Kum Sreymom, a Cambodian rice farmer, talks shop with other farmers. They’re sitting in the shade of a farm shed on the vast flood plains of Tonle Sap, Cambodia’s great lake.
It’s mid-December 2022, and the waters have recently receded. Surrounding them is an expanse of newly planted rice fields.
Sreymom’s had a challenging few months. Both droughts and floods damaged her rice crops. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused fertilizer and fuel costs to skyrocket. Rice prices went down.