Food and agriculture policy | TableDebates

Photo: Patrick Gruban, UN General Assembly, Flickr creative commons licence 2.0

Designing Global Governance for Agricultural Development and Food and Nutrition Security

This paper looks at how global institutional arrangements and the lack of a global nutrition policy are hindering successful functioning of the global food system by failing to provide international public goods and services for poverty reduction.

Photo: Shou-Hui Wang, The farm inside the city, Flickr, Creative Commons licence 2.0

The importance of local context for urban agriculture

This study evaluates urban agriculture in Ghent, Belgium, and Warsaw, Poland, and argues that local context is not reflected in current urban agriculture governance approaches. The authors critique recent discourse on urban agriculture as being overwhelmingly positive and uncritical, saying that it fails to place it in context and that the potential of urban agriculture requires a more nuanced analysis.

Farm Input Subsidy Programmes (FISPs): Benefiting or Betraying SADC's Small-Scale Farmers – evidence from 10 African countries

This report by the African Centre for Biodiversity argues that the Farm Input Subsidy Programmes (FISPs) have not achieved their intended goals in a number of African countries where they have been implemented. In its highly critical analysis the report argues that they consume large parts of agricultural and even national budgets and are largely ineffective social transfer schemes that create dependency.

(Photo: USDA, Flickr, creative commons licence 2.0)

Contribution of healthy and unhealthy primary school meals to greenhouse gas emissions in England: linking nutritional data and greenhouse gas emission data of diets

A recent paper by Wickramasinghe et al, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, has quantified the nutritional quality and carbon footprint of meals provided by primary schools in England.

Tea and biscuits on a wooden table. Photo by Robert Bye via Unsplash.

Food, Brexit and the Consequences: what can academics and the UK food movement do?

In this piece, FCRN member Tim Lang reflects on what Brexit means for the UK food system, sustainability and inequality. He calls for the food movement to organise by highlighting priorities, tasks, and areas of particular concern where joint action is needed. If you want to read more about Brexit implications for the food and agriculture sector, we have listed a number of resources on the topic in our latest newsletter.Tim Lang is Professor of Food Policy at City University London’s Centre for Food Policy. Hill farming in Lancashire UK in the 1970s formed his interest in relationship between food, health, environment, culture and political economy. He co-wrote Food Wars (2015), Unmanageable Consumer (2015), Ecological Public Health (2012) and Food Policy (2009).We very much hope that you will add your feedback, ideas and comments to this post. You will have to register as a member to comment on this post, but if you have already created a member profile, you just need to be sure you are signed in.

Food Systems Governance - Challenges for justice, equality and human rights

Sustainability and food production represent a major challenge to society, with both consumption and supply sides posing practical and ethical dilemmas. This book shows that food governance issues can occur in many ways and at many points along the food chain. The risks and impacts, particularly with the increasing globalisation of food systems, are often distributed in unequal ways.

New climate-smart agriculture portal by CCAFS

This new CSA Guide provides guidance on how to transform agriculture initiatives to become climate-resilient. The site covers the basics (what is CSA and why do we need it?) and offers detailed guidance on CSA planning, finance, and case studies from around the world.

Routledge Handbook of Food and Nutrition Security

The concept of food and nutrition security has evolved and risen to the top of the international policy agenda over the last decade. Yet it is a complex and multi-faceted issue, requiring a broad and inter-disciplinary perspective for full understanding.

Plates, pyramids and planet – Developments in national healthy and sustainable dietary guidelines: a state of play assessment

Today sees the launch of a new report published jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Food Climate Research Network (FCRN) at the University of Oxford. Plates, pyramids and planet evaluates government-issued food-based dietary guidelines from across the globe, looking in particular at whether they make links to environmental sustainability as well as personal health.