Each week, Food Tank is rounding up a few news stories that inspire excitement, infuriation, or curiosity.
COP30 to Spotlight Food and Agriculture in Climate Action Agenda
In advance of the upcoming 30th session of the Conference of the Parties at the 2025 U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP30), COP30 President-Designate André Corrêa do Lago released his fourth official letter to the international community. The letter outlines a vision for a solutions-oriented COP30 Action Agenda, which will be built on do Lago’s framework to guide global climate action in the coming years.
The COP30 Action Agenda will include six thematic axes, including transforming agriculture and food systems, stewarding forests, oceans, and biodiversity, and building resilience for cities, infrastructure, and water.
Under these axes, do Lago describes 30 key objectives, called “super leverage points.” To facilitate the transformation of food and agriculture systems, the objectives hit on land restoration and sustainable agriculture; more resilient, adaptive, and sustainable food systems; and equitable access to adequate food and nutrition for all.
“For me, the clearest reason for this Agenda’s importance is that it brings to the COP the actors who will implement the decisions,” says do Lago.
According to the letter, the COP Presidency plans to invite businesses, investors, NGOs, subnational governments, and all initiatives and coalitions created in previous COPs to join Activation Groups under each key objective to help shape the outcomes of COP30.
Study Finds Rising Temperatures Will Shrink Global Crop Yields
A new study in Nature offers the most comprehensive look yet at how global crop yields are likely to change as the planet warms. In contrast to previous research suggesting warming could bolster food production, the new research finds that rising global temperatures will jeopardize most staple crop yields worldwide, even as farmers take adaptive measures.
The analysis draws on crop data from more than 12,600 regions across 54 countries and models the impact of warming on six staple crops: corn, soybeans, rice, wheat, cassava, and sorghum.
The study estimates that for every 1°C rise in temperature, global food production capacity could decline by 120 calories per person per day—or 4.4 percent of today’s average daily intake. A 3°C increase, a co-author of the study explains, would be equivalent to everyone on the planet giving up breakfast.
The analysis differs from others, according to the authors, which assumed either “perfect” adaptation or none at all. This paper instead tries to model adjustments that are realistic and attainable.
The team estimates that adaptation measures—including modifying fertilizer use or irrigation intensity, switching crops, or shifting planting and harvesting dates— can offset around one-third of losses that will be caused by the climate crisis in the next 75 years.
But without adaptation, the authors stress, “agricultural outcomes would be materially worse.” High-income countries that include many of the world’s breadbaskets are expected to see the greatest impacts and losses despite more moderate climates, largely due to limited present adaptation.
Researchers Investigate Agricultural Links to Iowa’s Cancer Surge
A new research project is examining whether Iowa’s industrial farming practices may be contributing to what the American Cancer Society’s calls a cancer crisis. Led by former Iowa Department of Health consultant Elise Pohl and supported by the Iowa Environmental Council and the Harkin Institute, the study is investigating potential environmental links to cancer, including pesticides, nitrates, PFAs, and radon. “We’re homing in on the agriculture side of things,” Pohl said.
Iowa now has the second-highest cancer rate in the U.S. and is one of only two states where cancer rates are rising. In Kentucky, the only state with a higher cancer incidence than Iowa, smoking is considered to a primary cause of rising rates.
But in Iowa, heavy use of agricultural chemicals—including glyphosate, a herbicide labeled a probable carcinogen by the WHO—and widespread nitrate runoff from fertilizers and livestock manure are central concerns. Radon exposure, which affects roughly half of Iowa homes, is also under review.
Funded by individual and foundation donations, the research team aims to release preliminary findings later this year.
Agricultural Fungicides May Fuel Drug-Resistant Fungal Infections
University of California Davis researchers warn that agricultural fungicides could contribute to growing resistance to antifungal medical treatments in humans and animals. In a New England Journal of Medicine commentary, professors George Thompson and Angel Desai call for a global “One Health” approach to fighting pathogens like fungi and bacteria, emphasizing the links between environmental, animal, and human health.
Fungal infections are rising worldwide, driven by temperature, wind patterns, and global travel changes. Just as overuse of antibiotics can cause antibiotic resistance, according to the researchers, overuse of fungicides in the environment is causing resistance to treatment. And resistance levels are directly linked to the amount of each agent used, the authors say.
The researchers urge for a holistic “One Health Approach”—a holistic view which accounts for the interlinkages between human activity, animal health, and the environment—to combat potential resistance.
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Photo courtesy of Joe Baometrus, Unsplash
