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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Wolfberry farmers in China were caught smoking their crops with industrial sulfur to preserve them.</li><li>Chinese state media aired clips of workers washing the berries in thick, foaming chemicals.</li></ul>Chinese state broadcaster CCTV has unveiled details of a second major food scandal to rock the country this year, this time involving wolfberries smoked and soaked in prohibited chemicals.In a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://tv.cctv.com/2024/09/02/VIDEdBIwDvj7LcJh8a7eH9Ys240902.shtml?spm=C52448022284.P5Ttlwv9L2md.0.0">report aired on Sunday,</a> the broadcaster spoke to wolfberry farmers and merchants in a region spanning 14 towns in Jingyuan County, Gansu province. The report also covered farms in Golmud, a city in Qinghai province.At least half a dozen farm workers and dealers openly described on camera how farms would soak the berries in sodium metabisulfite, a banned substance in the industry, and spray them with industrial sulfur to preserve their appearance."The ones smoked with sulfur are red and beautiful," one store owner told the broadcaster. "With the sulfur, you can store it longer, and pests don't grow. Its toxicity is high."CCTV <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://tv.cctv.com/2024/09/02/VIDEp9rMWUjeopakjL2wfnG8240902.shtml?spm=C52448022284.P5Ttlwv9L2md.0.0">aired footage</a> of farm workers preparing vats of thick, foaming sodium metabisulfite before washing the wolfberries in the hazardous chemical. Sodium metabisulfite is sometimes used in food preservation but is prohibited in the local wolfberry industry, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202409/02/WS66d5ae12a3108f29c1fc9ac8.html">per state media.</a>Some farms would also add in the step of smoking the wolfberries with industrial sulfur in place of sun-drying their crop, according to clips published by CCTV.Wolfberries, also known as goji berries, are popular in Chinese traditional medicine and dishes such as hotpot, and were marketed as a superfood in the West. In 2023, mainland China exported an estimated <a target="_blank" class="" href="http://www.forestry.gov.cn/c/www/lcdt/582002.jhtml#:~:text=2023%E5%B9%B4%EF%BC%8C%E6%88%91%E5%9B%BD%E6%9E%B8%E6%9D%9E%E5%87%BA%E5%8F%A3,%E5%85%83%EF%BC%8C%E5%90%8C%E6%AF%94%E5%A2%9E%E5%8A%A023.1%25%E3%80%82">14,000 metric tons of wolfberries.</a>"People like you who sell in other places all have no idea," one merchant told CCTV. "It just has a nice appearance."Many of the merchants and farmers spoke of the harms of consuming wolfberries tainted by the chemicals but said the practice was common."With sulfur, you sell at 17 yuan to 18 yuan per catty. Without smoking, it's 10 yuan per catty, 9 yuan per catty. That's not a good price," one rural farm worker said.CCTV said its staff tested the wolfberries and found them all unsafe for consumption.A day after the report was released, the Jingyuan County Food Safety Committee office announced that it had launched an investigation into local wolfberry production and sales."Those responsible for violations of the law and regulations will be severely punished according to the law," the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/DvTSegyCLIRguY1UukJSlw">office said in a statement.</a>The Golmud city government released a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Q7_LJW2fn9XOwe2IJ3L7fg">similar statement on Monday.</a>The wolfberry scandal comes just two months after another major food-related safety incident stunned the country.In early July, state outlet Beijing News said it had uncovered multiple instances of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-panics-open-secret-cooking-oil-fuel-chemical-tanks-2024-7">unwashed chemical tankers being used to transport cooking oil</a>. The practice had become so common that workers spoke of it as an industry standard, per the outlet.China has been plagued for decades by a history of food scandals — from contaminated milk powder to gutter oil being re-used in restaurants — that's whittled away <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-food-scandal-middle-class-buy-direct-farms-2021-12">domestic consumer faith in commercially sold foods.</a>Since his early days as China's top leader, Xi Jinping has promised to crack down on food safety breaches, saying they would be central to how people perceived the government."If our party, while governing China, cannot even ensure food safety, and cannot do so over the long term, then people will start to question whether we are qualified to govern," he said in 2013.Allegations of excessive sulfur fumigation in the Chinese traditional medicine industry have surfaced before, leading retailers to often sell wolfberries and other products as <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.amazon.sg/Navitas-Organics-Goji-Berries-Servings/dp/B0011DV71G/ref=sr_1_17?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.HVh8bnK8_IC8uNn8Dln163TK7bAVj1d1xI23neIf9Ol2WvrqAhsYO1pHfm5WeygPqPVzZheHkjrlKiIcjPictViMJibpkBM8ttiCrr3a0HgfQTOO6RrquzAvWESXMzQvkgWwQYgoWrb9mLGgFAotOkPQSD7ZKghZvi7uKzZWTdAsoM1yefAbzIrMxD-fw1ZRbPmlrdotrKGC4n7l3zwKzRJJr-hWiQeSrf8EfMF42Rbz35yVlqYGr4d0S5ZpDSlAWXW-Eot6yTpMnT7qgXVDL-ezzDE4RZB6WkckjruhKWI.fhQHJMO3J6mR1Da_icWJlNVaHNyVjBhLGrjJkkxEuj4&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=wolfberry&amp;qid=1725340991&amp;sr=8-17">"sulfite-free."</a>

Chinese farmers across 14 towns are spraying industrial sulfur on wolfberries so they'd be 'red and beautiful:' state media

Former <keyword id="19904807" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Haryana" source="keywords">Haryana</keyword> Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh <keyword id="20201620" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hooda" source="keywords">Hooda</keyword> on Tuesday said that <keyword id="19934969" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="farmers" source="keywords">farmers</keyword>' plight, <keyword id="21440881" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Agnipath" source="keywords">Agnipath</keyword>, <keyword id="19916979" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="unemployment" source="keywords">unemployment</keyword>, <keyword id="19938433" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="law-and-order" source="keywords">law and order</keyword>, and <keyword id="19895000" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="inflation" source="keywords">inflation</keyword> were key issues which the ruling <keyword id="19894848" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="BJP" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="BJP" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="BJP">BJP</keyword> failed to address. As the <keyword id="19895371" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Congress" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Congress" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Congress">Congress</keyword> appeared set to wrest five Lok Sabha seats from the ruling BJP in Haryana, Hooda said that he had been saying "there is a wave blowing in favour of the Congress". "You asked me about exit polls predicting most seats to the BJP, to which I said wait for the actual poll results on June 4," the Congress veteran said. Haryana is known for "jai jawan, jai kisan, jai pehalwan". "But what did they (BJP) do. They brought Agniveer (Agnipath scheme), which faced opposition from the youth. They did not redress farmers' issues. And everyone knows the treatment that was meted to our wrestler daughters, who had to protest (at Delhi's Jantar Mantar)," he said. Hooda said that unemployment increased in the state during the BJP rule while the law and order situation also deteriorated. He claimed that the Congress' performance in the <keyword id="19912155" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lok-Sabha-polls" source="keywords">Lok Sabha polls</keyword> in the state will have an impact on the Vidhan Sabha elections, which are due in October. "This is clear indication that people of Haryana have made up their mind to bring the Congress to power in the Assembly polls," Hooda claimed. Referring to the Lok Sabha polls, Hooda said people have supported the Congress. The Congress leader said that he had been maintaining that BJP will be "wiped out in south, halved in north" "Look at Haryana and Rajasthan...People have given us good support," he added. On the BJP's claims that NDA will win 400 seats this time, Hooda said, "I had been saying that it was a mere slogan. In Haryana too, in the 2019 Assembly polls, the BJP had given slogan of 'Abki baar 75 paar' (claiming to win 75 of the 90 seats). Everyone knows how many seats they later won. (BJP had won 40 seats)." Hooda said that he had maintained that it will be a direct fight between the Congress and BJP in Haryana in the Lok Sabha polls. "I had been repeatedly saying that it is going to be a direct fight between the Congress and BJP. And that has been proved," said Hooda. "The people have rejected the 'vote katu' (vote cutters) outfits," he added referring to the JJP and INLD. Going by the trends available late afternoon, the Congress appeared on course to win Ambala, Hisar, Rohtak, Sirsa and Sonipat seats. The grand old party had contested nine of the ten Lok Sabha seats leaving the Kurukshetra seat to its INDIA bloc ally AAP. AAP's Sushil Gupta, was, however, behind BJP's Naveen Jindal from the seat.

BJP failed to address key issues like inflation and unemployment, says Bhupinder Hooda

As expected, leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (<keyword id="19894848" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="BJP" source="keywords">BJP</keyword>) cannot stop singing praises of the Union Budget 2024-2025 presented by Finiance Minister <keyword id="19916618" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nirmala-Sitharaman" source="keywords">Nirmala Sitharaman</keyword> earlier today. However, moments after <keyword id="20385790" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Union-Finance-Minister" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Union Finance Minister" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Union Finance Minister">Union Finance Minister</keyword> Nirmala Sitharaman presented the <keyword id="19955368" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Budget-2024" source="keywords">Budget 2024</keyword> in Parliament, the <keyword id="19895371" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Congress" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Congress" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Congress">Congress</keyword> party launched a critical attack on the ruling Centre. They claimed that portions of the fiscal document had been lifted directly from their <keyword id="19977669" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Manifesto" source="keywords">manifesto</keyword> for the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year. <h2><keyword id="19895780" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rahul-Gandhi" source="keywords">Rahul Gandhi</keyword>'s "Kursi Bachao" Budget comment</h2>Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi criticised the Budget, describing it as the "Kursi Bachao" (Save the Seat) Budget, aimed at appeasing the BJP's allies and cronies. He alleged that the document was copied from the Congress party's Lok Sabha polls manifesto. "Kursi Bachao Budget. Appease Allies: Hollow promises to them at the cost of other states. Appease Cronies: Benefits to AA with no relief for the common Indian. Copy and Paste: Congress manifesto and previous budgets," Gandhi said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). <div type="twitter" handle="RahulGandhi" handlename="RahulGandhi" favoritecount="0" retweetcount="0" id="1815672226584166514"></div><h2><keyword id="19934649" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="P-Chidambaram" source="keywords">P Chidambaram</keyword> takes dig at the Nirmala Sitharaman</h2>Former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram expressed his satisfaction over what he perceived as the government's adoption of ideas originally proposed by the Congress. "I am happy the Union Finance Minister has virtually adopted the Employment-linked Incentive (ELI) outlined on page 30 of the Congress Manifesto," tweeted Chidambaram. He further noted his approval of the introduction of an apprenticeship scheme with allowances for apprentices, a concept detailed on page 11 of the Congress Manifesto. <div type="twitter" handle="PChidambaram_IN" handlename="PChidambaram_IN" favoritecount="0" retweetcount="0" id="1815638125168783772"></div> <div type="twitter" handle="PChidambaram_IN" handlename="PChidambaram_IN" favoritecount="0" retweetcount="0" id="1815641688922063221"></div><h2><keyword id="19897159" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mallikarjun-Kharge" source="keywords">Mallikarjun Kharge</keyword> highlights 10 areas the Budget 2024 went wrong</h2>The President of the Indian National Congress Karge called the <keyword id="19916814" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Modi-Government" source="keywords">Modi Government</keyword> a "copycat" while going on to suggest that they could not even copy Congress' justice agenda properly. Here’s an English translation of his tweet: “The Modi Government's budget is distributing half-hearted "rewadis" to dupe its coalition partners so that the NDA survives. This is not a budget for "progress of the country", it is a "save Modi government" budget! 1. After 10 years, limited announcements have been made for the youth who are bearing the brunt of the slogan of two crore jobs per year. 2. Only superficial talks have been held for farmers, one and a half times MSP and doubling of income - all turned out to be electoral fraud! This government has no intention of increasing rural wages. 3. There is no revolutionary scheme for Dalits, Adivasis, backward classes, minorities, middle class and rural poor people like the one implemented by Congress-UPA. The word "poor" has become just a means of self-branding, there is nothing concrete! 4. There is nothing in this budget for women that would enhance their economic capacity and enable them to participate more and more in the workforce. 5. On the contrary, the government is patting its back on the back for rising inflation; it is robbing people of their hard-earned money and distributing it among its capitalist friends! 6. Less money has been spent on agriculture, health, education, public welfare and tribals than the budget allocation because these are not the priorities of the BJP. Similarly, Rs 1 lakh crore less has been spent on Capital Expenditure, so how will jobs increase? 7. Urban Development, Rural Development, Infrastructure, Manufacturing, MSME, Investment, EV scheme - only Document, Policy, Vision, Review etc. have been discussed, but no major announcement has been made. 8. Railway accidents are happening every day, trains have been stopped, the number of coaches has been reduced, ordinary passengers are troubled, but nothing has been said about the railways in the budget, there is no accountability. 9. Nothing has been said about Census and caste census, whereas this is the fifth budget which is being presented without Census! This is a shocking and unprecedented failure - which is against democracy and the Constitution! 10. On 20 May 2024, i.e. during the elections, Modi ji claimed in an interview that "We already have a 100-day action plan "... When the Action Plan was there two months ago, they should have at least told it in the budget! There is no plan in the budget and BJP is only busy in the action of cheating the public.” <div type="twitter" handle="kharge" handlename="kharge" favoritecount="0" retweetcount="0" id="1815669463284416605"></div> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="111917247" title="Budget 2024: Can Lakhpati Didi Yojana’s reality inspire better focus on women?" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div><h2>Jairam Ramesh accuses Centre of stealing ideas from the Congress</h2>In her Budget address, Sitharaman announced that the government would provide a month's wage to all first-time employees in formal sectors. This direct benefit transfer, disbursed in three installments, will cover employees registered with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and amount up to ₹15,000 per individual. The eligibility limit is set at ₹1 lakh per month, potentially benefiting 2.1 crore youth across the country. Congress MP and communications in charge Jairam Ramesh also accused the Finance Minister of taking ideas from the Congress's "Nyay Patra 2024." He claimed the internship program announced in the budget was a clear adaptation of the Congress's proposed Apprenticeship Program called "Pehli Naukri Pakki." He also insinuated that this particular scheme seemed to have been come up with in haste. <div type="twitter" handle="jairam_ramesh" handlename="jairam_ramesh" favoritecount="0" retweetcount="0" id="1815714388340568111"></div>Ramesh critiqued the government's approach, describing it as a "festive offer" designed to capture headlines with arbitrary targets, such as the promise of one crore internships. He argued that the Congress's vision offered a programmatic guarantee for all diploma holders and graduates, rather than the broad and unfocused targets announced by the government. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="111944393" title="Here&amp;#39;s a quick overview of PM Modi 3.0 government&amp;#39;s first budget, to be presented by FM Nirmala Sitharaman today" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>Ramesh also pointedly criticised the government over a special package for Andhra Pradesh, highlighting a ₹15,000 crore allocation aimed at developing Amaravati, the state's capital city and a significant project for Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. "Why has it taken 10 years to announce that what was already committed to in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 will be implemented?" questioned Ramesh in a post on X.

