A global pandemic was not on FT forecasters’ radar screen — or anyone else’s — one year ago.

Tree planting to restore forests, capture carbon and improve the land has gained strong momentum in recent years.

After months of negotiations, Congress passed a $900 billion COVID-19 stimulus package with much-needed financial relief for agricultural producers, funding for food assistance programs, enhancements to the Paycheck Protection Program and funding for enhanced broadband access, as well as additional financial resources for agricultural research and farmer stress assistance programs, among others.

Tempting as it may be to call 2020 a dumpster fire (and many, many have), there’s really no need to resort to cliche in a year when the world literally burned.

The global food system could drive rapid and widespread biodiversity loss if not changed, new research has found.

For Larbi Siaw, a cocoa farmer in Ghana’s western north region, this is one of the busiest times of year. Like millions of smallholders across west Africa, he and his family are chopping down ripe yellow pods, scooping out white pulpy beans and leaving them to dry on reed mats in the heat.