in sub-Saharan Africa and the fifth biggest in the world.

As a result of the aid cuts, over 2 million people missed out on food distributions in 2025, and an estimated 3.6 million could lose access to aid without an immediate increase in funding. Around 650,000 women and children are also at risk of losing access to malnutrition treatment. Armed conflict continues to trigger displacement and disrupt daily life, while years of strain have weakened health services, food systems, and other infrastructure.

In Tigray, where an estimated 80 percent of the population requires emergency support, funding cuts have severely limited food distributions. “It’s not conflicts that will ultimately kill us, but famine,” says Niyreao Wubet, a resident near the Eritrean border.

Although the U.S. has announced the partial resumption of aid, little has reached the hardest-hit areas. “It’s like pouring a glass of water in a lake,” says camp coordinator Abraha Mebrathu.

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Grocery Prices Continue Climbing Despite Administration Claims

President Trump has claimed his administration is lowering grocery prices, but recent data and economic analyses show food costs remain elevated. “Grocery prices are starting to go rapidly down,” Trump recently said during a speech in Detroit. However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that grocery prices rose 2.4 percent in December compared to last year.

Staple goods have seen especially sharp increases. Coffee prices rose nearly 20 percent, while beef increased 16.4 percent and ground beef 15.5 percent. Prices rose in five of the six major grocery categories tracked by federal data, with only modest declines in dairy and eggs.

A report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) links the rising food costs to tariffs, a weakened labor market, and higher healthcare expenses. The Trump-Vance Administration’s economic agenda is “is making life less affordable for working families,” according to CAP .

The USDA projects food-at-home prices will rise by 2.3 percent in 2026, mirroring increases from 2025.

Billionaire Wealth Reaches Record High as Billions Struggle to Afford Food

A new report from Oxfam International finds that billionaire wealth surged 16 percent in 2025, reaching a record US$18.3 trillion. U.S. billionaires saw the sharpest increases, but fortunes rose globally at rates nearly triple the average of the last five years. Since 2020, billionaire wealth has grown 81 when adjusted for inflation.

The analysis highlights this trend alongside stark global inequalities. The world’s 12 richest individuals now hold more wealth than the poorest 4 billion people combined. Meanwhile, over 2.8 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet, according to estimates published in Nature Food.

A study in PNAS, highlighting that extreme wealth concentration threatens democracy, finds that more unequal countries are up to seven times more likely to experience democratic erosion when compared to more equal countries. The Oxfam analysis notes billionaires are over 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than the general population.

According to an open letter signed by nearly 400 millionaires and billionaires from 24 countries, “society is dangerously teetering off the edge of a precipice.”

Maryland Proposes Ban on Dynamic Pricing in Grocery Stores

Governor Wes Moore has introduced legislation to ban dynamic pricing in Maryland grocery stores, citing consumer protection and data privacy concerns. Dynamic pricing uses real-time algorithms to adjust product costs based on factors like demand, supply, and competition. The practice, also called “surge” or “surveillance” pricing, has raised concerns among advocates and legislators.

During a visit to the local grocery store PD Provisions, Moore said, “This is not a fair market, this is a stacked deck. This is about profit, profit squeezing—profit that’s extracted from people who are seeing their bills increase and who are struggling to afford basic goods.”

The bill would require prices to remain fixed for at least one full business day and prohibit the use of personal data, such as facial recognition or purchase history, to influence pricing. Critics Detroit Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib warn that combining algorithmic pricing with facial recognition could deepen inequality and exacerbate affordability issues.

If passed, Maryland would become one of the first states to restrict dynamic pricing practices in retail grocery environments.

Treaty to Protect Ocean Biodiversity Enters into Force

A landmark global treaty to safeguard marine biodiversity in international waters officially entered into force this week. Known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, the legally binding accord seeks to promote conservation and sustainable use of ocean ecosystems beyond the control of national governments.

The treaty, nearly 20 years in the making, establishes new frameworks for managing marine genetic resources, designating marine protected areas, conducting environmental impact assessments, and enabling technology transfer and capacity-building for ocean science.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres says the BBNJ fills a critical governance gap to secure a resilient and productive ocean for all. Countries that have ratified the agreement, such as China, Germany, France, Japan, and Brazil, are now legally obligated to implement conservation measures at the national level.

Tanzanian diplomat Mzee Ali Haji, who participated in the negotiations, notes that “everyone should bear in mind that there is now control of the activity in the high seas.” The treaty marks a step toward strengthening international cooperation over the two-thirds of the ocean that lie beyond national jurisdiction.

