“Not an act of God”: How Rev Richard Joyner became a farmer, then a climate activist
Richard Joyner has a new rejoinder to his congregants: “God is not flooding the land. Our behaviour is destroying the environment.” YONAT SHIMRON, of Religion News Service, reports…
Postcards: Heat stroke risk won’t stop Japan’s ageing farmers as temperatures soar
SATOSHI SUGIYAMA and TOM BATEMAN, of Reuters, report…
Monastic expressions: With strawberries and goats, a ‘farmastery’ reaches out to its neighbours
Part of the new monastic movement which began three decades ago among lay Protestants, Spring Forest is a model for how Christians can work, eat and worship as a community. YONAT SHIMRON reports…
Climate change impacts: Women in Sri Lanka often bearing the brunt of violence as increasingly frequent heatwaves, droughts, floods and storms exacerbate economic hardship
With drought and erratic rains depleting harvests, women farmers in Sri Lanka tell of beatings by husbands as incomes shrink. DIMUTHU ATTANAYAKE, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports…
Farmers block Dutch-Belgian border as protests spread across Europe
Brussels, Belgium Reuters Farmers blocked the Dutch-Belgian border and occupied roads in Greece on Friday, while a Polish union announced plans to shut border crossings with Ukraine as European protests over prices and red tape spread. Protests have erupted in several countries, exposing anger about low prices for produce, rising costs, cheap imports and constraints […]
Italian farmer battles frost, floods, heat and hail in epic year
Forli, Italy Reuters Farmer Andrea Ferrini is on the frontline of climate change in Italy and it is hurting. First his fruit and corn crops in northern Italy withered in a hard frost, then they were hit by torrential rains and record flooding, followed by an exceptional heatwave and finally hail storms. A farmer stands […]
As drought withers Tunisian fields, state feels financial pinch
Tunis, Tunisia Reuters As rains failed, Tunisian farmers watched their crops wither this spring, harvesting early to salvage some as animal feed and piling costs on a state struggling to afford wheat imports with bakeries running out of bread. At his farm just outside Tunis, Hasan Chetoui stood clutching dry sheaves of wheat, the ears […]
Saving the farm: US heartland clergy train to prevent agriculture workers’ suicides
GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO, of Associated Press, reports on an initiative in which states such as Minnesota and South Dakota are offering suicide prevention training to clergy – a crucial, trusted presence in rural America…
Food production: Sustainable food – not more of it – needed as global hunger soars
As climate change and global disruptions worsen hunger, a revamp of food systems is urgently needed, analysts say. LAURIE GOERING, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports…
Clean energy transition: Mining in South Africa looks to solar, AI and chickens to go green
Africa has many of the metals needed for a clean energy transition – but mining them needs to be greener and more sustainable. KIM HARRISBERG, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports…