The emergence of a corporate-environmental food regime in Germany has given rise to opposing movements. The progressive movement criticizes current environmental policies in agriculture as insufficient and calls for far-reaching structural changes. In contrast, the conservative movement largely rejects environmental regulations and opposes a socio-ecological transformation. This article presents findings from two quantitative protest surveys conducted in early 2024 at demonstrations in Berlin: the progressive “Wir haben es satt!” (“We’re fed up!”) protest and the conservative “Kundgebung von Landwirtschaft und Transportgewerbe” (“Rally of Agriculture and the Transport Sector”). To explore transformation conflicts in agriculture, we analyze the class composition and the motivations of protest participants. We also compare agrarian and socio-political attitudes across the two movements to identify areas of convergence, divergence, and polarization. Our findings show that, aside from a few overlapping views, the two protests differ significantly in their agrarian policy positions. The most pronounced polarization concerns attitudes toward the environmental movement. We attribute these differences to the distinct political orientations of the protests. Our conclusion is that the politicization of agrarian issues complicates efforts to build a consensus on the future of agriculture. While both movements critique the corporate-environmental food regime, only the progressive movement articulates a positive vision of an agroecological and socially embedded agriculture of the future.

This article analyses the situation of food insecurity (FI) and food security (FS) in Brazil, highlighting their determinants and unequal occurrence among population groups. Based on data from a 2020 opinion survey, the concept of food inequalities is used to interpret the results, considering three dimensions: multidimensionality, spatial scales, and intersectional markers. It also examines the role of the Bolsa Família grant and Emergency Aid in mitigating FI. The article concludes that the economic and political crises aggravated by the pandemic intensified FI, particularly among vulnerable groups, and that although public policies alleviated its effects, they were insufficient to mitigate FI, suggesting the need for more robust policies.

According to scholarship on the state-society relations that inform food and urban politics, social movements and civil society are key agents of change thanks to their ability to develop alternative food initiatives, organize networks, and influence public policies. Celebrated as a world pioneer in food governance and nutrition security, Belo Horizonte offers insight into the role played by activist networks, including institutional activism in food policies. Yet how can food politics connect alternative urban ecology aspirations with food justice in the city? In order to answer this question, we draw on focus groups with state actors and civil society organizations (CSOs) engaged in urban food systems since the 1990s to reveal the hybrid character of these initiatives, activist networks that transcend institutional boundaries, and broader socioecological transformation in the urban food system through agroecology. As the hunger crisis deepened during COVID-19, social movements and state actors devised initiatives to get fresh, ecological, nutritious, quality food to places it was not reaching in the city. Our investigation reveals, first, that over three decades, networks comprised of state actors and CSOs have played a key role in Belo Horizonte food policies and politics, connecting the peripheries with the core where public policies are made. However, food inequalities stemming from spatial segregation remain a challenge for more inclusive food policies. Second, by sampling participants who have been active in the city’s food politics since the 1990s, our data shows the importance of tracing state-society networks over time, instead of focusing on critical moments of institutional building. Finally, the case of Belo Horizonte shows how local networks can influence public policies and actors at broader scales, even nationwide.

The article addresses food waste (FW) in the retail sector and its impact on the economy, sustainability, food security, and climate. It presents a scoping review that identifies and categorizes 43 studies on interventions to reduce retail FW, sourced from four electronic databases.

The review found 132 interventions across 41 countries, primarily in Europe (73.2%), with supermarkets implementing 86.4% of these initiatives, targeting both consumers (50.8%) and their operations (46.2%). Interventions were classified into seven categories using a food waste hierarchy framework, focusing on preventive measures such as awareness campaigns, price reductions, operational optimizations, legal regulations, and food repurposing through donations. These strategies are promising and warrant further exploration, with about half quantifying their environmental, social, and economic impacts.

The findings emphasize the need for increased research investment in the global South.

Published in the book “Rethinking sustainability in urban areas” Lea Zentgraf contributed to the chapter “Sustainable Interventions to Manage Retail Food Waste in São Paulo and London” along with Ana Maria de Castro, Cézar Luquine Jr., Daniel Conde and Ribka Metaferia by addressing urban social and environmental issues like green space degradation, homelessness, and food waste. The research, part of the ‘Global Research Academy’ program, involved doctoral researchers from the University of São Paulo, Freie Universität Berlin, and King’s College London. The study took place in London, Berlin, and São Paulo, comparing these cities’ unique challenges and drawing recommendations for sustainability. The findings, supervised by Professors Fabio Kon, Sérgio Costa, and Dr. Robert Cowley, are available via the USP repository. The program was supported by international cooperation offices from the participating universities.

Climate movements led by students and the youth worldwide (and in particular, those in richer economies) have been recognized as having a formidable voice and making important contributions towards a more radical societal transformation to face the climate crisis. However, little is said about the contribution of popular sectors, who have been mobilizing for decades and demanding broader structural transformations—with proposals that tackle environmental issues more broadly and the climate crisis in particular—but who are not directly involved in climate politics arenas, such as the United Nations Climate Change conferences. Usually portrayed as vulnerable, as those most affected by climate events, as victims and receivers of adaptation strategies, or, as resilient, rarely do popular sectors appear as agents of transformation. Critical scholars have advocated for understanding the climate crisis as part of multiple crises, including the biodiversity crisis, a crisis of care, and a crisis of democracy. Situating our article within this scholarship, we argue that the scholarly and societal debate on climate change will further benefit from broadening the scope of which social subjects are considered as part of the climate movement. Based on our research with rural popular feminist movements in Brazil, and in particular, the coalition Marcha das Margaridas, we address the following questions: how are their diagnostics of, and proposals to, overcome the climate crisis embedded in their broader project of transformation? Additionally, how does their political identity within class, gender, and rural categories of inequality inform their positions?