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“Pedro Sánchez was a scientist of rare vision and deep humanity,” says Mashal Husain, President of the World Food Prize Foundation. “He understood that research matters most when it reaches farmers’ fields, restores dignity, and creates lasting opportunities for communities that have been overlooked for far too long.” Sánchez devoted more than six decades to restoring degraded soils and advancing agricultural systems that improved livelihoods for smallholder farmers across Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

A native of Cuba, he grew up on his family’s farm outside Havana, traveling the country with his father, an agronomist. After earning his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from Cornell University, Sánchez began his academic career at North Carolina State University, where he helped establish the Tropical Soils Research Program. His early work demonstrated how acid tropical soils in Brazil’s Cerrado could become productive farmland and helped develop alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture in the Peruvian Amazon.

Sánchez later held leadership roles at major international research institutions, including the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical in Colombia.

From 1991 to 2001, he served as director general of the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, where he helped elevate agroforestry as a core strategy for sustainable development. Under his leadership, the organization evolved into a globally respected scientific institution, emphasizing farmer-centered, landscape-scale approaches.

After leaving Nairobi, Sánchez joined Columbia University’s Earth Institute, where he directed programs linking soil science to global development goals. As co-chair of the United Nations Millennium Project Hunger Task Force, he helped demonstrate that investments in soil fertility could double or triple food production across diverse agroecological zones in Africa.

In 2016, he joined the University of Florida as a research professor, where he taught graduate courses in tropical soils and continued mentoring young scientists. Sánchez authored the textbook Properties and Management of Soils in the Tropics, first published in 1987 and revised in 2019, which remains widely used in courses on tropical soils worldwide.

His work earned international recognition, including the World Food Prize in 2002, a MacArthur Fellowship in 2004, and election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Upon receiving the World Food Prize, Sánchez and his wife and scientific partner, Dr. Cheryl Palm, committed the award funds to support farmers and scientists working to eradicate hunger in lower-income contexts.

Despite his many accolades, those who worked with Sánchez often point first to his character.

Sánchez’s contributions to today’s agronomic knowledge and the welfare of millions of smallholder farm households are immense, Thom Jayne, Foundation Professor emeritus of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics at Michigan State University, tells Food Tank. “As massive as those contributions are, what impressed me even more was his radiant warmth, altruism, and courageous heart,” Jayne says. “Equity and fairness mattered deeply to him. It was an honor to collaborate with Pedro and his partner, Cheryl Palm. Together, they stood up for African organizations and gave selflessly of their time and energy to support African-led agricultural research systems.”

“He was a humble giant among people,” says Jack M. Payne, former University of Florida Senior Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Sánchez passed away two years after the death of Palm. His legacy endures in healthier soils, strengthened institutions, and the many communities whose food security improved through his work.

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Ocean Temperatures Hit Alarming New Record in 2025

The world’s oceans absorbed a record amount of heat in 2025, marking the highest level ever recorded, according to a new study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.

Oceans absorb about 90 percent of the excess heat trapped by rising greenhouse gas emissions, according to NASA, making ocean heat content a key indicator of the changing climate. “Global warming is ocean warming,” says Professor John Abraham of the University of St. Thomas, a co-author of the study.

Rising ocean temperatures can intensify extreme events like hurricanes, cyclones, and heavy rainfall, while also driving longer marine heatwaves that damage marine ecosystems. Warmer water expands as it heats, contributing directly to sea level rise and increasing risks for coastal communities worldwide.

The researchers conclude that ocean warming will continue until global greenhouse gas emissions reach net‑zero, warning that delaying emissions reductions will lock in further impacts on oceans and climate systems.

U.S. Withdraws from 66 International Organizations

The United States has formally withdrawn from 66 international organizations, nearly half of which are affiliated with the United Nations, according to a Presidential Memorandum signed by President Donald Trump. The affected bodies work across sectors including public health, climate change, migration, peacebuilding, and education.

The memorandum states that these organizations “undermine America’s independence” and “promote radical climate policies” that conflict with U.S. sovereignty and economic priorities. The administration claims the withdrawal will prevent taxpayer dollars from funding “ineffective or hostile agendas.”

Experts say the move marks a major shift in U.S. global engagement. Nina Schwalbe of Georgetown University’s Center for Global Health Policy and Politics calls the decision “ridiculous and dangerous,” adding that if exiting the World Health Organization in 2024 was like “cutting down a tree,” this broader withdrawal is akin to “cutting down the whole forest.”

Will 2026 See a New Farm Bill?

