Over 5 million people along the Euphrates River, which runs from Turkey through Syria and Iraq, are at risk of water scarcity and power outages, according to the REACH Initiative. Among this number are 1 million displaced Syrians. Rising temperatures, reduced rainfall, and a historic drought are reducing the river’s water levels, and Humanitarian groups warn of an unprecedented water and agricultural crisis.

“Water is life. Without water, there is no life, there is no development,” André Wehrli, the Senior Water Policy Advisor at The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), tells Food Tank. “Fair and equitable access to water is needed for long term peace and stability.”

Wehrli advises SDC’s Blue Peace Strategy, an initiative aiming to promote water cooperation and generate peace in the MENA region—the most water scarce region in the world. Of the 33 most water stressed countries, 14 are in the Middle East, according to the World Resources Institute.

The Blue Peace Strategy fosters relationship building between countries by combining continued dialogue with baseline studies, knowledge, and capacity building, and building confidence and trust.

The 2022 Global Risk Report from the World Economic Forum names water security as a top risk in terms of impact for the tenth consecutive year. In 2017 alone, water was a major factor in 45 global conflicts. And an article published in Geneva Solutions expounds the use of water as both a weapon of war and an instrument of peace.

“While international treaties and water law are absolutely necessary, they are not a silver bullet solution,” Wehrli explains. “It is important to strengthen the entire global water governance system.”

Wehrli says that building relationships enables transboundary cooperation, which is essential to achieving peace. “It’s not just water allocation. We need a new narrative; water is a key factor for social and economic development.”

SDC is working to mitigate conflicts in Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, as well as use the Yarmouk River as a common ground for negotiations between Jordan, Syria, and Israel.

“When you look into a complex region such as MENA, you understand that there are many factors that might facilitate or impede access to water cooperation,” Wehrli tells Food Tank. These factors include climate change, poor governance, and ineffective water management by agricultural sectors.

A recent report by SDC finds that agriculture is the main consumer of water. Wehrli tells Food Tank that effective water management in agriculture can help to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Along the Jordan River, farmers typically get 60 percent of the water resources they request. Werhli says that many are switching to water conservation methods such as drip irrigation to cope with water shortages. But when climate change-induced drought leaves farmers without water, “countries need to adapt in other ways. That is already a challenge for countries experiencing water scarcity,” Wehrli tells Food Tank.

“If you look at the entire food supply chain, 30 to 50 percent of food is wasted. Improving supply chain and logistics could create opportunities to improve water efficiency,” Anders Jägerskog, Senior Water Resources Management Specialist at the World Bank’s Water Global Practice, tells Food Tank.

Many MENA countries experiencing water scarcity may rely on food imports, Jägerskog says, raising concerns around food security. Supply chain disruptions due to the Russia-Ukraine war also increases the need for more water and arable land to satisfy food security needs.

Jägerskog explains that in addition to the climate crisis, population growth and dependency on global water imports challenge water cooperation in the MENA region. Water scarcity also creates concerns for hygiene and sanitation by exacerbating disease and other health risks in refugee camps and host communities.

Both Jägerskog and Wehrli still maintain a positive outlook on water cooperation in the MENA region. According to Jägerskog, in some instances, “where countries do not cooperate over other matters, they do cooperate over water.”

And while many countries coping with political tension, migration, and the climate crisis continue to “blame their neighbor” for water scarcity, Wehrli adds that generally, there is more cooperation than conflict.

“Generally what makes headlines is when there is conflict,” Jägerskog explains.”Water scarcity does not just increase conflict—most countries want to work together.” The “interconnectedness of water speaks to the need for countries to come together.”

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Image courtesy of Nasa, Unsplash

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Co-authored by Matthew Wexler and Tesha Buss, the book details the trials and triumphs of the authors’ experience building Good Commons. The two friends spent nearly a decade building the center, which today provides space for guests to refuel by slowing down their daily routines and sustaining their bodies with nourishing food.

Wexler explains that from the beginning, he and Buss knew that Good Commons would provide visitors with food from local purveyors, something that has become key to the business. “You cross the border [into Vermont] and you roll down the window and all you smell is green and fresh and alive. That absolutely had to be part of the food story of the place,” Wexler tells Food Tank.

Uncommonly Good also offers readers more than 75 recipes inspired by the authors’ Midwestern upbringings, their love of brunch, and Wexler’s experiences as a chef in New York City and Chicago.

And with the recipes come the stories behind each dish. “I was more interested in the stories connected to the food than writing an introduction to the recipe that is talking about the recipe,” Wexler says. “I wanted to give it a framework that had context because when people are at Good Commons and experiencing the food those narratives and that storytelling makes everything taste better.”

In addition to being entertained by the recipes and stories, Buss hopes readers will be inspired by their book. “Don’t be afraid of anything,” Buss tells Food Tank. “Don’t be afraid of the recipe. Don’t be afraid to fail. Just try it.”

