A3. Agroecology

It is time to change the unfair rules of international trade in order to protect the right to food for all. It is time to move toward food sovereignty.

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In the midst of an acute political crisis, the Peruvian government, instead of listening to the demands of the people, has responded with militarization, persecution, and death.

The post La Via Campesina Stands in Solidarity with the Peruvian People Amid Political Crisis and Violence appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

State and federal policies have led Puerto Rico to produce only 10–15% of the food it consumes, making it almost entirely dependent on maritime imports from the United States for its supply. This dependence makes Puerto Rico particularly vulnerable to climate change and international crises.

The post Puerto Rico: Rethinking How We Grow, Share, and Govern Food Systems appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

La Via Campesina expresses its deep solidarity with the courageous people of Ecuador, who are facing a serious escalation of repression, criminalization, and systematic human rights violations.

The post La Via Campesina denounces alarming authoritarianism, judicial persecution, and militarization of territories in Ecuador appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

The city of Gabès has been experiencing a heroic struggle for several days, where its people have risen up, united under a clear slogan: “The people want the dismantling of the units”, driven by a legitimate demand and clear program.

The post Tunisia: Statement of Support and Solidarity with the People of Gabès appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

The UN Working Group on Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas and the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food have issued a powerful joint statement calling for “binding accountability for agribusiness to safeguard peasants’ rights and global food security.

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Three-day Agroecological Workshop for Women Peasants in Kuntaveshi, Mandan Municipality-7, Kavre District.

The post Rural Women, Food Sovereignty, and Peace: Three-Day Agroecology Workshop Strengthens Women’s Leadership in Nepal appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

Here is the 3rd episode of the 4th season of La Vía Campesina's Global Newswrap podcast! Here we report on the activities and struggles of our member organizations around the world.

The post Podcast: La Vía Campesina News Wrap | Season IV – Episode No. 3 appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

As a ceasefire announced earlier is presented as part of what is being called the “Trump plan,” we offer a very cautious and conditional welcome. Our welcome is humanitarian and temporary: any pause in the killing is welcomed for the lives it may save.

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We receive this International Day of Action with the news of a ceasefire in Gaza, which gives us hope for an end to the genocidal actions against the Palestinian people. However, from La Via Campesina, we call for caution and constant vigilance.

The post #16Oct25: Enough with Hunger! Food Sovereignty Guarantees Systemic Transformation! appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

The transition from one fiscal year to the next is not something that typically dominates headlines. In fact, as the calendar turns from September 30 to October 1 – when the federal government begins a new fiscal year – the

The post How the Government Shutdown is Impacting Farmers appeared first on CalCAN - California Climate & Agriculture Network.

This piece is part of the weekly series “Growing Forward: Insights for Building Better Food and Agriculture Systems,” presented by the Global Food Institute at the George Washington University and the nonprofit organization Food Tank. Each installment highlights forward-thinking strategies to address today’s food and agriculture related challenges with innovative solutions. To view more pieces in the series, click here.

Conflict is the largest driver of hunger and starvation, and food has become one of the cheapest weapons of war. More than 120 million people are currently displaced by violence or persecution, and 60 percent of the world’s hungriest live in conflict-affected countries. At last count, the Center for Preventive Action found 27 active conflicts around the world. From Gaza to Sudan and from Ukraine to Yemen, withholding food is now a deliberate strategy of war. 

The ongoing war in Ukraine illustrates this reality. Once Europe’s breadbasket, Ukraine’s farmland has been mined and blockaded, cutting off global grain supplies. Similar tactics appear elsewhere: in Gaza, famine now compounds the humanitarian crisis as food access is restricted as a part of Israel’s war against Hamas. Whether defined as genocide or not, the reality is that food deprivation is being weaponized to achieve military and political ends.

A Historical Pattern

Weaponizing food is nothing new. The Siege of Leningrad (1941–1944) starved over a million civilians. The Bengal famine of 1943, exacerbated by British policies, left millions of dead. During Nigeria’s Biafran War (1967–1970), famine was used to weaken separatists. In the 1990s Balkans war, Sarajevo was cut off from food supplies. More recently, Syrian forces bombed bakeries to terrorize populations, while Russian forces destroyed Ukrainian grain.