Congress has not passed a new five-year Farm Bill since the last one expired in 2023, instead opting for temporary one-year extensions. A new essay by Kathleen Merrigan and Christopher Neubert of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University questions whether comprehensive five-year legislation will return at all.

Traditionally, Merrigan and Neubert explain, Congress has been able to pass Farm Bills because farmers in support of subsidies and anti-hunger advocates see the advantage in working together to build the bipartisan support needed to pass the legislation.

But the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in July 2025, altered that dynamic, cutting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding by US$186 billion over ten years while increasing farm subsidies by US$60 billion. As a result of those changes and current divisions in Congress, the authors believe a regular five-year Farm Bill may be out of reach, writing that it’s more likely the stalemate in Congress “will continue indefinitely.”

Instead, Congress may continue to extend programs through smaller bills rather than attempt a full Farm Bill overhaul. Without new legislation, they conclude, food and agriculture advocates will need to reassess strategies for advancing their policy priorities.

Carson and Oz Praise Trump-Vance Administration’s Focus on “Real Food”

Dr. Ben Carson, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Advisor for Nutrition, Health, and Housing, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, say the Trump-Vance Administration is “Making America Healthy Again” by shifting nutrition policy toward whole foods. In a joint op-ed, they argue that the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines finally prioritize the well-being of Americans after decades of ultra-processed diets.

Carson and Oz cite the USDA Plan for American Ranchers and Consumers and the US$700 million Regenerative Agriculture Pilot Program as steps to support local farmers and reduce long-term production costs. “By making milk, raising cattle, and growing wholesome fruits, vegetables, and grains, they hold the key to solving our national health crisis,” they write.

Organizations like Friends of the Earth applaud the intent of these programs, but note that these measures may fall short unless recent cuts to funding and staff needed to help farmers design and implement regenerative practices are reversed. The Trump-Vance Administration has also not addressed how millions of U.S. households will access whole foods following the largest cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in history.

Sudan Marks 1,000 Days of Conflict

Sudan has now endured 1,000 days of conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, a civil war that began in April 2023. The violence has triggered one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises: an estimated 33.7 million people, two-thirds of the country’s population, will need assistance in 2026, and 21 million are expected to face acute food insecurity, UNICEF reports.

Children make up half of those affected, with around 5,000 displaced every day due to ongoing violence. Hunger is also becoming “increasingly gendered,” according to Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Female-headed households are three times more likely to experience food insecurity, with 75 percent lacking sufficient food.

The U.N. is calling for urgent humanitarian access to hard-hit areas, including the cities of al-Fashir and Kadugli, where famine conditions are escalating under continued siege by armed groups. Officials warn that without immediate aid, conditions will further deteriorate.

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USDA Releases Final Report Assessing Food Insecurity

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released its Household Food Security Report, finding that 47.9 million people lived in food-insecure households in 2024, an increase of about 500,000 people from the prior year. The report shows that roughly one in seven U.S. households experienced food insecurity, including more than 14 million children.

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the findings represent the highest prevalence of food insecurity in the U.S. in nearly a decade.

The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) warns that the situation is “a crisis that is set to deepen” as households face the impacts of reductions to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

The annual report is the “gold standard” for assessing U.S. food insecurity and constitutes the most comprehensive tool available for nationally representative and state-level food insecurity data, according to FRAC President Crystal FitzSimons.

But the Trump–Vance Administration has announced that this will be the USDA’s final annual Household Food Security Report. Joseph Llobrera of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says the decision means losing a “one of a kind data source.”

High Urban Costs Push Young Senegalese Toward Farming

Africa, the world’s fastest-urbanizing region, is seeing cities expand at an average rate of 3.5 percent per year, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. But a recent PBS article reports that rising living costs and limited job opportunities are pushing more young Senegalese to leave cities and return to farming.

Filly Mangassa, a Senegalese farmer, said his family initially viewed his decision to return to the countryside as “a step back,” reflecting long-standing perceptions of agriculture. PBS reports that those views are shifting as new technologies and support programs make farming more viable. After presenting a business plan, Mangassa gained family support, secured land, and now grows peanuts, corn, vegetables, and fruit.

The World Food Programme launched a program in 2023 that has helped more than 61,000 people in Senegal start farms and diversify crops. One participant, 24-year-old Adama Sane, left Dakar after struggling as a construction worker and now raises poultry and peppers. “Discovering agriculture saved my life,” Sane says.

Senegal’s Agriculture Minister has said agriculture and livestock are the only sectors capable of creating jobs at the scale young people need.

