A3. Agroecology

A recent study from Yuka and Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic finds that in the United States, cheap foods are more likely to contain ingredients that negatively impact health compared to more expensive products. The report recommends policies to regulate food safety, hold food companies accountable, and improve public health.

The study analyzed more than 800 packaged foods sold nationwide in the U.S. to determine how a product’s price relates to its nutritional quality. The least expensive products contain 163 percent more additives, 21 percent more sugar, and 10 percent more sodium than the most expensive ones. Some products also contain ingredients that are banned in other countries, according to the report.

“Healthy eating cannot simply be framed as an individual responsibility…without acknowledging the structural realities of the food system,” Julie Chapon, Co-Founder of Yuka, a consumer health app, tells Food Tank.

The products span the 12 most popular processed food categories in the Yuka app that are sold nationwide in major U.S. grocery retailers. Examples include store-bought bread, breakfast cereal, pizza, crackers, cereal bars, and tortilla wraps. The report finds that the products in each category can vary greatly in terms of nutritional quality.

“Most people believe that some types of food are generally healthy and others—like desserts or snack products—are not,” Emily Broad Leib, Director of the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, tells Food Tank. She points to store-bought bread as an example, with the cheapest breads containing four times more additives than the most expensive ones. While many consumers view bread as a healthy part of their diet, the ingredients can vary widely between loaves.

“Even basic staples can be either fairly healthy or heavily engineered, and price is quietly pushing lower-income families toward the latter,” says Broad Leib. These findings demonstrate the nutrition inequity embedded in the U.S. food system and help explain the more than US$1 trillion a year spent on diet-related diseases, according to the report.

One of the major hurdles to overcoming these challenges is the generally recognized as safe (GRAS) exemption. The loophole allows companies to self-certify and introduce new ingredients into the U.S. food supply without U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notification or review. The report says, “99 percent of new food chemicals introduced since 2000 have bypassed federal oversight.” These novel substances are rarely reviewed by the FDA after entering the market.

The study recommends reforming the food oversight and safety system that allows for this to happen. These include amending the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) to remove the GRAS loophole and require FDA review of new substances. It suggests systematic reassessments and monitoring of food additive ingredients within the food supply, placing limits on specific substances, improving transparency in flavoring ingredients, and requiring the disclosure of ingredient processing and sources.

The report also states that there is a need for policies to reduce consumer exposure to high-risk additives and ultra-processed foods (UPFs). These include banning these ingredients in schools, reforming food procurement within institutional settings, and utilizing tax credits to incentivize product reformulation without these ingredients.

The authors hope that these policy recommendations, along with public pressure, will push companies to reformulate their products and create a more equitable food system. “Healthier food should not be a luxury,” says Chapon, “Public health protections must evolve to better reflect today’s food environment.”

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

More Schools Adopt Community Eligibility to Address Child Hunger

A new study from the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) finds that a record number of schools used a federal meal service option to tackle child hunger in the 2025-2026 school year. A reported 55,362 schools—2.1 percent more than the year prior—offered school meals through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which allows high-need schools to provide breakfast and lunch at no charge to all students. Three quarters of eligible schools have adopted CEP, an option FRAC calls a “key step towards Healthy School Meals for All.”

“More schools are demonstrating that offering healthy school meals to every student at no charge is a game changer for children, families, and schools,” says Crystal FitzSimons, President of FRAC.

To maintain progress, FRAC is calling on the administration to reverse cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Program. CEP eligibility is tied to the number of children who qualify for free school meals — a certification process that is based on SNAP participation. FizSimons worries that without action to undo SNAP cuts, “the progress we have made on Healthy School Meals for All could unravel.” 

What We’re Missing About the Cyclospora Outbreak

A former U.S. Food and Drug Administration official argues that a number of the Trump-Vance administration’s actions “actively undermine microbial food safety.”

In a recent op-ed in STAT, Susan Mayne, who previously served as Director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, worries that program cuts and policy delays are hurting efforts to monitor and respond to contaminants like cyclospora—the parasite linked to thousands of cases of foodborne illnesses across the country.

Mayne raises several concerns. FoodNet, a national foodborne illness surveillance program, has been updated to track fewer pathogens. Six, including cyclospora, have been eliminated from federal tracking. Efforts to improve traceability along the supply chain, which should have gone into effect by now, were delayed until 2028. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) closed an research facility in Beltsville, Maryland, where labs were working on a number of issues, including cyclospora. The administration also disbanded the National Advisory Committee on Microbiology Criteria in Food, which provided food safety advice to FDA and USDA. 

Mayne hopes that the cyclospora outbreak serves as a wake-up call so we don’t force eaters to choose between nutrition and food safety. She writes, “health is made possible when food safety supports consumer confidence in fruits and vegetables.”

The Climate Crisis to ‘Suck Soils Dry’ in Europe

Europe’s record-breaking heatwaves are driving high levels of water evaporation from rivers, lakes, soils, and plants, threatening farmers’ crops. At the same time, extreme wildfires are scorching parts of the region, with Spain and France seeing some of the driest soils.

Although droughts are typically linked to low rainfall, that doesn’t seem to be the case this time, suggesting that extreme heat, made worse by the climate crisis, is to play. Dominik Schumacher, a scientist at ETH Zurich who is behind a new analysis of Europe’s high temperatures, says that this “is our own doing.” He explains that as temperatures climb and air becomes hotter,” it will suck the soils dry.”

The trade association COCERAL estimates that 9 million tonnes of grain will be lost across the region. Additionally, France is expected to see the worst Maize harvest in the last 50 years and Romanian farmers may lose over 1 million hectares of crops. 