History makes clear: starvation is not collateral damage—it is a tactic. Yet international law still struggles to hold perpetrators accountable.

International Law and Limited Action

Since its founding in 1946, the United Nations has repeatedly confronted ongoing crises marked by manmade famine and starvation. The 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Protocols prohibit withholding food from civilians, but these are considered broadly as crimes against humanity. It was not until 2018 that the U.N.’s Security Council adopted Resolution 2417 condemning famine as a weapon. 

While sanctions are intended to enforce international law by penalizing those who obstruct humanitarian assistance, accountability remains elusive. The International Criminal Court (ICC) established in 1998 includes intentional starvation of civilians as a crime. Yet, as a recent review by Chase Sova highlighted, prosecutions remain rare, the legal framework is weak, and U.N. investigations often stall as powerful states block enforcement.

Meanwhile, millions continue to suffer. Today, Sudan, Yemen, Haiti, northern Nigeria, and South Sudan are on the verge of famine. These crises share a common thread: deliberate obstruction of food.

Why Food is a Powerful Weapon

Food’s power lies in its universality. It is also the cheapest weapon of war. Starvation kills slowly, demoralizes populations, and erodes cultures. Women—often primary farmers—are disproportionately targeted and their livelihoods destroyed. 

Modern communications now expose these crimes in real time. As global famine expert Alex de Waal notes, in the age of social media, perpetrators can no longer hide famine. Anyone with a cell phone or a laptop can see what is happening in real time. Instead, countries resort to “statistical denialism,” contesting or suppressing data to obscure accountability. But suppressing the news to deny what one can see is no longer an option. 

Still, visibility alone does not translate into action. Global outrage rarely leads to intervention. The U.N. has limited tools to enforce accountability, and political divisions prevent coordinated responses.

Today’s Urgent Challenge

The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals pledged in 2015 to get to Zero Hunger by 2030. Yet progress is faltering. It will get worse since the United States withdrew its support for the SDGs in September.

According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture’s State of Food Insecurity 2025 report, 673 million people–or 8.2 percent of the global population–remain hungry. Hunger has declined slightly since 2022, but ending hunger by 2030 is now unlikely. Unless we address the connection between conflict and food, the cycle of manmade famine will continue.

The moral urgency is clear: starvation should be treated not as an inevitable byproduct of war, but as a deliberate crime. Sanctions, international monitoring, and accountability mechanisms must target those who use food as a weapon. Governments and civil society alike must insist that the global community move beyond condemnation to action.

Ending the Weaponization of Food 

From Leningrad to Gaza and Biafra to Ukraine, the lesson is the same: food is not only sustenance, but also a cheap weapon. Conflict-driven hunger is man-made, preventable, and one of the gravest injustices of our time. The world must recognize withholding food as an inhumane act of warfare, strengthen mechanisms to prosecute perpetrators, and mobilize political will to protect civilians.

Striving to end global hunger by reducing the number of people on this planet who are hungry is a means of conflict prevention. What we do know is that since the U.N.’s founding global hunger has been reduced because of great advances in agriculture such as the Green Revolution, the increased coordination of humanitarian assistance, and economic development in places like India and China. Working to get to Zero Hunger by 2030, however, may not happen as other factors such as climate change, epidemics, and ongoing conflicts create insurmountable barriers, headwinds that destroy the progress made in the last eighty years. 

Unless the global architecture is refreshed so that access to food no longer becomes the main driver of global conflict, we are likely to see more suffering and death going forward. That means we must focus on democratic governance and giving voice to people remains essential to the fight against global hunger. At the end of the Cold War we saw a window to expand the benefits of more open societies across the globe and there was documented progress in many parts of Africa and Asia. Linking this message to the discussions about food weaponization is essential.