From ‘Copycat’ to ‘Kursi Bachao Budget' — Here’s what Rahul and other Congress leaders had to say about Budget 2024

<ul class="summary-list"><li>European farmers have blocked roads and sprayed government buildings with manure in recent weeks.</li><li>They're rallying against the European Union's "Green Deal" and soaring inflation.</li></ul>Europe's farmers aren't happy — and they're using tractors, tires and manure to show it.In recent weeks they've been taking to the streets over a string of grievances, including the European Union's efforts to go climate-neutral and high inflation that's pushed up their costs.As well as protests in the center of cities such as Paris and Barcelona, farmers have blocked major roads with their tractors and even taken to setting hay bales alight and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.france24.com/en/video/20240125-en-grab-french-farmers">spraying liquid manure</a> at government buildings to show their displeasure.<div type="image" title="Farmers have captured France's attention by showering government offices with manure and besieging Paris with traffic-snarling barricades of tractors and hay bales." height="5623" width="8435" msid="107556138" hostid="261" sizebytes="2258940"></div><h2>What are the farmers angry about?</h2>The main source of discontent is the <a target="_blank" href="https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en">Green Deal</a>, the European Union's initiative to make Europe "climate neutral" by 2050.Russia's invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago fueled double-digit inflation across the continent, with the cost of everything from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pope-francis-global-food-crisis-russia-black-sea-grain-deal-2023-7">grain</a> to <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/diesel-prices-soar-supply-crisis-gas-station-rationing-inflation-2022-5">diesel</a> soaring.Farmers say their profits aren't high enough to justify investing in sustainable agriculture and say they need more help from the EU, despite it setting aside about $300 billion of aid over the next three years.<div type="image" title="Farmers in Italy protest the EU's agricultural policies." height="5122" width="7682" msid="107556140" hostid="261" sizebytes="1365856"></div>They're also rallying against the EU decision to sign free-trade agreements with other countries, including New Zealand, <a target="_blank" href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2024/02/08/could-the-eus-trade-deal-with-kenya-strengthen-the-african-continental-free-trade-area/">Kenya</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-29/macron-asks-eu-s-von-der-leyen-to-stop-mercosur-trade-deal">South America's Mercosur group</a>, arguing that those deals will allow overseas farmers to undercut their prices.<h2>How are they protesting?</h2>Protesters across the continent have marched under banners reading "no farmers, no food" to show their opposition to the EU's agricultural policies.Last week, the situation escalated when farmers from Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, and Greece all gathered at the European Parliament in Brussels where they <a target="_blank" href="https://time.com/6632372/farmer-protests-europe-france-germany-brussels/">set bonfires and hurled eggs</a> at EU offices.<div type="image" title="Farmers gather to protest outside the European Parliament in Brussels." height="3335" width="5000" msid="107556144" hostid="261" sizebytes="706576"></div>Over the past few days, further protests have broken out in Barcelona, where tractors have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spanish-farmers-blockade-roads-second-day-against-eu-policies-2024-02-07/">clogged up key roads</a>, and Cyprus, where farmers <a target="_blank" href="https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/farmers-rev-up-tractors-in-protest-against-eu-agricultural-policies">took to the streets</a> for the third time in eight months.They've also dumped tires on roads in France to demand government aid worth hundreds of millions of euros.<div type="image" title="Tires dumped on a road in Vesoul, eastern France." height="683" width="1024" msid="107556148" hostid="261" sizebytes="117402"></div><h2>How has the EU responded?</h2>The EU said Wednesday that it would scrap plans to force farmers to halve their pesticide use by 2030 — one contentious element of the Green Deal.It's also tweaked the constraints imposed by a key nature-restoration policy and punted on a requirement to force farmers to leave more of their land fallow.<div type="image" title="Farmers in Strasbourg protest the EU's anti-pesticides proposal." height="4002" width="6000" msid="107556150" hostid="261" sizebytes="572368"></div>But EU president Ursula von der Leyden has doubled down on plans to cut emissions by 90% by 2040, suggesting that she's gearing up for a longer-term fight with the agricultural sector. Politicians have been reluctant to join her in that battle.French president Emmanuel Macron has publicly rebuked the EU deal with Mercosur, likely in a bid to quell protests at home, while right-wing leaders like Hungary's Viktor Orban have stoked tensions in a bid to boost their anti-green and anti-EU credentials."The government stands together with the farmers and not against them," Cyprus' agriculture minister Maria Panayiotou said this week after protests broke out in the capital, Nicosia.Farming subsidies accounted for almost a third of the EU's budget in 1980, but that proportion has now fallen to just under a quarter.