Mariam Zachariah, a researcher at Imperial College London and another co-author behind the analysis, says, “Without rapid, aggressive emissions cuts, Europe is heading for a future where these scorching, dry summers happen time and time again.”

Reversing Soil Degradation Can Feed an Additional 70 Million People

A new study in Nature Food finds that there are significant food security benefits if we can restore the Earth’s soils.

For the first time, researchers set out to quantify the effects of soil erosion and compaction, soil water deficits, as well as the loss of above ground vegetation cover and soil organic carbon on agricultural yields. Although these trends are threatening food security, there is also a real opportunity. 

According to the study, restoring soils by just 10 percent can produce enough food to feed an additional 70 million people. Project Drawdown Senior Scientist James Gerber, a co-author of the study, says that this reversal also “contributes to a virtuous cycle.” When soils are improved, it reduces pressure on the land, helping to avoid emissions from deforestation. 

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There’s a difference between ensuring that no one goes hungry and ensuring that every person can nourish their bodies with healthful food. Across the globe, we’re making progress on the first goal—but we still have a ways to go on the second.

Every year, we look to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report, compiled by five United Nations agencies, as a checkpoint on global progress toward food security and healthy diets. This year’s report, analyzing 2025 data, was released last week.

Global hunger (sometimes referred to as “chronic undernourishment”) declined for the third year in a row last year, which is optimistic. That’s not something we can take for granted! An estimated 7.8 percent of the world’s population experienced hunger in 2025, down from 8.6 percent in 2022—or 43 million fewer hungry people worldwide. Although there are regional disparities in hunger levels, a downward trend from 2024 to 2025 was observed consistently across the board, including for the first time in a decade in Africa.

“I am taking these results as positive, despite of all the risk and uncertainties that this sector is facing, and let’s hope that we can cope even more with the next year’s problems,” Maximo Torero, Chief Economist for the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), tells me on an episode of the Food Talk podcast.

Looking at the somewhat more complex metric of food security, which is more effective than hunger at accounting for people having to compromise on diet quantity or quality, we see similar trends but need a nuanced analysis. Yes, moderate and severe food insecurity levels also dropped in 2025, which is positive, but that number sits at 25.8 percent of the global population. Not only is that still higher than pre-pandemic numbers, but on a very basic level, it also means 1 in 4 human beings worldwide are not food-secure—which is morally unacceptable.

Broadly we’re moving in the right direction, though still far off from a previous target of ending global hunger by 2030. That goal, Maximo admitted, is now “close to impossible to achieve.” But I think he and I both agree: The global progress we’re seeing on hunger is firm proof that international collaboration works, and the slow pace only underscores the urgency of scaling up financing and implementation.

But as I mentioned, the SOFI report paints a more concerning picture regarding the affordability of healthy diets.

The number of people unable to afford healthy diets did decrease slightly last year compared to 2024. But within the past five years, the cost of a healthy diet has increased by 25 percent to around $4.28 (in purchasing power parity dollars, a metric that adjusts for cost-of-living and productivity across borders). Still, nearly one-third of the global population could not afford a healthy diet last year.

Maternal and child nourishment is also vastly insufficient, the report finds. Only 30.8 percent of children younger than 2 years old consume a minimally diverse diet, which is unbelievably tragic—and fully preventable.

The climate crisis is already hurting the food system, but in recent years, we’ve also seen global conflicts threaten to drive food prices even higher. As just one example cited in the report, the current conflict between the U.S., Israel, and Iran that resulted in the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has driven fuel and fertilizer prices up, and food costs have risen alongside.

With major global concerns already posed by climate change, the last thing we need is avoidable conflicts piling on even more pressure, Maximo told me.

“We are looking at more intense and frequent weather events like El Niño now, and therefore this sector needs to be prepared for this. If not, we will have a bigger challenge, and we will move backwards,” he says.

He later continued: “We need to minimize [human-made challenges]. We cannot have situations created by men when we have such a challenge right now in the world because of climate issues.”

So let’s talk solutions.

We need significant increases in public-sector and philanthropic investment and a greater willingness to participate in international collaboration and aid programs, especially from governments of powerful countries like the U.S.

There are more targeted efforts we can push for, too. Although animal products are also expensive, fresh fruits and vegetables make up about the largest share of the cost of healthy diets, about 40 percent. Focusing there, policymakers can more effectively support farmers with better subsidy programs and to facilitate access by improving seed quality, storage facilities, and roads for transporting crops. More regionalized, small-scale food chains can also help prioritize traditional crops at reasonable costs.

“It’s very important to put investment in development of local markets, and that includes indigenous foods, that includes nutritious foods,” Maximo Torero, the FAO chief economist, says.

He says we’re getting better at moving from “just in time” responses to “just in case” proactive solutions to instability. “But we need to keep working on that,” he says, “because resilience, at the end of the line is, how much can (we) absorb the shock and how little time will it take to recover.”

We should be seeing even more effort poured into improving the quality and accessibility of these climate-smart, resilient crops—and strong local markets for them!

I encourage you to take the time to check out my full conversation with Maximo—one of my favorite people for when I want to get into the nitty-gritty of global food policy—and even read through the SOFI report yourself.

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The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) advanced an agricultural research portfolio that built resilience, boosted yields, and shaped public policies. When the Trump-Vance administration dismantled it last year, their actions created a vacuum that former agency officials hope will be filled by well-intentioned supporters.

Before its closure, USAID’s funding fell into three main buckets. One share went to universities in the United States equipped for advanced agricultural research—some of which were home to the agency’s Feed the Future Innovation Labs, focused on advancing U.S. innovation leadership in agriculture and global food security. Another portion went to international research centers like the CGIAR network and World Vegetable Center, while a smaller chunk supported work in the private sector. 

