Public radio’s longest-running daily global news program.

©2026 The World from PRX

PRX is a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS: #263347402.

What's For Lunch: The Future of Food in a Changing World

The Future of Food in a Changing World. A Special Collaboration Between PRI's The World and Homeland Productions

A mountain of grain in a Chinese warehouse. China is importing more of its supply of thirsty and land-intensive crops like corn and soy, often from leased or purchased land that guarantees a supply outside of the regular international market.
Environment
Guaranteed lunch? China’s food ‘pipeline’
Environment editor Peter Thomson's changing lunch: Rotary Club veggie dogs on whole wheat buns. (Photo: Peter Thomson)
Environment
Launching ‘What’s for Lunch’: Environment editor Peter Thomson on climate change and food
Environment
The Hidden Costs of Hamburgers
Environment
World Food Map
A woman walks into a rice field in northern India where farmers are using the technique known as Systems of Rice Intensification. Local officials claim the system recently produced a record rice harvest while using less fertilizer, water and seed.
Environment
Intensive Lunch: Controversial rice growing technique offers hope for bigger yields
Environment
Vegan lunch: Going meatless in Beijing
Environment
Alt-meat lunch: In the Netherlands, a lab for low-impact alternatives to livestock
Environment
Foraged lunch: harvesting urban food crops as a hedge against food insecurity
The System of Rice Intensification promises higher yields at a lower cost than conventional growing methods.
Environment
Changing lunch: For farmers, new ‘can’t miss’ technology isn’t always enough
Environment
Hopeful lunch? When it comes to feeding the world, ‘nothing’ will save us
A meal prepared by Joyce Kayongo in Uganda, with native tilapia and greens from a low-tech aquaponic system designed by her husband, Charles Mulamata. Although they live in the city, nearly all the ingredients were sourced from the neighborhood.
Environment
What’s for lunch: Under pressure from climate change, The World takes a global tour of our changing lunchscape
One of a fleet of trucks in the Bangalore area that brings untreated sewage from homes to farms, to be used as fertilizer.
Environment
Recycled lunch: Using human waste to grow food, and fight climate change
Environment
Low-water lunch: A Chinese breakthrough on irrigation?
Farmer Maria Luisa Jimenez eliminates greenhouse gas emissions from synthetic fertilizers by growing vegetables in the mixture of biochar, compost, rice husks and coconut fiber.
Environment
Carbon-neutral lunch: Costa Rica looks to lead on climate-friendly ag
Kampala Entrepreneur Charles Mulamata is developing low-cost technology to produce fish, like this tilapia, and vegetables in a largely closed-loop system.
Environment
Aquaponic lunch: Pushing super-efficient fish & veggie farming in Uganda
Amaranth seedlings being grown in southern Mexico’s Tehuacan valley. The plant's seeds are high in protein and its leaves are high in iron, vitamin C and calcium.
Environment
Alt staple lunch: Mexicans push return of an ancient grain
An artist’'s rendering of a full-scale commercial low-input desert agriculture facility. Project’s designers say the concept should work in any low-altitude desert area near a large source of salt water.
Environment
Desert lunch: Coaxing climate-friendly food from the world’s driest places
Bon Appétit's low-carbon food plan calls for putting vegetables at the center of the plate. Making the plate smaller cuts down on waste.
Environment
Cafeteria lunch: Industrial kitchens dish out climate-friendly cuisine
Environment
No-waste lunch: China’s “Clean Your Plate” campaign
Environment
Vertical lunch: To increase food production, crowded Singapore looks up
Environment
GMO lunch? Uganda considers disease-resistant cassava