The Nordic Food Policy Lab has produced an online “Cookbook for systems change”, co-authored by former Table colleague Marie Persson. Using a “mission-based” approach, the Cookbook sets out strategies that can be used to trigger food systems innovation. It is primarily aimed at national and regional government innovation bodies, but also discusses the role that entrepreneurs, civil society and researchers can play.

Recordings of sessions from Oxford Real Farming Conference Global 2021 are now available to everyone on YouTube. There are 219 recordings covering a wide range of topics related to agroecology, including organic and regenerative agriculture and indigenous systems.

This report, from the US think tank The Breakthrough Institute, sets out policy options for the US government to decarbonise the economy despite a polarised political climate, focusing on the energy, transport and agriculture sectors.

This feature from Oxford’s Our World In Data project investigates the figures behind the often-heard statistic that the world has only 60 harvests left because of soil erosion. It concludes that although this figure is not correct, soil erosion is a problem. Globally, 16% of soils are estimated to have a remaining lifespan of less than 100 years; half are expected to last over 1000 years; and one-third are expected to last over 5000 years. The feature recommends cover cropping, minimal or no tillage, and contour cultivation to extend soil lifespans.

This report by the Cornell Atkinson Centre for Sustainability and Nature Sustainability examines the technological scope for moving to food systems that are healthy, equitable, resilient and sustainable. It finds that successfully scaling up promising technologies depends on specific “biophysical, political, socio-economic, and cultural contexts”, and therefore proposes creating “socio-technical innovation bundles” that are customised to the relevant context.

This book (publication date 30 October 2020), presents interdisciplinary insights on the controlled release of fertilisers, including chapters from researchers in the fields of agriculture, polymer science, and nanotechnology.

This report from the non-profit Good Food Institute reviews the current status of fermentation technologies in the alternative protein industry. It covers traditional fermentation (e.g. tempeh, cheese, yoghurt), biomass fermentation (where microbial biomass is used as an ingredient, e.g. the filamentous fungi in Quorn) and precision fermentation (where a specific component is extracted from the biomass, e.g. Perfect Day’s dairy proteins and Impossible Foods’ heme protein).

US retailer Walmart, the world’s largest company by revenue, has announced a goal to become a “regenerative company”. Specific targets include protecting, managing or restoring at least 50 million acres of land (which is equivalent to around 2% of the United States’ land area) and one million square miles of ocean (<1% of the global ocean area) by 2030, and achieving net zero emissions by 2040. The net zero target appears to cover only Walmart’s direct emissions, not food and product supply chain emissions.

In this paper, FCRN member Raychel Santo reviews evidence on the potential benefits and risks of the production and consumption of plant-based and cell-based meat alternatives. The paper covers implications for health, environmental performance, animal welfare, economy and policy.