Each week, Food Tank is rounding up a few news stories that inspire excitement, infuriation, or curiosity.
Hunger Worsens in 13 Hotspots
A new joint report from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warns that acute food insecurity is deteriorating in 13 countries and territories.
The Hunger Hotspots report is published semi-annually and is an early-warning and predictive analysis of deteriorating food crises for forthcoming five months. According to the outlook for June through October 2025, conflict, economics shocks, extreme weather events, and critical funding shortfalls are all contributing to the decline. Armed violence remains the primary driver of acute food insecurity in 12 of the 13 hotspots, the report finds.
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu says that the report reveals that “hunger today is not a distant threat — it is a daily emergency for millions. The U.N. agencies are most concerned with hunger rates in Sudan, South Sudan, Palestine, Haiti, and Mali, where communities are facing famine or the immediate risk of starvation.
Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, and Nigeria are also of very high concern, and high levels of acute food insecurity in these regions are expected to deteriorate further without immediate intervention, the report finds. The other hotspots include Burkina Faso, Chad, Somalia, and Syria.
To boost emergency food production and improve food access across the 13 countries and territories, the report suggests scaling up humanitarian funding and investment in anticipatory action, and outlines country-specific recommendations for emergency responses.
More Countries Ratify the High Seas Treaty at the U.N. Ocean Conference
At the third U.N. Ocean Conference, which was held in Nice, France from June 9 to June 13, 2025, 19 additional countries ratified the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement. Also known as the High Seas Treaty, the agreement provides the first legal framework to protect the two-thirds of the world’s oceans that lie outside of national jurisdiction.
At the outset of the conference, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres urged nations to take action to protect marine ecosystems, stating “the ocean is the ultimate shared resource. But we are failing it.”
According to environmental advocates, the High Seas Treaty is essential to achieving the 30 by 30 agenda, which aims to protect 30 percent of the planet’s land and water by 2030.
To date, 50 countries and the EU have ratified the Treaty. The Treaty would come into effect upon 60 ratifications, and several countries have reportedly indicated their intent to ratify shortly.
Management of Fisheries Shows Promising Results
The FAO has released its most comprehensive global assessment of marine fish stocks to date, reporting that effective fisheries governance is yielding measurable progress. According to the review, 64.5 percent of fishery stocks are being fished within biologically sustainable levels, while 35.5 percent are classified as overfished. When weighted by production volume, 77.2 percent of global fish landings come from sustainable sources.
The report highlights that in regions with strong institutions, consistent monitoring, and science-based management—such as the Northeast and Southwest Pacific—sustainability rates are well above average. In the Antarctic, all assessed stocks are sustainably fished, demonstrating the potential of ecosystem-based approaches and international collaboration.
David Agnew, Executive Secretary of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, emphasized that such results show the benefits of “strong institutions, consistent and comprehensive monitoring, [and] the integration of scientific evidence into management decisions.”
Even in areas under pressure, signs of improvement are emerging. In the Mediterranean and Black Sea, only one-third of stocks are sustainably fished, but fishing pressure has dropped by 30 percent, and biomass has increased 15 percent since 2013—an early sign that coordinated efforts are beginning to pay off.
Retailer Cyberattacks on the Rise
Cyberattacks are increasingly targeting major retailers, disrupting supply chains and leaving store shelves empty.
United Natural Foods, a key distributor for Whole Foods and other grocers, confirmed on June 9 that a breach forced it to take systems offline, significantly hampering its ability to fulfill orders. The impact was “very, very significant,” according to a Whole Foods employee, who noted widespread shortages and delivery issues.
In the United Kingdom, hackers attacked several major retailers. Marks & Spencer customers were unable to place online orders for more than six weeks, and shoppers faced limited options in stores. The Co-op reported similar disruptions, particularly in remote regions where stock was already stretched thin.
Cybersecurity analysts say the food and agriculture sector now ranks as the seventh most targeted industry in ransomware attacks. John Hultquist of Google’s Threat Intelligence Group warns that retailers face “acute pressure” from cybercriminals and advised companies to take a “hard look at their defenses.”
Uncertainty from the Trump Administration Amid ICE Raids on Farms
As the Trump administration sends mixed signals on immigration actions in agriculture, federal agents are continuing to detain food and farm workers.
Federal immigration agents arrested dozens of food and farm workers last week at meatpacking plants, farms, hotels, and restaurants across the country as part of widespread effort to detain people without legal status.
The crackdown triggered backlash, including a call from agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins relaying that farmers and agriculture groups were increasingly uneasy. On social media, President Trump acknowledged his immigration policies are hurting the farming and hotel industries, and promised that “changes are coming.”
The Trump administration directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to hold on raids and arrests in the agricultural industry, hotels and restaurants. But the United Farm Workers (UFW) dismissed the pause as hollow, calling it “bullshit” and accusing the administration of continuing arrests in farmworker communities despite the announcement.
Days later, the Washington Posts reported that no policy changes were underway and that Trump’s social media post was intended to soothe industry leaders in the agriculture and hospitality fields. Meanwhile, White House Border Czar Tom Homan is promising an expansion of immigration action throughout the country and more worksite enforcement than the nation’s has historically seen. And Trump has doubled down on immigration, urging agents to carry out the “single largest Mass Deportation Program in History” and calling for action in cities, which he referred to as “the Democrat Power Center.”
Author and journalist Chloe Sorvino called the strategy a “dangerous game,” warning that the ripple effects would reverberate across the food system. “Immigrants power it all,” she writes—farming, packing, processing, and cooking—and many of those jobs, she noted, would otherwise go unfilled.
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Photo courtesy of Landsmann, Unsplash
