This book chapter discusses creating frameworks to increase soil carbon, covering the biophysical evidence on how different practices affect soil carbon, policy options, measurement systems and integration of economic, social and cultural dimensions.

This special issue of the journal Outlook on Agriculture, edited by James Sumberg and Ken Giller, focuses on biomimicry and ‘nature-based solutions’ in relation to food production. The introductory paper contrasts a technological approach to solving food system problems with the “(re)turn to nature” style of thinking seen in (for example) agroecology and regenerative farming. The rest of the special issue covers a range of topics including perennial grain crops and their downsides, the philosophical and conceptual underpinnings of nature-based agricultural practices, soil organic carbon, and the “epic narratives” that have been built around natural agriculture.

The Commission on Sustainable Agriculture Intensification has published two policy briefs: the first seeks to understand the agricultural innovation investment landscape - how much is being invested, by whom, and in what; while the second looks at the approaches and instruments used in successful cases of scaling up agricultural innovations.

This paper outlines the systemic risks of using artificial intelligence (AI), specifically machine learning (ML) models, in agriculture and proposes ways of mitigating those risks. The three categories of risk considered are: risks related to data; risks related to the narrow optimisation of ML models; and risks linked to deploying ML models at scale.

This paper considers how people could be fed in the event of a sudden reduction in sunlight - for example, caused by a volcanic eruption, an asteroid strike, or nuclear war. These triggers could cause global agricultural output to collapse through abrupt falls in light, temperature and precipitation. The paper identifies foods that could still be produced under these conditions, and assesses their potential contributions to nutrition.

This book sets out industrial opportunities and circular economy concepts that could help resolve sustainability challenges throughout the global food supply chain.

This report from the UK’s Nature Friendly Farming Network sets out information on how farming land is currently used in the UK, on greenhouse gas emissions from different farming types, and on how farms can use nature-based solutions to reduce emissions while improving farming resilience in the face of climate change.

This paper identifies three ways in which digital technologies can support the participation of smallholders in food sustainability: “the tutorial”, “the dashboard” and “the platform”. It is based on 10 case studies of digital sustainability initiatives that use remote sensing technologies (e.g. drones, satellites and sensors), collection of social and economic data, and technologies that allow the creation of a digital identity (e.g. blockchain contracts and digital marketplaces).