A New Initiative in Nigeria Could Help Young People Scale Agroecology

The Enugu State government in Nigeria has launched a new initiative to strengthen agroecology among young people. The program will be led by 75 young people from various agricultural organizations, who will work to build networks and improve access to the state’s agricultural resources.

The initiative was announced during a capacity-building workshop organized by the state government in partnership with the South Saharan Social Development Organisation (SSDO) and ActionAid Nigeria. SSDO Head of Programme Udochukwu Egwim says that many agriculture groups in Enugu are “operating in silos,” limiting coordination and awareness of existing programs.

The new effort aims to improve collaboration among agroecology groups, civil society organizations, development partners, and government agencies to help scale practices that support farmers and the environment, Egwim says.

Peruvian Pollinators Are First Insects to Gain Legal Rights

Stingless bees in the Peruvian Amazon have become the first insects in the world to gain legal rights after two municipalities passed new ordinances recognizing their protection. The bees help sustain biodiversity and ecosystem health, with more than 175 species found in Peru, many long cultivated by Indigenous communities.

Rosa Vásquez Espinoza, founder of Amazon Research International, calls stingless bees “key to life in the Amazon,” citing their role in supporting crops and forest regeneration. But the insects face mounting threats from climate change, deforestation, pesticide use, and competition from European and African honeybees.

The ordinances, adopted in Satipo and Nauta, recognize the bees’ right to exist and flourish in a healthy environment and allow humans to file lawsuits on their behalf.

Constanza Prieto, Latin American director at the Earth Law Center, says the laws mark “a turning point in our relationship with nature” by recognizing stingless bees as rights-bearing subjects. Indigenous groups, conservationists, and researchers are now working to expand similar protections nationwide.

New Dietary Guidelines for Americans Unveiled

The Trump–Vance administration has released the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, urging people to cut back on highly processed foods with added sugar and sodium while emphasizing whole foods, including full-fat dairy and red meat.

Updated every five years, the Guidelines shape school meals, medical advice, and federal nutrition programs. At the Guidelines’ unveiling, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, “My message is clear: Eat real food.”

The Guidelines continue to prioritize fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and call for limits on processed foods, sugars, artificial flavors, and dyes linked to diet-related disease. They mark a shift from past advice by encouraging full-fat dairy and calling for “ending the war on healthy fats,” while still recommending limits on saturated fat.

The update also promotes higher protein intake, including red meat, drawing concern from experts including Dariush Mozaffarian of Tufts University, who says Americans already consume enough red meat. Dr. Walter Willett of Harvard University has warned the guidance could promote diets that are less healthy for people and the planet.

How We’ll Eat in 2026, According to Kim Severson

In a New York Times article on food trends for the year ahead, national food correspondent Kim Severson writes that “the game has changed.” Drawing on interviews with market researchers, food executives, restaurateurs, and cooks, Severson says 2026 will be defined by strategic consumption. Eaters are turning to protein shakes and superfood bowls to meet nutrition goals while also returning to traditional, home-cooked foods.

Severson names vinegar the ingredient of the year and “value” the word of the year, noting that consumers are becoming more selective and want spending to feel worthwhile in quality and experience. The article also points to a growing emphasis on sensory dining, as chefs focus on color, aroma, texture, and lighting to counteract automation and constant digital engagement.

She also reports increased interest in locally sourced foods, including backyard and regional ingredients such as pawpaws, juneberries, and bison.

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Every five years, the U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) update and release the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to reflect current nutrition science. While the average person probably doesn’t think about the Guidelines, they affect millions of people every day, says Marion Nestle, Professor Emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University.

The Dietary Guidelines form the basis of dozens of federal nutrition programs, including school meals consumed by nearly 30 million children, and inform medical advice, and national disease prevention efforts. They also help shape meals for 1.3 million active-duty service members and food served to 9 million veterans in Veterans Affairs hospitals, says HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr..

The Guidelines’ core advice has remained consistent since they were first published in 1980, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. But Kennedy claims the update constitutes the most significant reset of federal nutrition policy in U.S. history, with the goal of revolutionizing the country’s food system and culture.

The 2025-2030 Guidelines suggest avoiding highly processed or packaged foods, and “other foods that are salty or sweet, such as chips, cookies, and candy that have added sugars and sodium (salt).”

They do not change the long-standing recommendation to limit saturated fats to less than 10 percent of daily calories but call for more research on which dietary fats best support long-term health. “We are ending the war on saturated fats,” Kennedy explained at the press conference unveiling the Guidelines.

The recommendations also encourage full-fat dairy, a shift from decades-old guidance to opt for lower-fat dairy products. When cooking with or adding fats to meals, the Guidelines suggest options like olive oil, butter, or beef tallow.