“We viewed our investments in those three groups of partners in the context of a larger research ecosystem,” Jerry Glover, the former Deputy Director of the Center for Agriculture and Lead for Agricultural Research Strategy and Budget at USAID, tells Food Tank. “Most importantly,” he adds, “USAID had a wide range of highly skilled, world-recognized thought leaders.”

Rather than make isolated investments, the agency aimed to complement and fill in the gaps from funding from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other institutions. Research covered everything from crop improvement and horticulture to livestock production and policy issues. 

Glover, who managed an annual portfolio of over US$100 million, saw how this work benefited some of the poorest regions of the world, helping farmers and their communities. The goal wasn’t to prescribe a pathway for individual producers, but to create opportunities that they could pursue to increase their yields. 

“There’s this ripple effect” when farmers’ productivity and livelihoods grow, Glover explains. “Greater local and regional production also greatly impacts local food prices in the market. When those come down…very poor people benefit the most.” 

This shift frees up funds for education and more, “laying the foundation for future improvement,” Glover tells Food Tank. “It’s one of the most robust development theories out there.”

USAID’s investments supported farmers domestically as well—a point often overlooked by critics of the agency. As demand grows abroad, it creates new export markets for U.S.-grown agricultural products. Lessons learned and crop varieties developed also helped prevent problems from becoming crises at home. 

As one example, Glover points to research done on sorghum, a crop that many farmers in the Great Plains rely on. Years ago, a pest decimated the crop, costing millions of dollars in losses. With the agency’s support, U.S. researchers worked with partners in Ethiopia to identify a gene that made sorghum strains more resistant to the bug. 

The result was a new variety of sorghum that U.S. farmers can grow without worrying as much about pest destruction. This single crop has led to savings of more than US$750 million per year, Glover says. 

For decades, investments like these saw broad bipartisan support. When the Trump-Vance administration took office and talk of gutting USAID began, “my first thoughts were that…it wouldn’t be possible to tear it down so quickly,” Glover tells Food Tank. But “they just wiped it out.” 

In the year since USAID’s official closure, Glover says that the research ecosystem has been “so disrupted.” The majority of the Innovation Labs closed, funding was cut off, programs ended, and trust with partners has been broken. He believes that there is no replacing the combination of resources and technical capacity USAID was able to offer, but there is still a way forward. 

The Food Security Leadership Council, where Glover now serves as a Distinguished Fellow, is providing guidance to bring back investments—including for research and development—that support global food security. He hopes that as funding returns, their recommendations will help researchers and development partners pick up where USAID left off without repeating mistakes or reinventing the wheel. 

Glover also sees a glimmer of hope: “I’m confident that we are seeing somewhat of a shift in the traditional donor support in the development arena that could have long-lasting positive impacts.” He also hopes that other governments, including middle-income nations, will support low-income countries and encourage them to increase investments in their agriculture sectors.

“I hope that that vacuum is filled with well-intentioned supporters, and not…by those wanting to extract more from low-income countries.”

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Diet shapes nearly every aspect of human well-being. It influences the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers as well as how we learn, think, feel, age, and function.

That critical connection between food and health was the theme of Food Tank’s Capitol Hill Luncheon on July 29, held in partnership with the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University, “The Power and Peril of Food: The Latest Science on Your Mood, Memory, Metabolism, and Longevity.” The discussions explored how diets rich in fruits, vegetables, and minimally processed foods may benefit mood and mental health, and how nutrition can influence memory, metabolism, and cognitive decline.

According to the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation, about 6 in 10 Americans live with at least one chronic disease, creating significant health and economic burdens. In 2022, 90 percent of the US$4.5 trillion spent on health care in the United States was for individuals with chronic physical and mental health conditions. And American families feel the impact.

“For an average family of four, we spend US$50,000 a year on healthcare,” says Dariush Mozaffarian, Director of the Food is Medicine Institute. “Imagine if we spent just US$10,000 less per family, what that family could do or what the government could do with the US$10,000 a year, let alone US$20,000 less.”

Eric Verdin, MD, of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, described nutrition as a key influence on multiple systems in the body, serving as a signal to switch metabolic and repair pathways on or off.

“Many of us think about nutrition as a form of energy. Nutrition is actually a lot more than this…The choices that you make when you’re eating influence your metabolism and your brain,” says Verdin, who also connected diet to chronic inflammation and brain health. “What happens when you have a poor diet is you enter a state of chronic inflammation…This affects your brain.”

Ultra-processed foods were a major focus of discussion at the event, with speakers pointing to their prevalence in the American diet and potential connections to chronic disease and other health outcomes. Speakers agreed that more research is needed to understand what makes ultra-processed foods impact health and how the food system might pivot toward more nutritious options.

“Ultra-processed food represents 50 percent of nutrition for most Americans,” says Verdin. “These foods are not engineered for nutrition; they’re engineered for palatability and to make you eat more.”

Nutrition’s influence extends beyond physical health, too. Ashley Gearhardt, PhD, Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, says “some of the strongest evidence between ultra-processed food diets and disease is actually for mental health conditions…We are seeing a strong body of evidence that the food you’re eating is going to influence how your mind is working.”

Jan Ellison Baszucki, President of the Baszucki Group, shared a personal story highlighting the potential for metabolic approaches to address mental health conditions: Her son used a ketogenic diet to help treat bipolar disorder. She questioned whether the country is investing enough in research on the relationship between metabolism and mental health.

“Can we afford, as a society, to not investigate nutritional, metabolic approaches to our most serious mental illnesses?” says Baszucki.