Angry European farmers are blocking freeways with tractors and spraying manure on buildings over green push

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Ahmed Sourani of Gaza came to the UN climate summit to accept a $1 million prize for his nonprofit.</li><li>He said the money will go to emergency food aid and rebuilding small farms when the war ends. </li></ul>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Ahmed Sourani was physically in Dubai, but his mind was in Gaza.The founder of a nonprofit that promotes local food production and women-owned businesses traveled to this year's UN climate summit to accept a $1 million sustainability prize from the United Arab Emirates.Back home, his wife, children, and grandchildren were in the south of Gaza in shelters, having fled from the northern part of the strip that's <a target="_blank" href="https://sheltercluster.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/public/docs/SC-PC%20Joint%20advocacy%20note_241123-1.pdf?VersionId=kPEn3lsQx.2lA5.f5YXzNV3vuWmntrxi">largely been reduced to rubble</a> by the Israeli military's bombardments."We are praying all the time for a lasting ceasefire," Sourani, founder and general coordinator of Gaza Urban and Periurban Agriculture Platform, told Business Insider over Zoom. "That's our most important wish."The Israel-Hamas war erupted after the militant group Hamas and other Palestinian fighters attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 civilians, according to Israeli authorities. Israel has responded with a now two-month-long air and ground campaign that has killed more than 17,000 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians and many of them children, according to Gazan health officials.<div type="image" title="UN workers gesture as trucks carrying aid arrive at the Palestinian side of the border with Egypt, as the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas continues, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, October 21, 2023." height="2496" width="3744" msid="105912529" hostid="261" sizebytes="276328"></div>Israel has pushed into southern Gaza, where millions of residents were previously told to evacuate. Hospitals, refugee camps, and schools have all been hit by bombing, and Gazans are in desperate need of food, water, and shelter, humanitarian groups say."Nowhere is safe in Gaza," United Nations Secretary General <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW1HFaHcl0c">Antonio Guterres said</a>. He <a target="_blank" href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/12/1144447">invoked a rarely used power, known as Article 99</a>, to call on the 15-member UN Security Council to vote for a ceasefire. But the US for the third time blocked the resolution on Friday, the sole veto. The UK abstained and 13 other countries voted in favor.Even before the war, the majority of Gazans struggled to find food on a daily basis and relied on aid distributed by the UN, Sourani said. Most farming in the densely populated strip is done on small plots in urban areas or just outside the cities.Israel has maintained tight control over the territory through a land, air, and sea blockade since 2007, after Hamas was elected to power, while Egypt controls the southern border. Israel provides half of the Gaza Strip's electricity and there are restrictions on the movement of people and goods.<h2>Food insecurity is a constant problem in Gaza</h2>Sourani said the food insecurity crisis is why he founded the Gaza Urban and Periurban Agriculture Platform six years ago. The nonprofit has helped expand access to local food and boost incomes for family farmers, particularly women.Before the war, there were about 3,000 micro-agricultural businesses led by women, such as crop and animal production and food processing, Sourani said. The nonprofit works on developing more markets in grocery stores and malls, securing quality control certificates for their products, and providing opportunities for women to network and speak with policymakers."We need to help women restore their enterprises and the thousands of families who are in need of food, especially those who are displaced in the shelters," Sourani said.He estimated that at least 50% of those enterprises have been completely or partially destroyed during the war, with hundreds of millions of dollars lost.Sourani said it was a difficult decision to leave Gaza to accept the Zayed Sustainability Prize, but he had the support of his family and help from the UAE and its humanitarian arm, the Emirates Red Crescent, to get to Dubai.He felt it was important to share the mission of the Gaza Urban and Periurban Agriculture Platform and be a voice for Palestine at the UN summit attended by more than 100,000 world leaders, foreign diplomats, corporate executives, reporters, and activists.Palestine can speak at UN meetings, but <a target="_blank" href="https://www.un.org/unispal/history/">has non-member observer status</a> and therefore can't vote on resolutions — including on the war in Gaza.<h2>Protests spill into the UN summit in Dubai</h2>The war has at times spilled into the UN climate summit, known as COP28, including during the first days as world leaders arrived to give speeches. The Iranian delegation left Dubai in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.irna.ir/news/85308217/%D9%87%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%AC%D9%85%D9%87%D9%88%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%DB%8C-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%84-%DA%A9%D9%86%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B3-%D8%AA%D8%BA%DB%8C%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%82%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%85%DB%8C-%D8%B1%D8%A7-%D8%AA%D8%B1%DA%A9-%DA%A9%D8%B1%D8%AF">protest of Israel's presence</a>. On Saturday, hundreds of climate activists, many wearing the black and white checkered keffiyeh and holding up watermelon signs that are both symbols of Palestinians, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-activists-join-palestinian-cause-during-rare-protest-in-dubai-2023-12">marched through Expo City</a> where the summit is being hosted. They called for a ceasefire and an end to Israel's occupation of Palestine.<div type="image" title="Protesters march at the UN climate summit in Dubai." height="3024" width="4032" msid="105912530" hostid="261" sizebytes="887804"></div>"We cannot talk about climate change in isolation from the humanitarian tragedies unfolding around us," Jordanian King Abdullah II said during his speech at the start of COP28. "The massive destruction of war makes the environmental threats of water scarcity and food insecurity even more severe."Palestinians have little say over land and water resources, Sourani said, which is why climate justice is so important.He said the prize money awarded to the Gaza Urban and Periurban Agriculture Platform will be used for emergency response to help distribute food aid to the 1.9 million Gazans – or 85% of the population – <a target="_blank" href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/unrwa-situation-report-47-situation-gaza-strip-and-west-bank-including-east-jerusalem-information-valid-6-december-2023-2230-local-time-day-61-hostilities-published-8-december-2023-enar#:~:text=Since%207%20October%2C%20up%20to,again%20in%20search%20of%20safety.">who've been displaced by the war</a> and to help women restore their businesses when the war is over."The world is thirsty for real and just peace," Sourani said.