Photo courtesy of Vincent Crossley

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Narrated by Woody Harrelson, “Kiss the Ground” premieres on Netflix on September 22.

The film is created by the Las Angeles-based organization of the same name. Kiss the Ground is dedicated to regenerating farmland soil and training farmer leaders. The organization hopes to inspire viewers of “Kiss the Ground” to take action to help regenerate soil.

Outdoor screenings of the film will also take place worldwide over the next 48 months. Viewers can also participate in a virtual Watch Party, After Party, and Q&A session on September 22 beginning at 9pm PT featuring some of the film’s cast members. To join the event, participants can register here.

In advance of the premiere, “Kiss the Ground” viewers can text “SOIL” to 323-622-1644 to receive more information about how to take action to regenerate the world’s soils.

The “Kiss the Ground” trailer can be viewed here.

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In honor of Juneteenth, a holiday that recognizes the end of slavery in America, A Growing Culture held a daylong broadcast to elevate Black voices in the food system and highlight ways to promote justice.

The Juneteenth Broadcast featured presenters including Queen Quet of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, farmers Leah Penniman and Karen Washington, Malik Yakini of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, Brooklyn Queens Land Trust board president Sawdayah Brownlee, and more.

The broadcast was streamed live on Friday, June 19, and the full conversation is now available on AGC’s YouTube channel. Conversations ranged in subjects including closing the food movement’s generational gap, agricultural oppression, seed sovereignty, and plants that have played a role in Black freedom. The full schedule is available here.

“I’m excited to participate in The Juneteenth Broadcast because I’m looking forward to people understanding that the narrative that Black people in Texas were not free until the Union Army General Granger arrived and read their proclamation is false,” Brownlee, who organized and will present in a conversation on land and liberation, told Food Tank via email. “Freedom is not a one-time event given to oppressed people by the state.”

“Just as it took a collective and organized effort of Black people freeing themselves across the South, it will take collaboration, communication, and strategic efforts to divest from the inequitable food system that exists and reclaim land to grow our communities on,” Brownlee said.

A Growing Culture (AGC) works to build a more sustainable food system by supporting farmers’ autonomy and innovation, land ownership, and traditional knowledge sharing. In addition to turning their platform over to Black food system voices on Juneteenth, AGC also hopes the broadcast would be an invitation to corporations, foundations, donors, and allies to stand in solidarity with the Black community and listen to their stories.

The Juneteenth Broadcast was a special edition of AGC’s The Hunger for Justice Series, a weekly live conversation about building a post-COVID food system. Guests have included Black farmer and beekeeper Samantha Foxx, Palestine Heirloom Seed Library founder Vivien Sansour, and gender equality advocates Wekoweu (Akole) Tsuhah and Seno Tsuhah.

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“The spirit of this song is about perceiving a deeper awareness of our own power within and recognizing our sacred capacity to transform every obstacle we face into a new path to personal victory,” Dawuni tells Food Tank.

A Regional Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Environment Programme, Dawuni is also behind the music for Food Tank’s forthcoming interactive musical, Garjana.

Watch the video for “Champion Arise” below.

Photo courtesy of Rocky Dawuni

The post Rocky Dawuni’s New Music Video For “Champion Arise” Offers a Message of Hope appeared first on Food Tank.

Barber is well-known as head chef and co-owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Barber and his team frequently experiment with complex flavors from raw produce, sustainably raised meats, and unique grains. Barber, along with Matthew Goldfarb and Michael Mazourek, founded Row 7 Seed Company, a platform for farmers and plant breeders to experiment with new flavorful grain and vegetable varieties. Merrigan is a former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture and is currently the executive director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University.

You can watch the live feed above or here on April 30 from 4 to 6:30 pm ET.

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The modern food system values cheap food produced as quickly as possible, stressing the environment, the health care system, and food industry workers while deepening social inequities around race, gender, and income. And the current price of food does not reflect these true costs, says Michael Hamm, Founding Director of the Center for Regional Food Systems.

“Our food system externalizes every possible cost to make things cheaper,” Hamm explains. “What we need to do is internalize all costs. Doing this, the cost of food will go up, so we’ll have to have broader strategies to make it so that food is a right and not a privilege.”

Despite growing interest in sustainable and ethical food options, many cannot afford them—the majority of Americans wrestle between personal values and economic challenges. “The broad middle is struggling more and more [to afford food]; there is frustration at not being able to purchase the food they want,” says Hamm.

While food production is larger than ever, nearly 40 percent of food grown is thrown away. Vince Hall, CEO of Feeding San Diego, encourages policymakers and consumers to see the massive investment made in environmental resources, one that reaps no return. “Food is actually a surplus in our society,” he says. “4 trillion gallons of water, 800 million pounds of pesticides, and 30 million acres of farmland are all dedicated to growing the food that we just throw away. And then we throw that into the landfill, which releases methane gas.”