Speakers also challenged the traditional approach to healthcare, arguing that prevention and nutrition should play a greater role. “We have a medical system now that we call healthcare. It is not healthcare, it is sickcare,” says Verdin.

The discussion comes as policymakers and the public are paying greater attention to the role of food in health. At a time when Americans disagree on many issues, speakers agreed that improving nutrition and reducing diet-related disease offers common ground.

“I’ve been thinking about active advocacy in this area for about 10 years, and I’ve never seen such bipartisan support,” says Mozaffarian.

Calley Means, Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, agreed that “wherever we are on the political aisle, we can all hopefully agree that there is a unique political moment right now where we are talking about these things more in this country.”

Speakers called for better data and research to understand how nutrition affects individuals differently, including using emerging technologies.

“The age of AI is here, and we should be implementing it to collect more accurate data to offer personalized solutions for some individuals, but also offer better research,” says Uma Naidoo, MD, Director of Nutritional & Lifestyle Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Ultimately, the event underscored the importance of turning scientific findings into policies and practices that can improve health at scale.

“There’s a handful of policies that we could enact to both improve the science and improve the food right now for Americans,” says Mozaffarian. He emphasizes that while much more investment is needed in science and solutions, “there really is an opportunity here, and we really can fix this.”

Watch the full event below:

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This article is part of Food Tank’s primer series, “Food Tank Explains.” Each installment unpacks the ideas, innovations, and challenges shaping today’s food and agriculture systems, offering clear insights into complex topics. To explore more articles in the series, click here.

Blue foods are foods harvested from water. They include fish, seafood, and seaweed—wild caught or farmed—and are derived from marine, freshwater, or aquaculture systems. They play an essential role in the livelihood, cultures, and nutrition of millions, and can strengthen global food security and support sustainable food systems.

Dating back over 100,000 years, harvesting blue foods is one of the earliest forms of food gathering. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 800 million people rely on blue foods for income, with wild capture fishing alone employing about 33 million people.

Blue foods are particularly significant to coastal, island, and river communities. In West African coastal nations, fishing supports 7 million livelihoods and generates US$5 billion annually. Pacific islands rely heavily on tuna revenues, which bring in US$7 billion each year. And for the 30 million coastal Indigenous peoples around the world, who eat four times more seafood than the global average, the ocean has sustained their livelihood for thousands of years.

For many aquatic communities, blue foods form a central part of cultural identity, shaping rituals, traditions, and daily life. In Batanes Province, Philippines, where researchers say fishing is far more than just a livelihood, some families relocate during fishing seasons to remain near important fisheries.

Communities in western Korea gather annually for Daedonggut to honor fishers who have died at sea and pray for a bountiful catch. Nigeria’s Argungu Fishing and Cultural Festival and Mali’s Antogo ceremony both center on communal fishing, celebration, and the sharing of harvests.

In Fiji, nearshore seagrass meadows historically enabled the women of Dawasamu to harvest aquatic foods for their community while remaining close to home. “Our food, medicine, and life came and continues to come from the ocean,” says Kii’iljuus Barbara Wilson of the Cumshewa Eagle Clan. “We are Ocean People.”

Aquatic foods provide nutrition to 3.3 billion people, contributing around 90 percent of protein intake in some communities. Many are rich in essential micronutrients—including iron, zinc, calcium, and vitamin A—and fatty acids. These nutrients support cognitive development, cardiovascular health, and immune function, and are linked to reduced rates of stunting, maternal and infant mortality, and heart disease.

They present “huge opportunities for better nutrition and healthier diets,” according to Jim Leape, Co-director of Stanford’s Center for Ocean Solutions, and a board member for the Blue Food Assessment (BFA).

Even small quantities can have a significant nutritional impact, Rosamund Naylor, a member of the BFA’s Science Committee, tells Food Tank. Fish increase micronutrient availability, Naylor explains, increasing the degree to which nutrients from other foods can be absorbed and utilized by the body.

As corporate consolidation reshapes much of the food system, the blue food sector remains largely operated by small-scale producers, providing about 40 percent of the global catch and generating US$77 billion annually. Small-scale fisheries rely heavily on women, who comprise half the sector’s workforce. Women support every stage, playing a crucial but often underdocumented role in harvesting and marketing.

Despite their substantial contribution to livelihoods and nutrition, blue food systems have even greater potential to strengthen global food security and mitigate the food system’s environmental impacts. Global fisheries recently produced 178 million tons of aquatic animals and 36 million tons of algae in one year, a record high. FAO projects that by 2030, those numbers could grow by 15 percent, a massive potential growth in the food supply.

And according to the U.N., most blue food systems provide animal-source protein with relatively low greenhouse gas emissions and impacts on biodiversity. Certain systems, like aquaculture of mussels and clams, can improve their environment.

But researchers and organizations, including the World Bank and the U.N., agree that without stronger governance and sustainable practices, blue foods could shift from an opportunity to an additional source of environmental strain.

Environmental changes threaten over 90 percent of blue food production, and fishing practices are depleting some of the world’s most important ocean stocks. A third of wild seafood populations cannot regenerate quickly enough to meet demand.

Aquatic food systems are also threatened by unsustainable fishing, according to the BFA. And they are rife with unethical practices, says Mark Kaplan, Co-Founder and Partner of the blockchain-based traceability system Wholechain.

“Integrity and supply chain stakeholders are not synonymous,” Kaplan tells Food Tank. “That’s why traceability is so necessary.” He believes that with greater transparency comes improved sustainability.

