Each week, Food Tank is rounding up a few news stories that inspire excitement, infuriation, or curiosity.
Tribal Nations Move Toward Establishing Formal Agricultural Authorities
Tribal nations are increasingly moving to establish formal departments of agriculture as part of a broader effort to assert their sovereign authority and control over food systems. The Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF) and the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative (IFAI) are encouraging tribes to occupy this regulatory space before state or federal agencies do so by default.
Though tribes hold inherent powers of self-government and sovereign authority, including the ability to regulate food safety, land use, and public health, only a handful of the 574 federally recognized tribes have formalized that authority through dedicated agriculture departments.
One example is the Oneida Nation, which adopted a food sovereignty policy and established self-regulation to support local food enterprises. “It’s such a great example of exercising tribal sovereignty and self-regulation,” says Vanessa Miller, food and agriculture area manager for Oneida Nation.
NAAF and IFAI recently worked with the members of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) to pass a resolution supporting the establishment and empowerment of Tribal Departments of Agriculture.
Such departments can help tribes “steward their lands, support their people, and ensure agriculture leads to healthy food on tables, income for producers, and futures for our next generation,” according to NCAI President Mark Macarro. Kelli Case, senior attorney with IFAI, highlights the importance of food systems to sovereignty, stating, “Tribes cannot be truly sovereign unless they can feed themselves.”
Chile’s Wildfires Are Burning Far Larger Areas Than Usual
Chile is facing a severe wildfire season marked not by an unusually high number of fires, but by the scale and intensity of the land being burned.
Recent wildfires in central and southern Chile have swept through forests and farmland, and killed at least 20 people, forcing around 50,000 people to flee, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The fires have destroyed at least 325 homes and tens of thousands of hectares of land.
Scientists say the total number of fires this season remains within typical ranges, but the area burned is nearly three times larger than average.
“We are living [in] a particularly critical situation that is very far from the usual averages,” says Miguel Castillo, Director of the Forest Fire Engineering Laboratory at the University of Chile.
Experts link the fires’ rapid spread to high summer temperatures, prolonged drought, strong winds, and changes in land-use patterns that allow flames to move. Virginia Iglesias, Director of Earth Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder, says preventing future disasters will require reducing ignitions, managing fuels, addressing climate change, and redesigning communities to limit fire risk.
WHO Releases New Global Guidelines on Healthy Eating in Schools
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released new global guidelines to help Member States develop evidence-based policies that improve school food environments and promote healthy eating among children. The guidelines aim to address rising rates of diet-related disease by targeting the foods available, sold, and promoted in schools.
“Getting nutrition right at school is critical for preventing disease later in life and creating healthier adults,” says WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The recommendations call for increasing access to nutritious foods through standards for school meals and foods sold on campus, alongside “nudging” interventions that encourage healthier choices without restricting options.
WHO data show that 104 countries have policies on healthy school food, and nearly three-quarters include mandatory nutrition criteria, but only 48 restrict marketing of foods high in sugar, salt, or unhealthy fats.
The agency says stronger action is needed as childhood overweight and obesity continue to rise globally. In 2025, the number of school-aged children living with obesity—about one in ten worldwide—surpassed the number who are underweight, underscoring the urgency of healthier school food policies.
Ethiopia Faces Growing Hunger Crisis in the Face of USAID Cuts
Humanitarian conditions in Ethiopia have deteriorated following the suspension of U.S. food assistance, particularly in the northern Tigray region. Before the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) halted aid in 2023, Ethiopia, grappling with drought and civil conflict, received over US$1 billion in US emergency aid, making it the largest recipient of US assistance in sub-Saharan Africa and the fifth biggest in the world.
As a result of the aid cuts, over 2 million people missed out on food distributions in 2025, and an estimated 3.6 million could lose access to aid without an immediate increase in funding. Around 650,000 women and children are also at risk of losing access to malnutrition treatment. Armed conflict continues to trigger displacement and disrupt daily life, while years of strain have weakened health services, food systems, and other infrastructure.
In Tigray, where an estimated 80 percent of the population requires emergency support, funding cuts have severely limited food distributions. “It’s not conflicts that will ultimately kill us, but famine,” says Niyreao Wubet, a resident near the Eritrean border.
Although the U.S. has announced the partial resumption of aid, little has reached the hardest-hit areas. “It’s like pouring a glass of water in a lake,” says camp coordinator Abraha Mebrathu.
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Photo courtesy of Emma Renly, Unsplash