The update prioritizes protein at every meal, from animal sources, including red meat, eggs, poultry, and seafood, as well as plant sources. Previous Guidelines recommended 13 to 56 grams of protein per day. The new Guidelines suggest the equivalent of 81.6 to 109 grams for a 150-pound person.

Some experts have welcomed the recommendations. American Medical Association (AMA) President Dr. Bobby Mukkamala applauded the updates for spotlighting foods, like those with added sugar and sodium, that fuel heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and other chronic illnesses. The recommendations, Mukkamala says, affirm that food is medicine. And Dariush Mozaffarian, Director of Tufts University’s Food Is Medicine Institute, described the suggestion to limit processed foods as a ground-shaking change.

Others, like Neal Barnard, President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, say the Guidelines have “unjustly condemned highly processed foods and exonerated meat and dairy products,” when they should have done the opposite.

While the Guidelines are right to limit saturated fat, Barnard explains, meat and dairy products are the leading sources of saturated fat in the American diet. A new report in the Annals of Internal Medicine and guidance from the AMA Presidential Advisory affirm that saturated fat raises cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease.

And not all processed foods are equal. Certain plant-based and vitamin-fortified processed foods can reduce the risk of birth defects, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, according to Barnard. For example, a Harvard University study showed that animal-based products were associated with a 44 percent increased risk of diabetes, while ultra-processed cereals were associated with 22 percent reduced risk.

Dr. David Seres, director of medical nutrition and professor of medicine in the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University Medical Center, agrees with limiting processed foods, but hopes the public understands that there is nuance.

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World Bank Urges Biodiversity-Centered Agriculture Policies

The World Bank has released a new report examining how modern food production both depends on biodiversity and contributes to its decline, warning that current agricultural practices are undermining the ecosystems that farming relies on.

The report argues that the core challenge is not only reducing agriculture’s environmental harm, but embedding biodiversity into agricultural policies, investments, and public support systems worldwide.

According to the analysis, landscapes that retain at least 20–25 percent natural habitat provide stronger ecosystem services, including pollination, soil fertility, water regulation, and climate stabilization. When natural habitat falls below 10 percent, the report warns that some of these ecosystem services can disappear entirely, threatening agricultural productivity.

The World Bank estimates that 18–33 percent of global agricultural land currently lacks sufficient natural habitat to support pollination, pest control, and other critical services. To address these risks, the report calls for repurposing agricultural subsidies and increasing public investment to help farmers adopt biodiversity-supporting practices.

“When nature and biodiversity collapse, agriculture pays the price,” says Juergen Voegele, Vice President for Planet at the World Bank, emphasizing the economic and food security consequences of ecosystem loss.

Funding Falls Billions Short for Global 30×30 Biodiversity Goal

A new study and interactive dashboard released at the U.N. Environment Assembly warns that international funding to help countries meet the global 30×30 biodiversity target is increasing but remains far below what is required.

Target 3 aims to conserve at least 30 percent of the world’s land, inland waters, and oceans by 2030 to address biodiversity loss and climate change impacts.

The report finds that international public and philanthropic funding for protected and conserved areas in developing countries reached just over US$1.1 billion in 2024, representing roughly 150 percent growth since 2014. Despite this increase, the study estimates that approximately US$6 billion per year will be needed by 2030 to meet Target 3, leaving a projected annual shortfall of about US$4 billion at current funding trajectories.

The report highlights significant disparities in funding distribution, noting that Africa receives nearly half of tracked funding while small island developing states receive only 4.5 percent, despite being identified as priorities under the framework. Marine ecosystems account for just 14 percent of funding. The study also warns that reliance on a small group of donors—including Germany, the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility, the European Union, and the United States—leaves conservation finance vulnerable to political.

“This is a matter of urgency,” says Sierra Leone’s Environment Minister Jiwoh Abdulai, noting that biodiversity loss is already affecting livelihoods in biodiversity-rich countries.

Journal Retracts Influential Glyphosate Safety Study

A leading scientific journal has retracted a widely cited 2000 study that concluded the herbicide Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, do not pose a health risk to humans.

The study, published in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, had been relied upon by U.S. and international regulators, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as evidence that glyphosate was not carcinogenic. The retracted paper had been among the most frequently cited studies on glyphosate safety, ranking in the top 0.1 percent of glyphosate-related scientific literature.

According to the journal’s co-editor-in-chief, Martin van den Berg, the paper was retracted because its conclusions were based entirely on unpublished studies conducted by Monsanto, the manufacturer of Roundup.

