Farming and Learning: Food for Heart

“Globally, around 14 percent of food produced is lost between harvest and retail, while an estimated 17 percent of total global food production is wasted,” according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Food supply is not just an agricultural issue. On September 23, the first UN Food Systems Summit was held in New York. More than 150 countries made a joint commitment on transforming their food system to tackle hunger, poverty, gender equality, biodiversity and climate change. Since 2018, Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festival has been celebrated in China’s rural areas on the day of autumnal equinox. 64 percent of Chinese lived in cities in 2020. It seems that events related to agriculture have no affinity for most Chinese. However, Chinese civilization originated from and was built on agriculture. This means that agriculture means much more than food supply for Chinese. It shaped and defined the heart and soul of Chinese scholars for thousands of years.