This cheaply produced food provides calories but does not nourish people. “We’ve lifted many people out of food insecurity in terms of caloric intake, but now we’re dealing with nutrition security…lacking access to adequate protein and vitamin sources in the form of fruits and vegetables and other high nutrient foods,” says Jennifer Burney, Associate Professor for the School of Global Policy & Strategy at the University of California, San Diego.

Consumers must create the demand for a more just system that allows workers to sustain themselves and their families, says Evelyn Rangel-Medina, Chief of Staff at Restaurant Opportunity Centers (ROC) United. “The people who are serving our food are experiencing justice issues and pushing for policy change, but our policymakers are overturning the will of the voters,” she says. “That is the kind of power that we have to fight against.”

Although no one policy or solution will solve the issue, the panel sees hope in initiatives like the bipartisan farm bill, elected governors removing corporate money from politics, and an increasingly engaged public. After all, as Burney says, “There’s no issue that more unites us all than what we eat every day.”

Watch the full San Diego Food Tank Summit panel on Practices and Policies to Improve Food Sustainability, above.

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Vilsack referred to the risks farmers engage in on a daily basis, their growing interest in technology, and the need for productive dialogue between tech engineers, farmers, and politicians. And Ali Lange, Senior Public Policy Analyst at Google, remarked about her experience working with farmer Don Bustos and the importance of introducing technology to farmers in culturally appropriate ways. Bustos, also present on the panel, highlighted this, stating, “Artificial intelligence has an important role in the global food system, but the more important question is how communities decide how to use that AI system?”

Check out a video of the entire event below.

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“Today the time is right for the promise to deliver the results that we have long been promised,” says Josh Henretig, Senior Director of AI for Earth & Sustainability at Microsoft. He highlights that providing better insights can help farmers make better decisions, leading to higher yields and lower resource inputs.

“There is a lot of really hot activity happening in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. AgTech companies are starting up by the minute almost, but our farmers don’t know what to make of it. Small communities are not participatory yet,” says Gabe Youtsey, Chief Innovation Officer of University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. Helping more people share knowledge and make use of this technology to improve their farming operations is incredibly important.

“Breaking down barriers is really powerful for getting information to flow,” says Sarah Mesnick, Ecologist of Southwest Fisheries Science Center at NOAA Fisheries and Adjunct Professor of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. “One of the things we would like to do is integrate that education across this supply chain, so a student is getting a deep education, but they are also exposed to all of these different fields from the very beginning.”

In a low-tech approach, Ryland Engelhart, Co-Founder of Kiss the Ground, points to the ability of soil to capture atmospheric carbon and store it under the ground. He believes that a better understanding of this process can help champion regenerative agriculture for feeding the population and reversing global warming.

As the farming population is aging, panelists also share their concerns about inspiring the younger generation to be involved in our food system. Innovations such as indoor farming can attract the next generation who are interested in various fields including biology, technology, and engineering, according to Alina Zolotareva, Senior Marketing Manager and Product Champion at AeroFarms. “The work [people] do one bite at a time is really changing the planet; that is a real powerful message,” says Mesnick.

Watch the full panel with Sarah Mesnick, Gabe Youtsey, Ryland Engelhart, Alina Zolotareva, and Josh Henretig above.

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Both chefs talk about how their parents stressed the importance of not wasting. Corcos, co-host of Extra Virgin on the Cooking Channel, says that growing up in Italy, his mother pointed to each remaining crumb and assigned it a cash value. Ma, Chef and Owner of Kyirisan restaurant in Washington, D.C., says that as a child it was common for him to eat organs and other ingredients that some people might consider “the nasty bits.”

“This is a land where there are too many calories that are available,” says Corcos, noting that 24-hour grocery stores and other conveniences overwhelm people to the point of wasting.

In the conversation moderated by Wall Street Journal reporter Charles Passy, the two chefs talk about the packaging waste that goes along with excess.

While taking home leftovers can be a component of fighting food waste, Ma points out that if portions are sized accurately, diners won’t need doggie bags, which will also save packaging waste.

The chefs also discuss the challenges of finding viable alternatives to plastic straws and the difficulty in creating a truly balanced menu, in which every component of every ingredient is used.

Ma says chefs face dilemmas like, “how do you use all the tops on the greens in the same ratio you use the carrots?”

“I made a salad of organ meats,” Ma continues, adding that it was delicious. “That was great reuse (of the leftovers) and and very creative and very fun to serve. The hardest thing was getting people to eat it…it was still a salad of organs.”

“I’d eat it,” Passy says.

“I would love to!” Corcos says.

Watch the full fireside chat with Tim Ma and Gabriele Corcos, above.

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