There are zillions of food blogs out there, dozens of hunger blogs and plenty about farming and environmental issues. But there are not so many that deal with the intersection of food systems, agriculture, nutrition, demographics, environment, economics and international development. Here are a few we rely on to keep up on the feeding-the-world front.
A go-to place for news, features, analysis, graphics and background information about the challenges facing developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Includes the Poverty Matters blog and a super-useful Blogosphere page that compiles posts from other blogs around the world.
Daily (or more) posts from the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington-based environmental think tank. Emphasis on social entrepreneurship and innovation for small-scale farmers. Tends to be more technical than ideological, with attention given to initiatives by governments, international agencies, civil society, small enterprises and big corporations.
Tom Philpott: Food for Thought
Philpott is a longtime financial journalist who now runs a sustainable food education center in North Carolina. His thoughtful, not-quite-daily reports and commentaries on the Mother Jones website deal with food safety, U.S. food and farm policy and industrial agriculture. Not to mention the occasional recipe.
Features an extremely detailed weekly news brief on recent and upcoming events, new research, pending legislation, etc., with an emphasis on U.S. government, international agencies, big nonprofit and business initiatives. Also analysis by Roger Thurow, former Wall Street Journal reporter, author of “The Last Hunger Season” and co-author of “ENOUGH: Why the World’s Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty.”
It feels like it’s edited by an algorithm, but this daily e-newspaper provides an eclectic mix of articles, blog posts, videos and graphics from a wide range of sources, from agribusiness press releases to anti-corporate activist groups. Which is odd, given that its parent organization, Global Harvest Initiative, is sponsored by Monsanto, DuPont and other multinationals. It’s hard not to find something interesting on any given day.
What are your favorite blogs or online resources? Leave a comment or send us a note and we’ll check them out – and maybe even share the news.