This article is published in association with United Nations. Two United Nations agencies have together welcomed more than $1 billion in assistance from the United States to support their operations targeting millions of children and hungry families in more than 40 countries. This week the US State Department announced a more than $800 million contribution to the […]US makes $1 billion contribution to UN child rights and food agencies
June 19, 2026 by Leave a Comment
This article is published in association with United Nations. Two United Nations agencies have together welcomed more than $1 billion in assistance from the United States to support their operations targeting millions of children and hungry families in more than 40 countries. This week the US State Department announced a more than $800 million contribution to the […]‘Clock is ticking’: Hormuz disruption raises fears of global food crisis
April 14, 2026 by Leave a Comment
This article is published in association with United Nations. The clock is ticking for global food systems as disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz threaten to choke off the flow of fuel and crucial fertilizers needed for the next planting season – also raising the risk of higher food prices and a new wave of inflation. […]The EIB reinforces global partnerships to boost food security and promote rural development, fight hunger and poverty
July 3, 2025 by Leave a Comment
This article is published in association with European Investment Bank. The European Investment Bank (EIB) announced new partnerships and commitments to promote food security and sustainable agriculture around the world and to combat hunger and poverty and. These steps were taken during the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville, Spain. The EIB […]Food security: Can war-torn Sudan recover and help address the global food crisis?
March 20, 2024 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Brian D’Silva, Strategic Advisor, USAID Agricultural Initiative in Sudan, Abir Ibrahim, Community Lead, Regional Agenda, Africa, World Economic Forum Sudan has long been viewed as a future “breadbasket” for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and beyond, especially with […]Why life for millions of smallholder farmers rests on a new EU directive
November 8, 2023 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Alan McClay, CEO, Better Cotton The ordered streets of Brussels may feel like a million miles from the cotton fields of India or the cocoa plantations of Ghana, but smallholder farmers in countries like these could stand to […]Climate Change’s Complex Impact on Food Security and the Right to Adequate Nutrition
November 6, 2023 by Leave a Comment
This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Ms. Sadia Khalid, early-stage researcher (ESRs), medical writer and research engineer at Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), Estonia. She is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writer and do […]This is how war in Europe is disrupting fertilizer supplies and threatening global food security
March 2, 2023 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Douglas Broom, Senior Writer, Formative Content The war in Ukraine is having a major impact on the global supply of agricultural fertilizers, potentially undermining food security around the world. Russia, together with Belarus, is one of the world’s largest […]A junk food diet can impair your brain, study finds
February 22, 2020 by 1 Comment
This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Sean Fleming, Senior Writer, Formative Content Too much salt, sugar and fat can damage your ability to remember things. It takes as little as one week for the effects to be seen. Western-style diets high in fats and […]How powering food storage could end hunger
December 23, 2019 by 1 Comment
This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Roberto Ridolfi, Director, Sustainable Growth and Development, European Commission & Olivier Dubois, Senior Natural Resources Officer, Energy programme, Food and Agriculture Organization More than 250 million tonnes of food is wasted annually in developing countries. Increased access to […]This is why Denmark, Sweden and Germany are considering a meat tax
September 3, 2019 by 2 Comments
This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Emma Charlton, Senior Writer, Formative Content Carnivores are in the firing line, with nations including Germany, Denmark and Sweden considering a tax on meat. Advocates of such a plan say the environmental impact, health ramifications and concerns about animal […]Cheese energy could power hundreds of UK homes
August 9, 2019 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Douglas Broom, Senior Writer, Formative Content The Wensleydale Creamery makes one of England’s best-loved varieties of cheese, but it also produces waste. Now, the bi-products are being put to use creating biogas – the latest evidence of the growing […]To feed 10 billion people, we must preserve biodiversity. Here’s how
August 6, 2019 by 1 Comment
This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Jose Graziano da Silva, Director-General, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization & Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy Director-General for Climate and Natural Resources , United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization The threats to bee colonies around the world have been […]Security spillovers from Trump’s trade wars: China, Germany prepare for global disorder
October 1, 2018 by Leave a Comment
US President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade strategy has now gone past the economic landscape and touched security issues. There are strong signs that next month’s security meeting between US and China may be cancelled. If this is the case, the two largest economies of the earth may enter uncharted waters. Until now, they have been […]“A global threat lies ahead worsened after the EU’s green light to the Bayer-Monsanto merger”, a Sting Exclusive by the President of Slow Food
April 25, 2018 by Leave a Comment
This article was exclusively written for the Sting by Mr Carlo Petrini, founder and President of Slow Food, a global, grassroots organization, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions and counteract the rise of fast food culture. The opinion expressed in this piece belongs strictly to the writer and does not necessarily reflect The […]The EU clears Bayer-Monsanto merger amid wide competition and environmental concerns
March 27, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Last week, the European Union formally gave its approval to Germany multinational company Bayer’s $62.5 billion acquisition of US-based Monsanto. Bayer AG, leader in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, got one step closer to take over the world’s largest seed company, after agreeing to bolster BASF SE by selling to it seeds, pesticides and digital […]Trump’s trade wars: Aiming at long term gains for America
March 26, 2018 by 1 Comment