Ending hunger will not be possible without ending the weaponization of food. Until nations commit to resolving conflicts and holding aggressors accountable, we will continue to witness famine not as a natural disaster, but as a deliberate tool of destruction.

Photo courtesy of Jaber Jehad Badwan, Wikimedia Commons

The post Food, Conflict, and the Weaponization of Food appeared first on Food Tank.

ECVC calls on the European Parliament to not allow itself to be treated as a powerless spectator in the face of the European Council and the European Commission’s actions against democracy, self-determination of peoples and food sovereignty, and thus to not ratify this agreement.

The post ECVC denounces the revised EU – Morocco Trade Agreement appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

A groundswell of knowledge and innovation recently emerged in Bogor, Indonesia during a week-long Learning Exchange on agroecology economies convened by the Agroecology Fund. More than 100 participants from 20 countries, representing-Asian grassroots organizations, advisors and donors shared experiences and strategies to strengthen local agroecology-based food systems.

The Learning Exchange made clear that for innovation, agroecology does not rely on technology transfer. At the very center of agroecology lies the principle of knowledge co-creation.

A gallery of 45 stories showcased agroecological approaches to farming and fishing across Asia. They told stories of circular economies, revived traditions and local knowledge, and securing land reform. They described triumphs and hardships of marginal farmers and fishers challenging the domination of industrial food systems and grappling with the mounting threats of climate change.

Behind the posters were grassroots innovators, grantees of the Agroecology Fund. The Agroecology Fund is a pooled, multi-donor grantmaking fund and learning connector which has provided over US$40 million in funding to support agroecology movements to strengthen resilient, healthy food systems; uphold rights; conserve biodiversity; and address climate change through sustainable, low-input agriculture.

Globally, agroecological systems are vital not only for addressing poverty and hunger but also for climate change mitigation. Agriculture alone contributes 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions through production and use of industrial farm inputs—fertilizers and pesticides.

In a discussion on climate and agroecology entrepreneurship, Sakiul Millat Morshed of SHISUK from Bangladesh and Karan Singh of Farmversities from India presented their agricultural development models rooted in traditional knowledge. The SHISUK agroecological experience integrates rice and fish farming on Bangladesh’s floodplains, significantly boosting farmers’ year-round income by cutting paddy cultivation expenses and adding revenue from aquaculture. Before SHISUK stepped in, the seasonal inundation of the floodplains pushed farmers out of their livelihoods and deeper into poverty.

In Sakiul Millat’s view, “traditional knowledge is social capital that helps a community to grow together.” SHISUK’s success comes from blending social capital with modern science, managing natural resources wisely and adapting to climate change. In addition to better income and nutritional benefits to the farmers, strengthening entrepreneurship on floodplains improves soil moisture, groundwater recharge, while diminishing pollution.

Karan Singh of Farmversitiy, a grassroots organization based in Rajasthan, India, shared how his work with young farmers, men and women, has dissuaded migration to cities, revived traditional farming practices, and introduced value-added farm-products as additional source of income.

Nantawan Manprasong of The Field Alliance shared their approach, from Vietnam and Thailand, to collaborating with government and community-supported school meal programs, where children not only eat traditional agroecological food, but also grow it at their school. Strengthening this public procurement demand mechanism fortifies an agroecology economy and makes visible and viable traditional food varieties. Manprasong described nutritional improvements from agroecology, and the health and environmental benefits of pesticide-free farming practices and climate change resilience.

Consumer awareness is likewise key to the growth of agroecology economies. Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) were discussed as a popular, low‑cost mechanism for building trust between producers and consumers. Community-led certification validates the application of agroecological principles. Muhil Kannaiyan of the Thalavady Farmers Foundation, India, said “we leverage agroecology’s sustainability, ecological, health and ethical values to build consumer trust.” The Foundation’s multilingual smartphone app ‘Farmfit’ gives farmers direct access to markets—enabling them to reach consumers directly and bypass intermediaries. The application helps with pricing and distribution challenges and results in better returns on food production.