As hunger worsens in Gaza, one man wants to help local farmers feed families

<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/innovation-leaders"></a><div type="image" title="Robin Saluoks is co-founder and acting CIO of the climate technology company eAgronom." height="3574" width="4765" msid="93060919" hostid="261" sizebytes="1044870"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Robin Saluoks is cofounder and CEO of eAgronom, a climate technology company based in Estonia that helps farmers break into sustainable production.</li><li>In a recent interview with Insider, Saluoks gave us a bird's eye view of his company's journey and his approach to driving innovation. </li></ul>Robin Saluoks is cofounder and CEO of climate technology company eAgronom, which helps farmers build more sustainable businesses using AI and other innovative technologies. The company has more than 1,500 agribusiness customers managing 1m+ hectares of land across Europe. In a recent interview with Insider, Saluoks gave us a bird's eye view of his company's journey and his approach to driving innovation for local farmers:<h3>What is the biggest business challenge you're facing at the moment, and how are you tackling it?</h3>One of the biggest business challenges we face is finding ways to better connect stakeholders working on genuine climate targets with partners who work on projects that sequester CO2 from the atmosphere. More specifically, we are working with farmers who want to bring sustainable changes to their farms but struggle to do so in a way that makes sense for them in the short term and profitably.<h3>How does tech help you drive innovation?</h3>We are developing tools to calculate emissions on farms and verify if the data is correct to produce <keyword id="14530199" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="carbon-credits" source="Orion">carbon credits</keyword> aligned with guidelines. Our core technology revolves around data collecting and data verifying tooling for land use management, which is easy for farmers to plug in and perform their own data analysis for measuring, reporting, and verification (MRV). We also integrate machine learning and satellite monitoring into our platform to make data more robust.<h3> What are your current growth plans?</h3>Earlier this year, we raised a Series A round of funding to help us optimize the farmer onboarding process, set up new global dealerships, and launch the eAgronom Carbon Program. We have also launched a program to finance high-quality carbon sequestration projects by pre-purchasing the credits, so that farmers and landowners no longer need to wait for five years or more to receive the funds and can get started on future-proofing their farms today.<h3>Who do you partner with internally and externally to drive business and tech decisions?</h3>As a climate tech working in farm management, we have always believed that it should be farmers first. As we scale and partner with other business stakeholders, we continue to work hand-in-hand with farmers to understand their needs and deliver practical solutions. Dealing with solutions for the climate, we also work with scientists from different universities and data experts to avoid greenwashing and strengthen genuine climate commitments. We are engaging with highly-credible external auditors to verify the Carbon Removal Units (CRUs), as well as organizations that set carbon accounting standards.<h3>How excited are you about the technology of the future and what it means for your business and your sector?</h3>As an optimist, I see enormous growth opportunities ahead in the agritech and climate tech sectors. Brilliant solutions are being developed across the industry — from carbon sequestration and storage to green energy solutions — and not just on the technology side. We are also seeing a major integration of agroecological knowledge in the industry. For me, this is an excellent sign that more people from different backgrounds are collaborating to produce solutions ready to be used in the market.

Cofounder and CEO of climate technology company eAgronom uses 'farmers first' mindset to drive innovation and lower barriers to sustainable agriculture

New Delhi, People have reposed their faith in "<keyword id="19699064" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="modis-guarantees" source="Orion">Modi's guarantees</keyword>," BJP leaders chimed together on Sunday as the party appeared set on the path of victory in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh assembly elections. "The election results show people accept Prime Minister Narendra Modi's guarantee of delivering on guarantees," BJP leader and Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said here. Joshi, who was BJP's election-in-charge for Rajasthan, took a dig at the Congress and promises it made in the run up to the elections. "People have blessed BJP in three states, endorsed Prime Minister Modi's leadership and rejected Congress' false promises," Joshi said. Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and BJP leader Raman Singh said in Raipur,"People have reposed their trust in Modi's guarantees." Singh said the people have voted in the name of Modi and for his work over the past nine-and-half years. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan -- who is looking at his fifth term -- gave Modi's aggressive campaign ahead of the assembly election the credit for the party's performance. "Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji is in the hearts of the people of Madhya Pradesh. The state is also in the heart of Modi ji. There is immense faith towards him. He held public meetings here and appealed to the people which has touched the people's hearts," Chouhan said in Bhopal. Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said it was Modi's belief in taking everyone together that worked for the party. "This victory is of the mantra of 'Sabka saath, sabka vishwas and sabka prayaas' given by Prime Minister Modi. It is the victory of the guarantee given by the Prime Minister. It is also the victory of the strategy given by Amit Shah and the able leadership provided by Nadda ji," she said. "Most importantly, it is a victory for our party workers," Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath hailed the party's victory as a result of guidance of PM Modi. "Under the leadership and guidance of respected Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji, BJP's hattrick of huge majority in terms election results in three of the four states, is a 'guarantee of people's trust' on the 'guarantee of Modi,'" he wrote on X. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said the victory was an indicator of what is to come in 2024. "The Ghamandiya alliance's arrogance has been shattered. The INDI alliance has neither leaders, nor policy... For 2024, the indication is clear, the world has faith in India and India's leadership. If India progresses, the world will progress," Thakur said. In Chhattisgarh, the BJP manifesto -- 'Modi ki Guarantee 2023' -- promised cooking gas cylinders at Rs 500 to poor families, one lakh government jobs, and a Rs 12,000 annual financial assistance to married women. The BJP had also promised to procure paddy at Rs 3,100 per quintal and an annual assistance of Rs 10,000 to land less farm labourers. Free food grain, income assistance for farmers, housing for all, 100 per cent electrification of villages, and tap water to every home, were listed by the party as some of Modi's guarantees. "All promises made to you will be fulfilled. This is my guarantee," Modi had said addressing a rally in MP last month. During several of rallies he took a dig at the Congress for its set of promises. "Those who do not have any guarantee about themselves are offering guarantees to the people," Modi had said at a rally in MP. "Modi's guarantees begin from where hope from others ends. That is why Modi's guarantees are popular," the prime minister had said on the campaign trail. In Jaipur, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat took a jibe at Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, saying people have come out of the spell of the "magician." "The 'magic' has ended and Rajasthan has come out of the spell of the magician. People have voted for the honour of women and for the welfare of the poor," he said. Gehlot was born into a family of magicians and assisted his father during his tours. Congress had unleashed the politics of guarantee during Karnataka assembly elections in May, making five distinct promises to the electorate - monthly cash assistance to women head of families, 200 units of free electricity, unemployment allowance to youth, free food grains, and free travel for women on state transport buses. The party tried to replicate the template in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Rajasthan. Modi turned on the heat on the Congress by projecting himself as a leader who has delivered on the promises made by him to help the common man meet his aspirations. "Modi Yaani Har Guarantee Poori Hone Ki Guarantee (Modi means the guarantee to fulfill every guarantee)," the prime minister had said in an article last week. "'Modi Ki Guarantee' denotes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to the aspirations of the common man. It echoes the resolution of his government to serve the last man standing. It allows us to witness a political phenomenon, hitherto missing, where promises carry meaning and are executed meaningfully," he had said. Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina said, "Today, the Congress headquarters in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are wearing a deserted look. The Congress and National Conference will face the same fate during assembly polls in J-K." The race amongst political parties to offer freebies to the voters triggered a debate on burden on the state exchequer.