Last Friday, President Donald Trump again surprised the world by imposing new import tariffs on Chinese products of a value of $60 billion and deferring the imposition of import super levies on European Union steel and aluminum for 1st May. In the latter case he also postponed the new tariffs for another six exporting countries […]EU hits deadlock on the future of glyphosate a month before deadline
November 14, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last week, European Union member states failed to agree on whether to re-licence controversial herbicide glyphosate in the bloc, and so to close a long-standing dispute over the world’s biggest-selling weedkiller. In a vote held last Thursday, the European Commission fell short again of the majority needed to renew the licence for another five years, […]Menu for change: why we have to go towards a Common Food Policy
October 20, 2017 by 1 Comment
This article was exclusively written for the Sting by Mr Carlo Petrini, founder and President of Slow Food, a global, grassroots organization, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions and counteract the rise of fast food culture. The opinion expressed in this piece belongs strictly to the writer and does not necessarily […]Trump badly cornered at home by agribusiness and steel consumer lobbies: Trade
July 17, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Donald Trump, the real estate mogul and TV reality show star, as President, discovered the hard way that international trade is a much more complicated issue than he could have ever imagined. His poor cognitive abilities and his rampant nature didn’t allow him to realize that international trade is a much more complex issue, than […]Bayer-Monsanto merger: the story of the rise of the “endless company”
May 31, 2016 by Leave a Comment
When about two weeks ago the world learnt that the German multinational company Bayer, leader in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, had made an offer to acquire Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, no one could believe it at first. It sounded so crazy and complex it might have as well needed some time for people […]Breaking news: Juncker’s Commission mutant trojan horse is on the loose in Strasbourg
January 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday in Strasbourg the Parliament, allegedly, took a decisive stance against GMOs in Europe after so many years of letting the matter linger. Almost all European media came out to congratulate the vote that gives the right to the local governments of the member states to “opt-out” and be able to ban “locally” GMO production […]Europe votes against GMOs but the Council votes for TTIP
November 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday afternoon good news came out of the European Parliament; good news for the anti-GM (Genetically Modified Organisms) movement and hopefully for the EU too. The Environment Committee of the European Parliament (ENVI) voted in favour of the right of the member-states to ban GMOs from their territories with 53 votes to 11 and 2 […]The Commission favours the cultivation of more GMOs in Europe
November 7, 2013 by 1 Comment
The delay in the process of negotiations for the conclusion of the EU-US trade agreement seems to have opened the opportunity to clarify some thorny matters between the two largest trading partners of the world. One of them is surely the cultivation on EU soil of Monsanto’s genetically modified ‘Pioneer 1507’ maize seed. Apart from […]EU signs with Canada historic trade agreement, others to follow
October 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The announcement of the conclusion of the EU-Canada free trade agreement yesterday not only opens a new chapter in the history of EU-Canada relations, but the solutions agreed in sensitive chapters, like agriculture and animal products and public procurement will serve as a base for the under negotiation similar pact with the US. The Prime […]Auditors say EU spending delivers limited value for money but the timing of their report poses questions
September 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Court of Auditors (ECA) in a report that was published yesterday reveals that the EU spends billions to help the rural economy restructure but with poor results, delivering “only limited value for money”. EU spending on agriculture be it production and producer subsidies or supporting structural investment plans has being traditionally criticised not […]Commission: Do it like the Americans in the food sector
May 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Only some weeks after the European Union consumers learned that they were eating low quality and contaminated with phenylbutazone horse meat, having paid for it as if it was prime quality beef, the Commission chooses to release its proposal for a new Directive, providing for less controls and higher fines and charges. The new legislation […]EU Commission: Once in every 20 beef meals you eat…horse probably with drugs in it
April 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
This week the European Commission, and in order to be fair and precise, the European Commissioner Tonio Borg, tried once more to convince 500.7 million European consumers that the horsemeat and the Phenylbutazone scandal didn’t reveal any loopholes, in the EU food quality control systems. In a European Commission Press release issued at the beginning […]The EU Commission does nothing about the food retailing oligopoly
February 23, 2013 by 1 Comment
The theoretically most competitive of all EU markets, namely the large food retailing business, is accused by its suppliers, regrouped in the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) of operating a real oligopoly. Despite this very important development, which poses an issue with ground-breaking repercussions on the way our ‘free competition’ economies operate, the European […]The Commission breathless behind the horsemeat scandal
February 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The horsemeat scandal is still running free all over the European Union. Yesterday, a pompously named EU Commission group entitled, “Standing Committee of the Food Chain and Animal Health” (SCoFCAH), unanimously agreed in an extraordinary meeting, that the measures proposed by Commissioner Tonio Borg are adequate to counter the health and the fraud problem related to […]Does the EU want GMOs and meat with hormones from the US?
February 11, 2013 by 2 Comments
The prospective drafting of a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the European Union and the United States is developing into a major issue and as things evolved last week, it seems that this may lead the EU into a new division, between France on the one side and the free trade lovers Britain and […]Do the EU policies on agro-food smell?
December 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment
If we believe what is written in the Treaties, in the European Union everybody is equal and the same flag of democracy waves above the heads of all. But wait a moment. What was that, some English writer, one George Orwell, said in his novel, the Animal Farm? Ah yes, that some are more equal […]