The retraction also cites evidence that Monsanto employees may have helped write the paper without being listed as authors and that financial compensation was not fully disclosed, raising concerns about ghostwriting and scientific independence.

Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, says the retraction exposes “decades of efforts to hijack the science” and called on the EPA to reassess glyphosate’s cancer risk using independent research.

The decision comes as the Trump administration submitted a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to limit lawsuits against Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018 and faces more than 67,000 glyphosate-related cancer claims.

Trump Administration Launches $700 Million Regenerative Agriculture Pilot

The Trump administration has announced a new US$700 million Regenerative Pilot Program aimed at helping farmers adopt regenerative agriculture practices, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture announcement.

USDA says the initiative is designed to improve soil health, enhance water quality, reduce production costs, and strengthen long-term productivity while supporting the U.S. food and fiber supply.

The program will be administered by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Funding for the pilot will be drawn from existing conservation programs, including US$400 million from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and US$300 million from the Conservation Stewardship Program in fiscal year 2026.

The pilot introduces a streamlined, whole-farm application process that allows producers to bundle multiple regenerative practices under a single conservation plan. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins says the initiative “puts Farmers First” by reducing administrative barriers and encouraging soil health and land stewardship as part of the administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda.

The announcement comes as NRCS faces staffing shortages following the loss of at least 2,400 employees and roughly US$100 million in funding, raising concerns about the agency’s capacity to deliver conservation assistance.

Farm Action, a nonprofit that advocates for small farms, welcomes the investment but cautions that adequate staffing will be necessary to ensure funds are distributed “quickly and fairly” to farmers.

FRAC Report Finds Too Many Children Missing Out on Afterschool Nutrition Programs

The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) released a new report, Afterschool Suppers: A Snapshot of Participation, finding that many children are not receiving afterschool meals and snacks through federal nutrition programs.

The report shows that in October 2024, only one child received an afterschool supper for every 16 children who participated in free or reduced-price school lunch, underscoring a significant participation gap.

FRAC reported that approximately 1.26 million children received an afterschool supper on an average school day in October 2024, a slight increase from the prior year but still below pre-pandemic levels. Access declined in other areas, as the number of sites serving afterschool suppers and/or snacks fell to 44,911 in 2024, down 1,397 sites from 2023.

FRAC estimates that if every state met its benchmark of serving 15 children with afterschool supper for every 100 children receiving free or reduced-price lunch, more than 1.8 million additional children would have been served in a single month. Failing to reach that benchmark also resulted in an estimated $163.5 million in lost federal funding for afterschool suppers nationwide in October 2024 alone.

“Families are facing rising food costs, and many parents are working long hours just to get by,” says FRAC President Crystal FitzSimons, noting that afterschool nutrition programs help children “learn and thrive” while supporting working families.

FRAC recommends lowering eligibility thresholds, streamlining administration, and increasing funding to expand access to afterschool meals nationwide.

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Trump-Vance Administration Announces US$12 Billion Bailout for Farmers

The Trump-Vance Administration recently announced a US$12 billion farmer bailout during a White House roundtable, citing financial strain faced by producers following recent tariffs.

According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) press release, the package includes up to US$11 billion in one-time payments for row crop farmers growing commodities such as corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, and cotton through a new USDA Farmer Bridge Assistance program. The remaining funds will be allocated to commodities not covered by the program, including specialty crops and sugar, though payment timelines and formulas for those sectors are still being developed.

President Donald Trump repeatedly stated that the payments were funded by tariff revenue during the roundtable. However, the funding will come from the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation, a government financing mechanism that uses taxpayer dollars.

The announcement follows months of concern among farmers over rising input costs and uncertainty tied to trade policy, particularly for row crop producers. National Farmers Union President Rob Larew says that while the organization appreciates the assistance, “short-term payments, while important, are only a first step,” emphasizing the need for long-term structural reforms to stabilize family farms.

Applications for assistance will open in the coming weeks, according to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. Eligible farmers can expect payments to be distributed by February 28, 2026.

UAE Announces AI Initiative to Support Farmers in Climate Crisis

The United Arab Emirates recently announced a new initiative designed to translate advanced research and artificial intelligence tools into practical support for farmers affected by extreme and unpredictable weather.

The platform, AI Ecosystem for Global Agricultural Development, builds on a US$200 million partnership between the UAE and the Gates Foundation announced at the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, which aims to accelerate agricultural innovation.

