Climate on our plates

Zambia's resilient chickens, Japanese rice shortages, and why tackling food waste is a powerful climate solution

Photo from Hybrid Poultry Farm Zambia

In Zambia, farmers are increasingly raising a new breed of chicken called the Zambro. What does this have to do with climate change? The Zambro is a hardy, disease resistant bird that is both a reliable, prolific egg layer and a fast-growing meat bird.

“Such a chicken is important in countries like Zambia, which is increasingly battered by extreme weather,” Patricia Cohen writes. “Last season, the worst drought in four decades devastated crops and livestock. Food shortages in rural areas were rampant in a country that already had one of the highest rates of malnutrition and stunted children in sub-Saharan Africa.

”A company called Hybrid Poultry Farm, based in the Zambian capital of Lusaka, and a nonprofit called the World Poultry Foundation are working together to popularize the chickens in Zambia as a way to help backyard chicken farmers get small poultry businesses off the ground, offering them a reliable source of income. The Zambro also requires less food and water than other breeds, an excellent protein choice for a warming world.

Rice - an essential staple in Japan - is in short supply, two years after a record heat wave led to a subpar harvest. An 11-pound bag still costs more than double what it did last year, although prices just fell for the first time in 18 months last week. Some grocery stores are only allowing customers to purchase one bag each.

The heatwave isn’t the only reason for the shortage – an influx of international tourists has increased demand, and the country is increasingly turning to imports to meet demand, which experts worry could harm local farmers in the long run. This year, Japan is projected to import 20 times more rice than it did in 2024, and 2024 imports were already up from 2023.

In the wake of the heatwave, scientists are working to crossbreed a new, heat-resistant variety of Koshihikari rice. This is Japan’s best-selling rice variety for the past 40 years, and the kind I have in my pantry as well. Unfortunately, it is particularly impacted by heat stress.

Rice crops in other Asian countries are also coming under stress from heat. “The story is ultimately much bigger than Japan,” says Charles Hart, a senior commodities analyst. “Rice is very water-intensive, and in a context of gradually increasing temperatures and more frequent periods of intense heat, heat-resistant rice needs to be the direction of travel.”

Worldwide, almost 40 percent of food is wasted. Nearly two billion people go hungry every year: yet we waste enough food to give each person at least one additional meal every day.

In rich countries, the food is simply thrown out because it doesn’t look perfect, it’s past its due date, or we just don’t want it. In poor countries, most food waste happens because it spoils before it can get to market or be eaten—which is why inventions like this sticker, that releases natural antimicrobial vapours to keep fruit and vegetables from spoiling for weeks, are so important.

And in both cases, when food decays, it produces methane, a powerful heat-trapping gas. Worldwide, if food waste were its own country, it would be the third biggest emitter in the world!

Everyone eats food, so reducing your food waste is a climate action that’s accessible to us all. Although many improvements are needed along the food chain, ReFed identifies four key solutions everyone can engage in:

• Changing our behaviour: including menu planning to make sure you eat the food you buy; understanding the difference between “best by” versus “use by” to avoid throwing out food that is still good; storing food properly so it doesn’t go bad; and figuring out how to use leftovers.

• Managing our portion sizes. Did you know these have grown massively over the years? If you have too much food, save it for later (and make sure you have storage on hand to make it easy).

• Knowing where to donate unused food, especially if you organize group events that often have leftovers.

• Using apps that help find food that is still good to eat but would otherwise go to waste. These apps are usually local, so I recommend searching for what’s available where you live. For example, where I live in Texas, Too Good To Go allows consumers to purchase “surprise bags” from local businesses at a discounted price. One local bakery near me was offering a surprise bag containing $18 worth of items for $6!

Personally, I’ve started shopping for groceries multiple times a week instead of doing one big shop, so that the items I use are fresher and less likely to be forgotten in the back of my fridge until they’ve gone bad.

Whether you influence decisions at a restaurant, school, company, or at home, there are smart ways to cut food waste, and, once again, the most powerful tool you have is your voice. Advocating for policies that help your organization, community, or even your country, reduce waste can drive real change.

As I’ve shared before, South Korea has nearly eliminated food waste through a nationwide curbside composting program—because people demanded it. If no one speaks up, how will solutions like this ever be adopted?

Sun June 22 at 6pm MT - "Saving Us: Book Discussion" with Calgary Climate Hub, The Wisdom Centre and the Calgary Interfaith Council, in person at 800 3 St SE Calgary, Alberta - $15