But agroecology economies receive little investment on an uneven playing field already biased towards heavily subsidized industrial agroecology. Cristino Panerio of the Philippines, an advisor to the Agroecology Fund, spoke to the ways in which agroecological farmers are often left out of a longer value chain, which favor use of chemical inputs over bioinputs.

Critical to a strong local agroecology economy is strengthening territorial markets, often in collaboration with municipal governments, a strategy employed from Turkey to Malaysia. These markets function best with sufficient local supply of agroecological produce, which is much aided by robust networks of food-producing cooperatives.

Serikat Petani Indonesia (SPI), a national farmers organization and the learning exchange co-host in Indonesia, described how farmers’ market and cooperativism empowers otherwise marginal farmers. After years of struggle for peasants’ rights to land and seeds, establishing food sovereignty zones has helped achieve productivity, at par with industrial farming—but at significantly lower costs. And FAO studies confirm that agroecological practices can deliver higher long-term yields without external inputs, and enhance crop resilience in the face of an uncertain climate.

SPI’s work underscores how localized control and collective enterprise can lay the groundwork for an agroecology food economy. Recalling her experience with the empty supermarket shelves during Covid and setting up markets for agroecology products across Bangkok, Anne Lapapan of The Assembly of the Poor, Thailand, stated that the pandemic showed how neither consumers nor farmers can rely on long supply chains dominated by transnational corporations for their food and seeds. During the pandemic, the Assembly of the Poor ensured agroecological vegetable supply in Bangkok’s urban neighborhoods.

Participants from India shared experiences leveraging government programs to finance agroecology. Sridhar Radhakrishnan, sustainable agriculture specialist and AEF advisor from India, suggested that to scale agroecology, organizations need to explore local financing beyond traditional donor models. He cited examples from India.

The discussions underscored the global forces that conflict with the growth of localized agroecological economies. Azra Sayeed of Roots for Equity, Pakistan, spoke to the layered vulnerabilities faced by smallholder farmers—ranging from war and climate crises to debt, economic restructuring, and displacement in the name of development. AEF advisor Lim Ching cautioned against biodiversity offsets, noting that related schemes such as carbon credits had not yet delivered on their sustainability and equity claims. She cautioned that such offsets can have perilous outcomes for communities with irreversible ecological damage.

A report by the Global Alliance for the Future of Food estimates that a global transition to agroecology would require a US$250-430 billion investment per year to align our food systems with the 1.5°C Paris Agreement. We have a long way to go. The Asia Learning Exchange clearly brought to light dozens of impactful community-based initiatives hungry for investment and capable of leading an agroecological shift in the world’s food systems.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Agroecology Fund

The post Op-Ed | Asia’s Farmers Root for a Resilient Future appeared first on Food Tank.

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) ushered in a new chapter of leadership during its Annual General Meeting held on October 5, 2025, at Sapphier Addis Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The meeting, which brought together representatives from across the continent, marked a moment of renewal and continuity for Africa’s largest civil society […]

The post Reverend Tolbert Thomas Jallah, Jr. Elected New Chairperson of AFSA Board of Directors first appeared on AFSA.

The Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples Mechanism (CSIPM) for relations with the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) kindly invites you to join the closing session of the CSIPM Forum 2025. 

The 2025 CSIPM Public Panel of the Forum titled Standing United for People, Rights, and the Planet. Reaffirming the Importance of the CFS within Global Food Governance, will bring together CFS Members and participants to confront the systemic crises driving hunger, inequality, conflict, and climate breakdown, as well as the growing disconnect between people and politics.

The session will emphasize that peasants, pastoralists, fisherfolk, Indigenous Peoples, agricultural and food workers, landless communities, women, youth, consumers, and the urban food insecure are already transforming food systems through their practices. Their knowledge and innovations are advancing agroecology, territorial markets, shorter supply chains, and food systems grounded in solidarity and care. They must shape the policies that affect their lives and territories.

The exchange will bring these real solutions into dialogue while insisting that human rights remain at the core of global food governance, with the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) as the central space to advance them. It will be a dialogue on the structural transformation we need, starting from the practices rights-holders are already carrying out on the ground. The Forum’s Public Panel will also affirm that food systems cannot flourish under war and occupation, and that justice requires the restoration of land, sovereignty, and dignity, as well as accountability for those who violate international law and human rights.