The ecosystem is structured around four initiatives intended to guide implementation and deployment. One pillar, the CGIAR AI Hub, is intended to position Abu Dhabi as a center for AI-driven agricultural research using decades of global agricultural data. A second initiative, the Institute for Agriculture and Artificial Intelligence, will provide digital advisory services, training, and technical assistance to governments and non-governmental organizations.

A third component, AgriLLM, is an open-source agricultural large language model designed to improve global agricultural intelligence. The final initiative, AIM for Scale, focuses on AI-powered weather forecasting and advisory services, including recent deployments that delivered AI-supported monsoon forecasts to 38 million farmers in India in 2025.

“By connecting our national research and AI capabilities with leading global partners, we are turning science into real tools that reach people on the ground,” says Mariam Almheiri, Head of the International Affairs Office at the UAE Presidential Court.

EU Negotiators Agree to Relax Regulations on Gene-Edited Crops

European Union negotiators have agreed to ease regulations on crops developed using new gene-splicing practices, concluding that these plants should face fewer restrictions than traditional genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The agreement distinguishes between conventional GMOs, which insert genetic material from one species into another, and new genomic techniques (NGTs) that precisely add, remove, or alter small sections of a plant’s DNA.

Critics warn that the changes could strengthen corporate control over seeds, particularly as NGT crops become patentable. Franziska Achterberg of Save Our Seeds calls the agreement a “complete sell-out,” arguing it undermines the rights of farmers and consumers.

But lawmakers and other supporters argue that existing GMO rules have slowed innovation and that revised regulations could enable the development of crops that are more resilient to climate stress and require less land and fewer fertilizers and pesticides.

Under the deal, gene-edited crops will be divided into two categories. “NGT1” crops, which are modified to a limited degree and considered comparable to naturally occurring varieties, will be regulated like conventional crops and face looser requirements. “NGT2” crops, which involve more extensive genetic changes, will remain subject to the EU’s stricter GMO approval and labeling rules.

Before taking effect, the agreement must still be formally approved by both the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

Congressional Delegation Pushes for Action on PFAS

Maine’s congressional delegation is urging federal action to support farmers affected by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), chemicals that have contaminated farmland in the state and elsewhere.

U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree and U.S. Senator Susan Collins reintroduced the Relief for Farmers Hit with PFAS Act, which would authorize grants to states to address PFAS contamination on agricultural land. The legislation would allow states to use federal funds for soil and water testing, remediation efforts, and financial assistance for farmers who may need to relocate from contaminated land.

Additional eligible uses include monitoring PFAS levels in individuals’ blood, upgrading farm equipment to maintain operations, and supporting research into remediation strategies.

Pingree says the bill responds to an ongoing crisis, stating, “The PFAS crisis isn’t some theoretical or distant problem. It’s here, it’s growing, and it’s putting real pressure on farmers in Maine and across the country,” and described the measure as a “critical step” toward safeguarding farm operations.

The proposal builds on steps Maine has already taken, including becoming the first state to require manufacturers to report PFAS intentionally added to products.

Supporters including U.S. Senator Angus King, an original cosponsor of the bill, argue that federal involvement is needed to complement state programs and provide consistent assistance to farmers facing PFAS contamination nationwide.

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Kenyan Court Overturns Seed-Sharing Ban in Landmark Win for Farmers

Kenya’s High Court has struck down sections of the Seed and Plant Varieties Act, ruling that its penalties for saving and sharing indigenous seeds are unconstitutional. Activists are calling the decision a historic victory for food sovereignty and climate justice.

According to the Kenya Plant Inspectorate Service, the legislation was introduced to curb growing sales of counterfeit seeds and to guarantee seed quality and maximize yields. But Wambugu Wanjohi of the Law Society of Kenya argues that the laws “favored big commercial and corporate interests over the rights of farmers.”

The 2012 law had put farmers at risk of up to two years in prison and fines of 1 million Kenya shillings (US$7,700) for saving and sharing or selling uncertified seeds. It also granted licensed companies exclusive seed trading rights, empowered inspectors to raid seed banks and seize seeds, and made it illegal for farmers to process or sell seeds unless registered as seed merchants.

Justice Rhoda Rutto ruled that these provisions violated farmers’ constitutional rights, noting that the law gave “extensive proprietary rights to plant breeders” while offering none to farmers.

The case was filed in 2022 by 15 smallholder farmers. Petitioner Samuel Wathome celebrated the ruling: “My grandmother saved seeds, and today the court has said I can do the same for my grandchildren without fear of police or prison.” Greenpeace Africa calls the ruling “a victory for our culture, our resilience, and our future,” emphasizing that indigenous seeds are vital for biodiversity and climate adaptation.

