Some scientists have suggested that Africa's wet savannahs could be ideal for growing crops needed to meet the growing demand for food and bioenergy. In this paper however, researchers from Princeton University and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) warn that farmland conversion of these savannahs will come at a much higher cost than previously thought.

This paper asks the question “Can agriculture be sustainable?”  It argues that, if we want to take a different path, we will have to make the choice to do so. It emphasises that we need to be clear that we have choices - options that need to be debated rather than subsumed in a dialogue of crisis and food shortages. The paper outlines some of these options in order to pursue a more sustainable pathway.

A paper published in the journal Cell argues that the current rate of increase in crop yields is insufficient to meet business-as-usual anticipated growth in demand for food (it cites one projection that the world will need 85% more primary foodstuffs by 2050, relative to 2013).

This paper entitled The environmental impact of climate change adaptation on land use and water quality published in Nature Climate Change says that adaptation to climate change could have profound environmental repercussions, potentially generating further pressures and threats for both local and global ecosystems.

The China Meat Association (CMA) is now calling on the Chinese government to actively support the beef and lamb sector. Prices for beef and lamb have increased more than 10% in the past decade, fuelled by China’s runaway economic growth. As Chinese consumers’ income and standard of living improves, demand for red meat has grown.

This editorial in the guardian argues that food and hunger should be at the table in the Paris climate meeting later this year.  The Editor writes:

A new research project at University of Birmingham aims to investigate new technologies and innovative business models that could meet the world's growing demand for air conditioning and refrigeration without increasing carbon emissions. Read the full article from Business Green here.  You can also find more information on the University of Birmingham website here.

You can now view videos of all key note presentations from the Natural Capital Initiative's second “Valuing our Life Support Systems 2014” event. You can also view and download power point presentations given by key note and session speakers. The NCI report of the meeting in its entirety will be published in early spring.

The inaugural event in the ESRC series explored the political economy of food and agriculture, its influence on those working in the agri-food sector, and how issues of labour interact with other challenges facing the food system. The seminar attempted to examine the production process hidden from consumers to tell the story of those working within the agri-food sector. Furthermore it sought to understand new forms of labour and labour structures that are emerging as a response to the problems faced by the agri-food system and how far they might go towards addressing them. See the videos from the event here.