Myanmar journalists in exile are "unable to escape the grim realities of the junta's brutality because their days are spent gathering news of the loss, grief, and despair back home" but downplay their trauma, writes our fellow from Kayin State.

kite-tales.org/en/article/w...

Coming from a country of small farms & now living in 2 where farms are getting larger, I find these global trends deeply personal & political.

So I break down 11 fascinating findings & share my two cents: are bigger, more intensive farms the food future we want or are we heading there by default?

Why? Because land ownership is one of the clearest indicators of wealth, power, & inequality - in farming as in society. How land is owned & used shapes everything from policy decisions to people’s livelihoods.

See Chapter 3 + background paper.

doi.org/10.4060/cd70...
doi.org/10.4060/cd73...

It comes with striking new data and insights:

➡️ 1.7 billion people now live in areas where crop yields are at least 10% lower because of human-induced land degradation.

But what really caught my eye are the new figures on farm sizes and land distribution.

Thanks to Jose Luis Chicoma, who co-edited and also wrote in the report, for sharing the thought processes behind the project and what they are hoping to achieve.

Here's hoping we see more open discussions and actions on this topic.

news.thin-ink.net/p/how-to-eat...

It suggests concrete, structural & actionable ways to address the yawning power gap & has this cracking opening line:

“Food systems will not be transformed unless power is confronted - not as an abstract concept, but as concrete control over land and water, markets and labor, taste and narratives.”

Eating this elephant requires naming, confronting & doing so with big, bold actions, not timid little changes at the margins.

It's based on a great new report: “The Elephant At The Table: Policy Pathways to Confront Power in Food Systems” (hence, my title). thenew.institute/en/media/the...

If you want to hear more from @thinink.bsky.social, she joined me on the Not Now But Soon podcast to talk about food and fiction and how they intersect in the propaganda of authoritarian governments: issues.org/not-now-but-...

For me, covering food systems is a constant struggle to balance bad with good: to walk that fine line between exposing injustices without becoming defeatist; between showing what we’re up against while reminding ourselves that change is possible. This issue is my attempt to show the possibilities.

Next, I look at a global analysis on what it will take to help our smallholder farmers - the people who produce at least a third of our food - adapt to the changing climate, and why we should do it.

Huge thanks to @bhavanishankar.bsky.social & Esther Penunia for their insights & time.

First, I go to Bihar where a project is harnessing the advantages of local markets as community hubs and purveyors of fresh food while improving their infrastructure, food safety and management, climate readiness and sensitivity to the needs of women.

Oh wow...

I assume there are many like me who haven’t had time to go through them. And if I’m going through these reports, I might as well write about them.

Side note: Treestyle Tab has been a lifesaver for someone with major FOMO about the latest food systems news.