Integrating blue foods into policymaking alongside land-based foods offers another opportunity to strengthen these systems, blue foods advocates say. “I would like food policymakers to not think twice about including blue foods in food system strategies,” says Naylor. According to Chef and Advocate Andrew Zimmern, “we have to include our blue spaces everywhere that we’re talking about our green spaces.”

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View USDA’s guide on how to become certified organic: Becoming Certified Find certifying agents in your area using USDA’s Organic Certifier Locator FSA’s Organic Certification Cost Share Program provides cost share assistance for farmers who are obtaining or renewing their organic certification. The program covers up to 75% of certification costs. The application deadline for […]

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Books & Articles Why SNAP Works, by Christopher Bosso (2025) The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth by Josh Levin (2019) “Welfare queen” stereotype (2022) Big Hunger by Andrew Fisher (2017) The Painful Truth about Hunger in America by Mariana Chilton (2024) Videos & Documentaries A Place at the Table (2013) The danger […]

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The National AgrAbility Project currently has state / regional projects in 21 states: AK, CA, UT, NM, CO, TX, SD, NE, MO, WI, IL, IN, MI, OH, PA, ME, VA, TN, SC, GA, & FL. Five additional states also have affiliate projects: ID, WY, KS, IA, & NC. Learn more about service in your state […]

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Farm Service Agency County committees are a critical component of the day-to-day operations of USDA/FSA and allow grassroots input and local administration of federal farm programs.

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Blue foods can be complex; consumers can easily be overwhelmed. With so many species, preparation methods, and marketing claims. Because of size, scale, and accessibility, the ocean remains a largely invisible part of the food system for many consumers. Not everyone can walk down to the dock and watch a local fisherman coming in with the catch of the day.

And yet, the importance of blue foods for people and the planet is simple: we must navigate complexities by educating consumers while encouraging science-based fishery management and transparent verification along the seafood supply chain.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) recent State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) 2026 report paints a complex but encouraging picture on the state of our wild capture fisheries. While overfishing persists as a serious global challenge—with the share of fish stocks classified as biologically sustainable declining slightly to 62.4 percent—the report also demonstrates that we already have a solution: sustainable management of fisheries.

The SOFIA report shows more than one-third of the global population gets at least one-fifth of their animal protein from blue foods. The report indicates that global trade in aquatic animal products reached $184 billion, rivaling the value of all other animal proteins combined.

Simultaneously, new data from the world’s largest survey of more than 20,500 seafood consumers revealed increased awareness and optimism about the state of the world’s oceans. The survey, done in partnership with the Marine Stewardship Council and GlobeScan, details environmental and seafood awareness and understanding from consumers in 23 countries.

The data show that consumers appear to increasingly understand the challenges and opportunities facing oceans and fisheries. While 58 percent of Americans correctly recognize that overfishing is more widespread today than it was 50 years ago, 17 percent believe fish populations can never recover from overfishing, and another 25 percent remain unsure.

The reality is that fish populations can and do recover when fisheries are managed sustainably. Around the world, there are countless examples of depleted fisheries rebuilding through science-based catch limits, strong monitoring programs, and collaboration among fishers, scientists, governments, and environmental organizations.

Seafood consumers have increased confidence that positive change is possible; 51 percent believe our oceans can be saved from irreparable damage over the next 20 years, up from 41 percent in 2024.

And consumers in the United States increasingly want to be part of that future. The survey found that 58 percent of U.S. seafood consumers say purchasing products with ecolabels aligns with their personal values. Participants report taking actions such as reducing plastic use and seeking seafood they believe to be sustainably sourced. Shoppers are increasingly noticing ecolabeled products, rising from 28 percent in 2024 to 40 percent in 2026. Awareness of the MSC blue fish label similarly increased from 28 percent to 35 percent.

As consumers navigate increasingly complex and crowded seafood aisles, independent certification and ecolabels help provide confidence that sustainability claims have been verified by a credible third party. 60 percent of seafood consumers say ecolabels increase their trust in brands, while sustainably sourced seafood continues to rank among the most important purchase considerations, following quality, health, and price.

And consumers recognize their choices can make a difference. Market demand for responsibly sourced seafood sends important signals throughout the supply chain, rewarding fisheries that invest in sustainable practices and encouraging broader adoption of effective management.

At the same time, concern about ocean health remains high, with nearly nine in ten U.S. seafood consumers worrying about the state of the world’s oceans. And that concern is warranted. Overfishing persists in many regions, and the SOFIA report highlights significant disparities between areas with strong management systems and those where management capacity remains limited.

The challenges facing our oceans are real, but so are the solutions. Science-based fisheries management, independent verification, robust monitoring, and collaborative action have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to rebuild fish populations and support thriving fishing communities.

Awareness and optimism are essential ingredients for the long-term work of protecting oceans and ensuring that sustainable seafood remains part of our future. The survey data represents a win for fisheries and businesses and all partners prioritizing healthy oceans and sustainable seafood for future generations. This awareness and optimism can buoy us, knowing we are making a difference, and sending positive market signals to fisheries. After all, a rising tide lifts all boats.

The benefits of blue foods are simple: they provide sustainable protein to a growing global population, foster global food security, and secure and provide livelihoods, among many other benefits. The onus is on us to produce and use these resources sustainably to ensure we have them for the future.

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 Geoff Trodd, Unsplash

The post Op-Ed | Blue Foods Already Feed the World: In the U.S., Awareness and Optimism Grow appeared first on Food Tank.

The Los Angeles Food Policy Council’s (LAFPC) Cultivating Farmers program helps urban and peri-urban farmers navigate land access, business development, and long-term viability.

