| Introducing the Food Planet Prize 2022 Planting a seed. There is no purer, more quintessentially human activity. The builder of worlds. And yet these days, when civilization has steered us into deeply complex and overlapping crises, there might be no simpler remedy than this: a single seed placed in good soil. Yes, there's a metaphor in there. The power of the Curt Bergfors Food Planet Prize is not just in the material support they provide—though the $2 million annual award given by the Swedish foundation is no small sum. It's also about planting a seed, of hope more than anything, the hope that the combination of goodwill and good works can stand up to even the most daunting challenges. We are proud to be partnering with them to tell the stories of these food fighters and the good tidings they bring. And for one of the three new finalists announced today, planting seeds is no metaphor. It's the real solution. Yakum is the combination of the energy and vision of two biologists and activists—Nick Ovenden and Mike McColm—in concert with leaders of some of Ecuador's most threatened indigenous groups like the Siekopai. Together, they came up with the answer to combat land poaching, oil extraction, and diabetes from poor modern diets: replanting food forests throughout the Amazon. The original inhabitants of this renourished land can then feed themselves better in pursuit of food sovereignty, which is the key to every other kind of sovereignty. We sent writer Lise Josefsen Hermann and photographer Felipe Jacome on a long trek down the Aguarico River into the Amazon to see this simple miracle at work. The remarkable feature they produced is one of ten we're publishing over the Fall, a vast global project spearheaded by talented longtime R&K editor Alexa van Sickle. We hope you'll read through all the stories as they come out. Who knows, one of these inspiring initiatives might plant an idea or two in your life 🌱
And if there are any sustainable food game-changers in your life, you can nominate them for next year's Food Planet Prize: https://foodplanetprize.org/prize/nominate/ | 