The Public Panel will take place on Sunday, 19 October 2025, from 4:00 to 6:00pm, at Roma Tre University, Aula Magna (Ex Mattatoio, Piazza Orazio Giustiniani, 4, 00153, Rome)

CFS Members, participants and media are welcome to attend.

Interpretation: English, French, Spanish

• Read the concept note
• About the CISPM Annual Forum

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Each week, Food Tank is rounding up a few news stories that inspire excitement, infuriation, or curiosity.

USDA Sets Deadline to Implement SNAP Cuts

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released a memo announcing that states have until November 1 to implement the changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) required under President Trump’s recently enacted tax and spending legislation.

The “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act (OBBB) contains several provisions that substantially change SNAP eligibility, benefits, and program administration. Approximately 4 million people per month will lose some or all of their SNAP food benefits once the changes are fully implemented, the Congressional Budget Office estimates. Affected groups include families with children, older adults, people with disabilities, young adults aging out of the foster care system, and veterans. OBBB also introduces more stringent work requirements.

OBBB contains no effective dates for the provisions impacting SNAP, leaving the implementation timeline unclear. The USDA memo terminates waivers that have allowed dozens of states to largely suspend SNAP eligibility requirements. It gives the states less than one month to implement OBBB’s changes.

The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) says that state agencies need at least 12-18 months to implement changes of this kind, but they’re being forced to speed up the process without the necessary information or support.

In a statement, the FRAC’s President Crystal FitzSimons said that the hastened timeline “will lead to unnecessary chaos and confusion in the midst of widespread uncertainty, record inflation, and a government shutdown.”

According to a joint statement from the National Association of Convenience Stores, National Grocers Association and FMI – The Food Industry Association, the changes also “represent significant new costs and operational challenges” for food retailers and the customers they serve. Upfront costs to implement the new SNAP purchasing restrictions is approximately US$1.6 billion, according to a recent report from the trade groups.

Government Shutdown Leads to Major Disruptions at USDA

After Republican and Democratic politicians failed to agree how to resolve a budget dispute, the U.S. government shutdown on October 1, 2025. After over a week, Congress remains deadlocked and 750,000 federal employees have been furloughed, or placed on unpaid leave. Others, whose work has been deemed “essential,” are working without pay.

About 42,000 USDA staff are furloughed, according to the agency’s 2025 shutdown contingency plan, including researchers, supervisors, administrators, and those responsible for handling grants, loans, and producing statistical reports. The agency’s workforce has been cut in half and major operations have stopped.

The Trump administration pushed back its plans to roll out disbursement of disaster-assistance payments for farmers impacted by extreme weather events. The Farm Service Agency, which oversees these payments, will also not process any new loans during the shutdown, such as those that provide assistance to farmers during the harvest.

According to Walter Schweitzer, President of the Montana Farmers Union. Without loan processing and crop report verification, farmers are unable to pay their expenses or plan for the future growing season. “If you’re trying to buy land with an FSA loan, you could have that opportunity disappear,” says Zach Ducheneaux, a former Administrator of the USDA’s Farm Service Agency under the Biden-Harris administration.

Vanessa Garcia Polanco, the Government Relations Director for the National Young Farmers Coalition also stresses the reality of the shutdown for farmers. “Young farmers run on tight cash flow,” Garcia Polanco says. “Disruptions like this can tip a season—or a business—over the edge.”

EAT-Lancet Commission Calls for a “Planetary Health Diet” to Cut GHG Emissions

According to the authors of the latest report from the EAT-Lancet Commission, a shift to their Planetary Health Diet can lead to a 15 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Building on its 2019 report, the analysis sets global scientific targets for healthy diets and sustainable food production, and it outlines strategies for addressing the interconnected challenges of human health, environmental sustainability, and food and nutrition insecurity.