Through workshops, technical assistance, and free one-on-one advising, the program supports growers as they work to build and sustain their operations. For Black Thumb Farm, a nonprofit urban farm in the San Fernando Valley, that support has supported them through a years-long effort to secure long-term access to public land.

Cultivating Farmers launched in 2024 to provide business-focused support to farmers across Los Angeles. Rather than focusing on production practices, the program centers business planning, insurance, grant writing, marketing, and sales strategy.

“The program is all about supporting urban farmers with the business side of running a farm,” Nikhita Jain, Senior Urban Agriculture Program Associate at LAFPC, tells Food Tank. “Outside the work of growing food, starting and operating a farm business has its own learning curve.”

According to Jain, many urban farmers in Los Angeles face barriers that extend well beyond growing food. She says the city lacks some of the support systems available in other cities.”The City of Los Angeles does not have a dedicated person or office focused on urban agriculture,” Jain tells Food Tank.

Without those resources, Jain says many farmers rely on informal agreements with schools, churches, and community organizations to access land. While those arrangements with landowners can create opportunities, they can also leave farmers vulnerable if leadership changes or properties are sold.

“It’s all relationship-based,” Jain explains. “Maybe there’s a city council member who really believes in what the urban farmer is doing. But then if that person changes, that’s where that uncertainty comes in.”

The lack of long-term land security can make it difficult for farmers to plan. Jain says growers may hesitate to invest in infrastructure or soil improvements when they do not know whether they will still have access to the land several years later. Informal arrangements can also make it harder to access certain grants and federal programs that require documentation of land tenure.

Black Thumb Farm has experienced many of those challenges firsthand.

Founded by Alexys Romo and Analisa Joh, the nonprofit urban farm centers BIPOC youth and communities through land-based programming, culturally sustaining food production, and environmental education. The organization operates programs that introduce young people to farming, workforce development, food sovereignty, and stewardship of the natural world.

Black Thumb Farm has spent roughly five years working to secure access to a 2.3-acre publicly owned parcel in the northeastern San Fernando Valley.

“There is no formal or institutionalized process,” Jain tells Food Tank. “They just started calling the city and trying to figure out who to talk to. Eventually they got a call back.”

Throughout that effort, Black Thumb Farm has worked with partners including the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust while navigating multiple layers of local government. Jain says the experience illustrates both the persistence required of urban farmers and the need for stronger institutional support.

Helping farmers navigate those challenges is a central part of Cultivating Farmers’ mission. In addition to workshops, the program offers individualized advising sessions with Jain where growers can receive support tailored to their specific goals and obstacles.

Jain believes additional public investment and dedicated support structures could help more urban farmers establish long-term roots. But she also points to organizations like Black Thumb Farm as evidence of what is possible when growers receive the support they need.

For communities across Los Angeles, the benefits extend beyond food production. Farms can create green space, provide educational opportunities, and strengthen community connections. Through Cultivating Farmers, LAFPC is working to ensure that the people building those spaces have the tools and resources to succeed.

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 Black Thumb Farm

The post How One Los Angeles Program Helps Urban Farmers Thrive appeared first on Food Tank.

News & Resources Learn more about our 2026 cohort of RAFI farmer grantees. Watch the FOCN webinar on Community Crop Variety Trials. View more trainings and workshops in our Trainings & Webinar Library. Listen to Come to the Table’s new podcast, Food & Conversations. Find farm grants, loans, and relief payment programs through Farm Aid’s […]

The post Links & Information: Farmers Connection Fall 2026 appeared first on RAFI.

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

Bangladeshi Farmers and Environmentalists Protest Harmful Pesticides

This week, food producers and environmentalists gathered in northwestern Bangladesh, where they called on national leaders to phase out extremely hazardous pesticides including paraquat. 

Fishers say that they used to catch a wide variety of local fish, but over the years, populations—and their income—have declined. Indigenous communities are also losing wild and medicinal plants and other foods they rely on. Advocates say that Bangladesh, as a member of the Rotterdam Convention and the Stockholm Convention, is obliged to play a role in implementing international commitments. 

“Agriculture dependent on pesticides and chemicals can never be sustainable,” says Atikur Rahman, President of the Barendra Youth Forum “We want a farming system where safe food, biodiversity conservation and climate justice are ensured together.”

USDA Reorganization Threatens Major Programs

Employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are warning that the agency’s reorganization plans threaten several key programs that support food aid, food safety,  and agricultural research. 

If employees are relocated as planned, less than 10 people will oversee the billions of dollars managed through the country’s international food aid program, Food For Peace, according to Collin Bradley, President of AFSCME Local 3976, the labor union representing USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. He believes the changes will “decimate the agency.”

Last week, food safety groups also asked Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to pause the relocation of the Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory. In a letter, they wrote, “The loss of highly specialized scientific expertise would be substantial” and similar moves in the past have led to “gaps in institutional knowledge and reduced effectiveness.”

One Agricultural Research Service employee, who asked to remain anonymous, worries about the toll the moves take on morale as well, telling Politico, “everybody is just really in a bad place mentally.”

Rodale Institute Launches Campaign to Transition 10 Million Acres

Rodale Institute launched a new campaign to transition 10 million acres of U.S. farmland to organic and regenerative organic by 2030.

CEO Jeff Tkach says, “Our goal is simple: give farmers the research, education and support they need to succeed. When they do, the benefits reach far beyond the farm to strengthen our communities and the economy.”

One of the central pieces of the campaign is their Center for Regenerative Organic Innovation, which officially broke ground. Set to open in 2028, it will serve as a national hub for farmer education that includes three virtual classrooms.