Victory of Modi's guarantees, say BJP leaders as party sweeps states states

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Three years after he criticized Chinese regulators, Alibaba's cofounder Jack Ma is still lying low.</li><li>His words angered Beijing and precipitated a crackdown on his business empire.</li></ul>The Alibaba cofounder <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inspiring-life-story-of-alibaba-founder-jack-ma-2017-2#in-2005-yahoo-invested-1-billion-in-alibaba-in-exchange-for-about-a-40-stake-in-the-company-this-was-huge-for-alibaba-at-the-time-it-was-trying-to-beat-ebay-in-china-and-it-would-eventually-be-an-enormous-win-for-yahoo-too-netting-it-10-billion-in-alibabas-ipo-alone-14">Jack Ma</a> was once the invincible poster boy of Chinese tech.Outspoken and flamboyant, the tech entrepreneur was everywhere, appearing in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/06/21/alibabas-jack-ma-we-should-focus-on-customers-not-money.html">media</a> and at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/08/29/people-should-work-three-days-a-week-four-hours-a-day-jack-ma.html">conferences</a> as well as headlining <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/breaking-down-alibaba-annual-meeting-watch-ceo-jack-ma-michael-jackson-impression-2017-9">company events</a>.Savvy and outgoing — remember that time he danced to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-ma-alibaba-dance-michael-jackson-2017-9">Michael Jackson</a> in front of thousands of people? — Ma charmed millions across the globe by appearing to be the antithesis of the typical straitlaced Chinese executive keen to toe the Communist Party line. In short, Ma — a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alibaba-jack-ma/alibabas-jack-ma-is-a-communist-party-member-china-state-paper-reveals-idUSKCN1NW073/">party member</a> himself — appeared more American than Chinese.But after Ma criticized Chinese regulators, he <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-ma-other-chinese-businessmen-disappeared-public-life-2021-1">disappeared from the public eye</a> in late 2020, and Beijing cracked down on his businesses. Like many other Chinese CEOs before him, Ma vanished after falling from the party's favor, proving nobody is above the regime of China's leader, Xi Jinping.Since his run-in with Beijing, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-ma-hong-kong-resurfaces-meets-finance-execs-2023-1">Ma's whereabouts</a> and what he's been up to have been the stuff of widespread public speculation and global media headlines — originating from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-ma-appears-resurface-thailand-gives-up-control-ant-group-2023-1">social-media posts</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-ma-alibaba-founder-back-china-anger-beijing-disappear-public-2023-3">unannounced visits</a>, and unnamed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alibaba-jack-ma-tokyo-japan-china-beijing-tech-crackdown-2022-11">source tip-offs</a>.Now, it appears Ma is debuting a refreshed version of himself, in what you just might call Jack Ma 3.0.<h2>Jack Ma 1.0: A struggling teacher who wanted in on the tech scene</h2>It's easy to understand why Ma is so popular in the US and China alike. A classic rags-to-riches tale, Ma's life story resonates well with the masses.Ma, whose birth name was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alibaba-jack-ma-packaged-food-ready-meals-china-tech-crackdown-2023-11">Ma Yun</a>, was born to a poor family in Hangzhou, China.He didn't excel in school. He failed his college entrance exams twice before passing on his third try and entering Hangzhou Teachers Institute.After graduating from college in 1988, he famously applied to dozens of jobs — with an equal number of rejections, including from KFC — before he was finally hired as an English teacher.Ma has said he <a target="_blank" href="https://www.scmp.com/tech/leaders-founders/article/1819573/alibabas-jack-ma-happier-making-us12-month-living-billionaire">loved his job</a> — but it paid only $12 a month. He's also been open about the failures he's encountered throughout his career."As a young boy — even today — I never thought I would be here," Ma said at the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/30/jack-ma-dont-fear-making-mistakes-in-your-20s-and-30s.html">World Economic Forum</a> in Davos, Switzerland, in 2018. "When I look back, every problem I met when I was a kid benefited me."He started his own business in translation services in 1994, and after a business trip to the US in 1995, he launched a digital business in the early days of the internet.His first business — China Pages — failed, but he gathered a band of 17 friends in 1999 to set up Alibaba. The site they launched allowed exporters to list their products directly on the platform, ushering China into the e-commerce era.Even though Ma is arguably the most successful internet entrepreneur of this generation, he started Alibaba with no knowledge of marketing or computers.But his start as a teacher taught him how to rally the troops, identify and cultivate talent, delegate work, and chart the direction for Alibaba, he said at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/20/working-as-a-teacher-taught-alibabas-jack-ma-this-business-skill.html">Davos in 2018</a>."He was more of a teacher than a manager," Brian Wong, the 52nd employee of Alibaba, told Business Insider of Ma's management style. Wong spent nearly two decades at Alibaba over the course of three separate employment stints — from 1999 to 2020. Most recently, he was the company's group vice president and remains an advisor to an Alibaba unit focused on education and training."Jack does have an aspect of him that speaks his mind," Wong said. "For the most part, it's a positive asset in terms of how he has built the business."