The Commission again recommends what it calls a “planetary health diet”—a flexible eating pattern designed to reduce environmental harm while improving nutrition worldwide.  The plant-rich diet is designed to be flexible for different geographies and cultures. It recommends doubling the consumption of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes, and reducing animal products. In addition to reducing environmental harm, healthier diets can help avoid roughly 11 million deaths each year, the report finds.

The authors acknowledge that a “substantial” investment is needed to support the transformation of global diets—somewhere in the range of US$200-500 billion per year—but say this price is much lower than the costs of inaction. Without progress on diet, according to the report, the world is at risk of failing to meet the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.

According to Jess Fanzo, a member of the Commission, the new publication also centers justice in new ways, defining healthy diets as both a human right and a shared responsibility. Fanzo says this focus was “largely absent” in the first report, which came out in 2019.

World First Treaty to Protect International Waters Will Enter into Force

Enough countries have ratified the High Seas Treaty, allowing it to take effect in January of next year. The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement (BBNJ), commonly known as the High Seas Treaty,  is the first legal framework to protect the two-thirds of the ocean that lie beyond national jurisdiction.

The high seas are “the world’s largest crime scene,” according to Johan Berganas, Senior Vice President of Oceans at WWF. The Treaty aims to address overfishing, the threats of the climate crisis, and deep-sea mining. It also seeks to protect marine biodiversity and ensure developing countries will benefit from scientific discoveries made in these waters.

Although the Treaty was first adopted in 2023, 60 countries must ratify for it to be fully implemented. Morocco recently became the 60th country to ratify the Treaty, triggering an 120-day countdown before it becomes a legally binding agreement. 15 more countries have since ratified the Treaty, bringing the total to 75.

Experts welcome the pivotal new era in ocean governance, while raising concerns regarding implementation. Guillermo Crespo, a high seas expert with the International Union for Conservation of Nature commission, worries that some of the world’s biggest players on the high seas have not yet ratified the Treaty. “If major fishing nations like China, Russia and Japan don’t join, they could undermine the protected areas,” Crespo  says.

The BBNJ is one the most significant international treaties to enter into force since the Paris Agreement, according to Tom Pickerell, Global Director of World Resources Institute’s Ocean Program. But Pickerell says truly supporting a thriving ocean and protecting marine biodiversity will also require nation action in addition to international cooperation.

Research Backs the Benefits of Zero Budget Natural Farming

Recent research published in Nature Ecology & Evolution finds that agroecological-based farming systems are more effective at curbing food insecurity, improving human well-being, and tackling biodiversity loss than agrichemical-based farming systems.

“Developing agricultural land systems that are simultaneously productive and environmentally sustainable is perhaps the greatest challenge of the twenty-first century,” according to the researchers. To assess whether agroecological approaches constitute sustainable food solutions, the study analyzes the impact of the world’s largest agroecological transition, the zero budget natural farming (ZBNF) program in Andhra Pradesh, South India.

The research shows that the government-incentivized program—which requires fewer inputs, helping producers cut costs—significantly boosts farmers’ economic profits, while maintaining crop yields.

The agroecological approach eliminates chemical inputs, relying instead on natural, locally-sourced materials, producing positive effects on the environment: bird biodiversity improved on plots managed through the ZBNF program, which helps with both pest control and seed dispersal.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Gyan Shahane, Unsplash

The post Food Tank’s Weekly News Roundup: U.S. Government Shutdown Continues, High Seas Treaty Takes Effect, and Agroecology Model Yields Benefits appeared first on Food Tank.

Drawing from her experiences of coordinating the Sashe Agroecology School, she stresses the importance of traditional knowledge-sharing in peasant-led schools, particularly for women with limited access to formal education.

The post “Why agroecology? Because much of the land is no longer suitable for growing food.” ~ Interview with Elizabeth Mpofu appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

A version of this piece was featured in Food Tank’s newsletter, released weekly on Thursdays. To make sure it lands straight in your inbox and to be among the first to receive it, subscribe now by clicking here.