Australia to Expand Right to Repair Laws, Giving Farmers More Control Over Machinery

Australia’s Federal Government has committed to expanding its forthcoming Right to Repair reforms to include agricultural machinery, giving producers and farmers more flexible and affordable repair options.

Under current law, most farm equipment must be repaired by authorized dealers, leaving producers facing long delays and high costs when machinery breaks down during critical periods. The reforms will allow farmers to choose independent repairers and give local technicians access to essential diagnostic information.

The change is overdue, according to National Farmers’ Federation President Hamish McIntyre, noting that waiting for authorized dealer repairs in the middle of harvest is both inconvenient and costly. The reforms, he says, will mean “less downtime, lower costs, and more control over their own businesses.”

Modeling from the Productivity Commission shows the shift could boost GDP by AU$97 million, with greater competition in the repair sector raising GDP by an additional AU$311 million.

Farm groups have welcomed the announcement. GrainGrowers called the commitment “landmark,” Victorian Farmers’ Federation President Brett Hosking described it as “game-changing,” and NSW Farmers President Xavier Martin said the reforms will allow farmers to support qualified local repairers—reducing wait times and keeping money in regional communities.

Nigeria Launches National Initiative to Advance Sustainable Farming

Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), in partnership with ActionAid Nigeria, has launched a nationwide initiative to accelerate the country’s transition to agroecology—aiming to strengthen food security, improve farmer livelihoods, and expand green job opportunities for youth.

The initiative centers on the adoption of a National Agroecology Strategy, developed through a multi-stakeholder process and designed to shift Nigeria toward a more regenerative, climate-resilient agricultural model. Once adopted, it will guide planning, research, extension services, and resource allocation across all states.

The announcement was made at the National Summit on Agroecology, Climate Justice and Public-Private Partnerships in Lagos, where officials also reviewed findings from a multi-year analysis of public financing for agroecology. The budget review will guide agricultural spending decisions for the 2026 and 2027 budget cycles, helping policymakers identify funding gaps and strengthen investment in climate-friendly farming.

ActionAid Nigeria’s Country Director, Andrew Mamedu, underscored agroecology’s proven benefits: “The evidence is clear: agroecology works. It empowers smallholder women farmers to produce more sustainably, preserve indigenous seeds, and improve household nutrition.”

San Francisco Sues Major Food Companies Over Ultra-Processed Products

San Francisco has filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against 10 of the nation’s largest food manufacturers, alleging that ultra-processed products have fueled a growing public health crisis. The suit targets Kraft Heinz, Mondelez International, Post Holdings, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, General Mills, Nestlé, Kellogg, Mars Incorporated, and ConAgra Brands.

City Attorney David Chiu argues that these companies knowingly engineered and marketed foods linked to rising rates of type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer, and depression—while presenting them as convenient everyday products. “These companies engineered a public health crisis… and now they need to take responsibility for the harm they have caused,” Chiu says.

According to research published in Nature Communications, over 70 percent of the U.S. food supply is ultra-processed. Chiu’s office alleges that manufacturers designed these products to be addictive, inundating consumers despite surveys indicating that Americans want to avoid them.

The complaint seeks to halt deceptive marketing, restrict advertising to children, require consumer education on health risks, and impose financial penalties to offset healthcare costs borne by local governments.

“San Francisco families deserve to know what’s in their food,” says Mayor Daniel Lurie, calling the case a major step toward public health protection.

Microbes With an Appetite for Methane Offer New Climate Tool

Researchers are testing methane-eating microbes as a potential tool to slash emissions from food and agriculture, energy, and waste systems, the Washington Post reports. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas—about 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over 20 years—and is released from livestock operations, rice paddies, landfills, and other sources.

At a California dairy farm, Bay Area startup Windfall Bio ran a month-long trial in which pink microscopic organisms absorbed more than 85 percent of methane rising off a manure lagoon. The company estimates that, if deployed across U.S. energy, waste, and agriculture sectors, its technology could remove up to 1.6 gigatons of CO₂ equivalent annually—roughly the emissions from more than 370 million gas-powered cars.

A University of Washington team working with similar microbes projects potential cuts equivalent to emissions from about 98 million gas-powered cars each year, according to the Washington Post.

Both groups see economic value in the resulting biomass: UW researchers aim to turn it into protein-rich fish feed, while Windfall is producing microbe-based fertilizer that farmers can use or sell. “If you are asking people to pay more for a climate solution, it doesn’t happen,” says Windfall CEO Josh Silverman. “We need these things to be able to pay back for the operator itself.”

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