<h2>Jack Ma 2.0: An outgoing Big Tech exec — until he wasn't</h2>As an internet entrepreneur, Ma was pivotal in steering the company, and his charisma corralled the support he needed."He's a master at communicating a shared aspiration that so many people can relate to," said Wong.Ma cofounded Alibaba.com in June 1999. In October, the company managed to raise $5 million from the Wall Street behemoth Goldman Sachs and another $20 million from the Japanese tech investor SoftBank.The work culture at Alibaba was intense, but Ma was known for maintaining a sense of fun. In the early 2000s, when setting up the Taobao shopping platform, he made his team do headstands during breaks to boost their energy.Alibaba boomed through the 2000s in China. By the mid-2010s, Ma started dreaming beyond China.In 2014, Alibaba started trading on the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alibaba-ipo-september-19-2014-9">New York Stock Exchange</a>, making Ma the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-12-11/jack-ma-becomes-asia-s-richest-person-on-alibaba-surge">richest person in Asia</a> by the end of that year with an estimated $25 billion fortune. "What I'm thinking about is how we can make Alibaba a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-alibabas-jack-ma-isnt-scared-of-chinas-slowdown/">platform for global small business</a>," Ma told the journalist Charlie Rose at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2015.Ma himself cavorted with the biggest names in business, tech, and government globally — including <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/BillGates/status/956346059839627264">Bill Gates</a>, SoftBank CEO <a target="_blank" href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/08/tech/softbank-masayoshi-son-jack-ma-intl-hnk/index.html">Masayoshi Son</a>, and then-president-elect <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alibaba-ceo-jack-ma-meets-with-trump-pledges-1-million-us-jobs-2017-1">Donald Trump</a>.But there was a problem: Outspoken Ma was starting to outshine his political masters in Beijing, as the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ft.com/content/1fe0559f-de6d-490e-b312-abba0181da1f">Financial Times</a> reported in April 2021.Some of what he was saying could also be potentially embarrassing for Beijing, a person close to the Hangzhou government told the media outlet.After Ma openly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN27L2GW/">hit out at Chinese regulators</a> in October 2020 for stifling innovation, Beijing ran out of patience. What came next was an extended period in which he was, to the public eye, invisible.<h2>Jack Ma 3.0: a high-tech farming titan</h2>Ma had already been retired from Alibaba for about a year by the time he vanished.Even though he was lying low, Ma kept busy. Over the past two years, he has been spotted at various institutes around the world that specialize in high-tech farming.In October 2021, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3152901/jack-ma-study-tour-agriculture-europe-alibabas-founder-travels">Ma was in Spain</a> learning about agriculture and technology related to environmental issues. He has also traveled to the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://www.wur.nl/en/newsarticle/jack-ma-visits-wur-to-learn-more-about-sustainable-food-production.htm">Netherlands</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alibaba-jack-ma-tokyo-japan-china-beijing-tech-crackdown-2022-11">Japan</a>, and <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-ma-appears-resurface-thailand-gives-up-control-ant-group-2023-1">Thailand</a> to study agrotech.In May, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/9351/">Tokyo College</a> announced that Ma would be taking up a teaching position while researching sustainable agriculture and food production.In January, he was in <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-ma-appears-resurface-thailand-gives-up-control-ant-group-2023-1">Thailand</a>, where he dined with Supakit Chearavanont, the chairman of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.feedstrategy.com/business-markets/feed-production-by-region/article/15443042/top-feed-companies-144-global-producers-rank-in-2022">Charoen Pokphand Group</a>, a major animal-feed producer.His entrepreneurial streak also appears to be back — or perhaps it never disappeared.In November, Ma incorporated a company named "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/alibaba-founder-jack-ma-enters-ready-meals-sector">Hangzhou Ma's Kitchen Food</a>," reports said. South China Morning Post reported that the company was involved in the sales of pre-packaged food and the processing and retail of agricultural products.Ma hasn't publicly talked about why he's moving into farming. He didn't respond to a request for comment from BI sent via his personal foundation.Wong told BI Ma had always been moved by how the digital economy helped connect rural communities to growth opportunities. His <a target="_blank" href="https://www.alizila.com/jack-ma-foundation-awards-2-85m-to-chinas-rural-educators/">foundation</a> supports educators in such communities as well.Agriculture, Wong said, was thus an extension of Ma's recognition that there are issues such as the climate crisis, scarcity, and inequality that need to be addressed, with technology as a driver.Ma seems to have articulated the same thoughts in a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3231711/jack-ma-continues-focus-agriculture-education-alibaba-undergoes-sweeping-changes">video speech</a> he delivered to rural teachers in August, as SCMP reported. His words show that while he may be pivoting his attention to a new sector, the same entrepreneurial bent he's displayed all along is still there."I found that a place that does well in agriculture is not necessarily a place with good resources, but a place with unique thinking and people with imagination," he said."The rural areas do need technology, while I think unique thinking and creativity are important as well," he added.