World Food Day—Thursday, October 16—celebrates the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which is marking its 80th anniversary this year. Over the past eight decades, FAO’s research, advocacy, and lifesaving on-the-ground work have brought food security to millions of people.

But global hunger is far from solved—2.6 billion people worldwide, or 1 in every 3 of us, cannot afford healthy diets. That means we have to work together, more strongly than ever before, to scale up these proven solutions and nourish the world.

Next week, we’re hosting the official North American World Food Day 2025 celebration alongside FAO, Arizona State University’s Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems, and the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation. If you’re in Arizona, I hope you’ll join us at the Walton Center for Planetary Health in Tempe, with more info HERE.

Expert speakers and moderators from across food and health systems will help drive conversations: Selena Ahmed, American Heart Association/Periodic Table of Food Initiative; Arnott Duncan, Duncan Family Farms; Nick Konat, Sprouts; Crystal FitzSimons, Food Research & Action Center, Denisa Livingston, Community Health Advocate, Heirloom Food Grower; Kathleen Merrigan, Arizona State University; Michel Nischan, Wholesome Wave; Thomas Pesek, FAO; Pierre Thiam, Yolélé Foods; and Lyndsey Waugh, Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation; Jenna Lea Rosen, Broadway actress; Debra Utacia Krol, The Arizona Republic; Clara Migoya, The Arizona Republic; and more.

Discussions at this Summit, including interactive breakout sessions with participants, will inform a future white paper to drive future policy and civil society outcomes surrounding food is medicine.

“Food is not just about nourishment—it is medicine, and it holds the power to shape our health, communities, and planet,” Kathleen Merrigan, Executive Director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University, reminds us.

As a Food Tanker, you get access to this exclusive event! Click HERE to register, and use the code WorldFoodDay to access the registration page.

This year’s World Food Day theme—“Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future”— underscores the conversations we’ve been having about the urgent need to break down silos, to work across industries, and to prioritize productive dialogue and collaboration.

“World Food Day is a moment to reflect on the critical links between our food and our health,” says Thomas Pesek, Senior Liaison Officer at the FAO Liaison Office for North America. “No single solution or actor alone will solve this challenge—but collaboration across health, agriculture, and education sectors can move us closer to a future where healthy food is available and affordable for all.”

I was so heartened and inspired last month to see so many citizen eaters join Food Tank for our 15 Summits during Climate Week NYC, where we witnessed firsthand the power of this cross-discipline approach.

The experts we had on stage were clear-eyed in discussing the challenges we all face, and they spoke just as powerfully about where we can find solutions. Division, fear, and hopelessness are not the way forward. The future of the food system will grow from joyous, empowered communities, and as the World Food Day theme reminds us, we need to work hand-in-hand to make it a reality.

There’s one quote in particular that has really stuck with me, and I hope it’ll inspire our thinking—and our collaborative action—this World Food Day.

“My abuela María…taught me that food isn’t just sustenance—it’s dignity. It’s love,” regenerative farmer and community organizer Sea Matías told us. “Land, like love, is not meant to be owned. It’s meant to be shared.”

If you’re able to join us for the official North American World Food Day 2025 celebration, you can CLICK HERE to register.

“Investing in the next generation’s understanding of food and health creates long-term impact—not just for personal well-being, but for the strength of entire communities,” says Lyndsey Waugh, Executive Director of the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation.

World Food Day is a worldwide event, so it’s up to all of us to take action in our own neighborhoods and communities, too. If you’re already advocating for food security and nourishing, planet-friendly food systems where you live, tell me about your efforts! If you don’t know where to start, tell me that, too—and let’s share resources and make those connections that’ll push us forward.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Chantal Garnier, Unsplash

The post Let’s Work Hand-In-Hand for a Better Future on World Food Day appeared first on Food Tank.

PREAMBLE We, participants of the First Pan-African Convening on the Future of Biodigital Technologies in Food and Agriculture, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 2–4 October 2025, and co-organized by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) and African Technology Assessment Platform (AfriTAP) and the ETC Group, gathered in a landmark event to confront the challenges and possibilities posed […]

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