The Institute aims to raise US$139 million to support the full campaign, which is guided by their new five-year Strategic Plan. These funds will help them conduct 10 long-term research trials; educate 100,000 farmers, agricultural professionals, and consumers; and reach 100 million people. At a time when the average age of U.S. farmers is on the rise, the Institute hopes to create more career paths to bring young people into agriculture. 

Brazil Invests in Thriving Namibian Food Systems

The government of Brazil announced a US$120,000 investment to continue a successful program boosting food security in Namibia. The new funding is expected to benefit more than 1,000 people. 

The project, which was implemented by the Namibian government in 2021 with support of the World Food Programme, has grown into a network of community farms that produce vegetables and eggs for schools, clinics, and vulnerable households. They also offer training to help farmers develop their business skills. 

National Planning Commission Director General Ambassador Kaire Mbuende says the program proves that people can move from relief to resilience. “Communities that once received food are now producing it,” he says. 

Mbuende sees Brazil’s support as an prime example of South-South cooperation, stating, “Brazil shares with us the lessons of its own journey, from school feeding linked to family farming to public procurement from smallholder producers. These are lessons between equals.”

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 Immo Wegmann, Unsplash

The post Food Tank’s Weekly News Roundup: Farmers Protest Toxic Pesticides, USDA Plans Threaten the Agency, Rodale Institute Invests in Agricultural Transformation appeared first on Food Tank.

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.

Do you remember what you ate for dinner last night?

Good diets can actually help support our memories! And our moods, and our metabolisms. Every day, scientists are working to better understand the powerful connections between nutrition and nearly every component of human health, both physical and mental.

Many people, including policymakers in Congress, know that high-quality nutrition can help us live longer and more healthful lives. But it’s the specific details—which nutrients are most beneficial; what metabolic and cognitive impacts do our diets have; how we can make sure people can access good food—that are particularly important for us all to understand.

That’s why Food Tank is heading to Capitol Hill next week with our partners at the Tufts University Food is Medicine Institute, for a bipartisan luncheon event titled “The Power and Peril of Food: The Latest Science on Your Mood, Memory, Metabolism, and Longevity.”

The program runs 12:00PM to 1:30PM ET, with lunch provided when doors open at 11:30. If you can join us in person, CLICK HERE to reserve a spot at the event, in Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 106, in Washington, D.C.

Otherwise, we’ll see you in our livestream audience, which you can bookmark HERE.

We’ll also be joined by an expert lineup of speakers including United States Senators Roger Marshall of Kansas and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana; Calley Means, Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Dariush Mozaffarian, Food is Medicine Institute; Ashley Gearhardt, PhD, University of Michigan; Eric Verdin, MD, Buck Institute for Research on Aging; Jan Ellison Baszucki, Baszucki Group; Uma Naidoo, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital; and more to be announced.

Events like Food Tank’s Capitol Hill luncheons are powerful opportunities for you to get to talk with researchers and legislators on the front lines of food science and food policy! This is about having a voice in the future of nutrition policy—and it’s also about accountability. In my opinion, it’s important to the health of our democracy for these conversations to be happening with science-backed experts and attendees who can fact-check and hold politicians to their word, rather than behind closed doors.

HERE is the link to tune into our livestream, and you can CLICK HERE to reserve a seat in person.

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 Sara Cottle, Unsplash

The post Can Better Food Policy Improve Our Memories, Moods, and Metabolisms? appeared first on Food Tank.

Ryan Brodersen has always wanted to be a farmer. Unfortunately, his parents made the difficult decision to quit farming in the early 1990s, ending a legacy of at least four generations of farming in Nebraska. Ryan’s future was uncertain, he says, as high land prices and upfront costs have made it difficult for young people to get started independently.

“They chose to quit, and I hated them for it, honestly,” says Ryan, who was 14 years old at the time. “I just wanted to farm. That was never a question.”

The family moved to South Dakota, where he later met his wife, Angie. Ryan went five years without planting a crop until he was “in the right place at the right time,” he says. His grandmother had been renting out some farmland, and it was available for new tenants. With the help of a beginning farmer loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency, the Brodersens were farming again.

But those early years weren’t easy. Ryan worked multiple jobs to keep the farm afloat: Driving a truck, working in a factory, and working on a pig breeding farm at various times, all while earning a college degree. Their long-term dream was taking care of and earning a living on their own land, full-time.

The Brodersens found stability by partnering with a specialty pork company. Niman Ranch, a network of more than 600 independent U.S. farmers, offers a guaranteed market for pigs raised to high standards of sustainable and humane farming practices. Once the Brodersens started raising pigs in partnership with Niman Ranch, “the barns have never been empty ever since,” Ryan says. By 2018, their farm quadrupled in size, and they had purchased land of their own.

“We used to raise a few hogs as a side hustle with growing crops, and now we just grow crops to feed hogs,” says Ryan, explaining that once they found a stable market, they made a conscious decision to shift their farm’s focus to hogs. 

Today, the Brodersens don’t need to purchase artificial fertilizer for any of the farms they own; instead, they cycle their hog manure and composted bedding onto the fields. Spreading manure is labor-intensive, and labor is the most limited resource on a farm, says Ryan, but he sees the long-term benefit for the land: “I would say that the fertility in our soil is extremely high.”

There have been tough times since, including when a grain elevator near their Randolph, Nebraska, farm went out of business, Ryan says. But “the hogs carried us through.”

Ryan also simply enjoys the work, he says. He raises hogs outdoors, as opposed to the highly controlled environment of confinement barns, where the vast majority of U.S. hogs are raised. This requires more decision-making in the day-to-day operations of the farm, but Ryan likes the problem-solving that is required. He is constantly finding new ways to be efficient and sustainable.