First he was a teacher. Then he was China's top tech titan. Now, meet Jack Ma 3.0 &mdash; a high-tech farmer.

<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/one-planet"></a><div type="image" title="Konda Mason with farm manager Myles Gaines" height="720" width="960" msid="104245034" hostid="261" sizebytes="119104"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Jubilee Justice is a cooperative that helps Black farming communities practice regenerative agriculture.</li><li>The organization harkens back to the legacy of practices used in the 19th and 20th centuries.</li><li>Between 1910 and 1997, Black farmers lost around 90% of their property in the US.</li></ul>Konda Mason has always understood the importance of land.Her grandfather left Alabama in the middle of the night when her dad was a baby, afraid he was going to be lynched because he owned property and a provision store. He left his land, abandoned the store, and took his family to California, where Mason eventually grew up."I've had that story," Mason told Insider. "I know that we had land once, and I grew up landless, completely landless."Her grandparents still owned a small plot of land in California, less than a quarter of an acre, to grow food like collard greens and tomatoes and raise livestock to remain food secure. When Mason's mother died, her ashes were sprinkled among the collard patch.The tradition of growing food is one that Mason has continued, maintaining a garden in every home she's lived in. Today, she's the president and cofounder of <a href="https://www.jubileejustice.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jubilee Justice</a>, a cooperative of Black farmers and an organization that helps Black farming communities practice regenerative and sustainable agriculture."I always said when I grow up, I want to be a farmer. People thought I was kidding — I really wasn't," Mason said.<div type="image" title="Konda Mason with rice businessman Robert Bimba and Jubilee Justice SRI advisor Erica Styger" height="768" width="1024" msid="104245035" hostid="261" sizebytes="96844"></div><h2>Returning to the land</h2>Even though land was such a large part of Mason's family story, she said she didn't fully grasp how central it was to every conversation about race and money until later in life.In 2018, Mason began a project called <a href="https://www.jubileejustice.org/jubilee-journeys-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jubilee Journeys</a> — a series of conversations that bring together white participants who are financially well-off with spiritual and thought leaders from communities of color to promote racial healing and speak about the ways capital should be used and redistributed. She started these meetups hoping to talk through <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-better-capitalism-1-2018">alternatives to extractive capitalism</a>."And then I realized it was about land," Mason said. It sparked the four pillars that now guide her work: land, race, money, and spirit.One of the attendees to the first Journey in California was a woman named Elisabeth Keller."The first thing out of her mouth was, 'I'm a white woman whose family owns a former plantation in Louisiana,'" Mason said. Keller's family had owned the roughly 3,000-acre Inglewood Farm property in Alexandria since her grandfather bought it in the 1920s."She wanted to kill what happened on this land, both to the land, which was very toxic, filled with chemicals," Mason said. "And then what happened with the people here. It was a cotton plantation." After the Civil War, formerly enslaved people and their descendants continued to work as sharecroppers on the plantation.Mason suggested hosting the next Journeys conversation at Inglewood as a way to promote healing. The meeting was a success, leading to another the following year. At one of these discussions, an agricultural attorney talked openly about the plight of Black farmers."I was so moved and it touched such a deep place, I just kept that in my heart," Mason said.<div type="image" title="Donna Isaacs, a permaculture farmer and a member of Jubilee Justice" height="4032" width="3024" msid="104245037" hostid="261" sizebytes="1875334"></div>Up until this point, Mason had no background in farming. But three months later, at a conference in New York, Mason ran into Caryl Levine, the cofounder of the organic rice company Lotus Foods. She became fascinated with Levine's sustainable approach to rice farming. Levine had adopted an agriculture-management method known as the <a href="http://sri.ciifad.cornell.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">System of Rice Intensification</a>, which uses up to 50% less water, requires up to 90% less seed, and can result in 20% to 100% more yield.Crucially, this method also reduces methane emissions. Rice production is responsible for 10% of <a href="https://earth.org/system-of-rice-intensification/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">global methane emissions</a>. At the time, most of Lotus Foods' work was happening in Asia and Africa. Levine opened up about her desire to create a domestic supply chain of farmers in the US. Ideas began to converge."I said to her, 'What about Black farmers?'" Mason said. Two weeks later, she was on a Zoom call making plans. The newly formed Jubilee Justice Rice Project would be centered on Inglewood Farm, what Mason describes as "the belly of the beast.""This is where the worst of the worst has happened," Mason said, referring to the history of slavery on the plantation. "The universe just really has this interesting way of bringing me here to this land."<h2>Land loss</h2>Rice isn't the only crop producing methane. In 2021, agriculture <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accounted for 10%</a> of all greenhouse-gas emissions in the US. Modern-day farming practices release methane and carbon dioxide from the soil, contributing to increased warming. Livestock, especially cows, produce methane as they digest grass and grains.Nature is meant to be symbiotic. The insects and microbes that live in the soil capture carbon and convert it into organic material. But with the mass use of herbicides and pesticides, these beneficial organisms are killed off.The use of agrochemicals such as fertilizers began in the 1960s and resulted in dramatically higher crop yields, changing farming practices. Average <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/43854/46734_eib124.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">corn yield rose</a> from 20 bushels per acre in 1940 to 150 bushels per acre by the early 2000s, partially due to pesticides and fertilizers. In that same period of time, cotton yields increased fourfold and soybean yields by threefold.But as pests began to adapt to these chemicals, more agrochemicals continued to be introduced, leading to more environmental damage.The 20th century also changed the demographics of farmers in the US.In 1920, there were nearly <a href="https://agcensus.library.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/1920-Farm_Statistics_By_Color_and_Tenure.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1 million</a> Black farmers in the United States, accounting for 14% of all farmers. Today, there are <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Highlights/2019/2017Census_Farm_Producers.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fewer than 50,000</a> — just 2% of all farmers in the country are Black.During the Jim Crow era, white landowners began intimidating Black farmers into abandoning their land. Violent, racist attacks led many Black farmers to flee the South as a part of the Great Migration. The federal government also practiced discrimination and intimidation tactics. A 1999 class-action lawsuit against the US Department of Agriculture claimed that the agency racially discriminated against Black farmers in distributing farm loans, forcing many of them into foreclosure. Per the settlement agreement, the USDA has paid or credited around <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-farmers-pigford/black-farmers-win-1-25-billion-in-discrimination-suit-idUSTRE61H5XD20100218" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$1 billion to Black farmers</a>, making it one of the largest civil-rights settlements in US history.The payout, however, was a drop in the ocean compared to the impact that land loss had on the racial wealth divide over the next century.In 1910, Black farmers owned between <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/46984/19353_ra174h_1_.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">16 to 19 million acres</a> of land, according to the Census of Agriculture. But between 1910 and 1997, Black farmers lost around 90% of their property, while white farmers only lost 2% during the same time period.One <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pandp.20221015" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> estimated that land loss cost Black farmers around $326 billion.<h2>A regenerative future</h2>Through Jubilee Justice, Mason wants to reclaim some of that history. She hopes to create a platform that addresses economic and racial equity for Black farmers, while also encouraging sustainable agriculture. The farmers who are a part of the Jubilee Justice network all emphasize regenerative, sustainable, organic forms of agriculture. Regenerative agriculture aims to work with nature rather than against it by rejuvenating soil health, boosting biodiversity, and developing practices that are climate resilient. Many of these farming practices were developed by Indigenous communities prior to the Industrial Revolution.The farmers in Jubilee Justice come from different backgrounds — some were raised on family farms while others built upon their interest in climate activism. <div type="image" title="Grand opening of the Jubilee Justice rice mill" height="1443" width="1920" msid="104245038" hostid="261" sizebytes="198200"></div>Recently, they built a rice mill that they own as a cooperative. For Mason, being able to own the means of production is critical."That's one of the ways that they kill Black farmers and take their land — they will have a contract and then next thing you know they reneg on that contract," Mason said of relying too heavily on external vendors and manufacturers. "Most people are one season away from bankruptcy."Jubilee Justice builds upon a legacy of Black farmer <a href="https://www.rd.usda.gov/files/RR194.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cooperatives</a>. In the 19th century, after the Southern Farmers' Alliance refused to admit Black farmers except in certain chapters, Black farmers started the Colored Farmers' National Alliance and Co-operative Union. By 1891, they had over a million members. Following the civil-rights movement in the 1960s, there was a renewed interest in farming cooperatives.By emphasizing cooperative economics, Mason hopes to move away from the mindset of hyper-individualism that capitalism values and to show Black farmers that if they rely on each other, the whole community can succeed together.To Mason, land is sacred. Mason reflected back to her years giving eco tours in the Ecuadorian Amazon."Every time I left, I would be in tears," she said. "I didn't want to go. I didn't want to leave it. I knew that it was in danger. It's such an impact to spend time in the rainforest and to understand this planet and how precious and beautiful it is.""I am just bent on leaving as much of a legacy as I possibly can and everything that I touch to come from a place of a regenerative mindset," she said.

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