 “I see the pigs thrive in this environment. They do well. They’re healthy,” says Ryan. Hogs also have a fast turnaround compared to other livestock like cattle, so he has more opportunities to improve throughout each year: “Can I make this one better than the last one?” 

With companies like Niman Ranch and consumer interest in sustainably and humanely produced food, the Brodersens are hopeful that their farm can not only survive but also be passed on to the next generation. If any of their three children want to return to the farm one day, they won’t have to buy more land. They can build a more diversified, integrated, and sustainable farm on their existing acreage. And they say their diversified farm is a great place to raise their family. 

“It allows our kids to bring their own individuality to the farm,” says Angie. “We don’t want them to fill our shoes. We want them to find where their strengths are and improve our operations. And now they have the platform to do that.”

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 the Brodersens

The post From Risk to Resilience in Nebraska’s Hog Industry appeared first on Food Tank.

Global hunger declined for the third year in a row, but nearly one-third of the world’s population still cannot afford a healthy diet, according to a new United Nations report.

The new State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report finds that an estimated 7.8 percent of the world’s population experienced hunger in 2025, down from 8.6 percent in 2022—a reduction of 43 million people.

Although progress is slow, Maximo Torero, Chief Economist for the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), welcomes the news. 

“The surprising part, which puts us in a very positive mood, is the fact that in all regions we are seeing a decline,” Torero tells Food Tank. Due to population growth, Africa is now home to the highest number of hungry people. But the percentage of people experiencing hunger on the continent has stabilized, even falling slightly for the first time in ten years. 

The world remains far off track from ending hunger by 2030, however. U.N. projections show that there will likely be between 500–522 million people in chronic undernourishment by the end of the decade. These numbers will be heavily impacted by how nations navigate shocks created by the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, which severely limited access to fuel and fertilizer.

“It’s close to impossible to achieve zero hunger by 2030,” Torero tells Food Tank. “But the goal is to reduce as much as we can, and if we can achieve zero hunger by 2050, I think that would be great.”

The report also reveals that around one-third of the global population can’t afford a healthy diet. The cost now sits around $4.28 per day. That’s 25 percent more than it was in 2020 and “significantly higher” than the extreme poverty line of $3.00, Torero explains. 

The U.N. calls on governments to take action to make the foods that are most expensive and nutrient-dense—including fruits, vegetables, and animal-source foods—more affordable. Improving storage, roads, and seed quality can have a significant impact, Torero says. Improving trade and repurposing subsidies offer governments other interventions. 

Healthy school meals are also worth investing in for the generational impacts. “That will help you to reduce the problem of undernourishment in children. It will help you reduce the problem of overweight and obesity in children,” Torero tells Food Tank. “But at the same time you are assuring that these kids’ cognitive ability is growing over time…it’s also their capacity in the future to evolve that will bring a lot of benefits to the country.” 

Watch the full conversation with Maximo Torero on “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” to hear more about the solutions that can make a healthy diet accessible to all, what the decline in development assistance means for ending hunger, and the countries that are leading the way on reducing food and nutrition insecurity.

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 Shi, Unsplash

The post Global Hunger Falls for Third Straight Year, But Zero Hunger by 2030 Remains Out of Reach appeared first on Food Tank.

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) invites qualified consultants to submit Expressions of Interest for the position of Event Facilitator for the Second Congo Basin Convening, to be held from 25–27 August 2026 in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

The facilitator will support the planning and delivery of a high-level regional convening by designing participatory sessions, coordinating speakers and moderators, facilitating discussions, and guiding participants towards the adoption of the Yaoundé 2026 Declaration and the regional action roadmap.

• A minimum of five years’ experience facilitating high-level multi-stakeholder events.
• Strong facilitation, communication and moderation skills.
• Fluency in both English and French.
• Knowledge of agroecology, food systems, biodiversity, climate justice, advocacy or sustainable development.
• Experience working with governments, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, farmers’ organisations, women and youth networks.

Applicants should submit:

• A technical and financial proposal (maximum five pages).
• A current CV.
• Two references from similar assignments.

Applications should be submitted electronically to afsa@afsafrica.org.

Interested applicants are encouraged to consult the attached Terms of Reference (TOR) for the full description of the assignment, required qualifications, deliverables and application instructions.

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) invites qualified interpretation service providers to submit Expressions of Interest for the provision of professional interpretation services during the Second Congo Basin Convening, which will take place from 25–27 August 2026 in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

The assignment includes simultaneous and consecutive interpretation in French, English and Portuguese, together with the provision, installation and technical management of all required interpretation equipment. The selected provider will support a high-level regional convening bringing together approximately 140 participants from across the Congo Basin and neighbouring countries.

• At least five years of proven experience delivering interpretation services for international conferences.
• Qualified conference interpreters working in French, English and Portuguese.
• Experience providing interpretation equipment and on-site technical support.
• Familiarity with agroecology, food systems, biodiversity, climate justice or related development sectors.
• Demonstrated experience supporting multilingual, multi-stakeholder events.

Interested firms should submit:

• A technical proposal.
• A financial proposal.
• Evidence of similar assignments.
• Two references from comparable events.

Applications should be submitted electronically to afsa@afsafrica.org.

Applicants are encouraged to carefully review the attached Terms of Reference (TOR) for the complete scope of work, qualifications, deliverables and submission requirements before preparing their proposals.

The distribution of medicines follows a priority logic defined by MINSAP itself—Dirección General de Salud Pública de La Habana (the Cuban Ministry of Public Health).

The post Brazil: “Ajude Cuba” Solidarity Campaign by MST Sends More Than 7 Tons of Medicines to Cuba appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.