The book summary says the following: Farmers' Rights are essential for maintaining crop genetic diversity, which is the basis of all food and agricultural production in the world. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture recognizes Farmers' Rights and provides for relevant measures. However, implementation is slow, and in many countries there is resistance. This book shows the necessity of realizing Farmers' Rights for poverty alleviation and food security, the practical possibilities of doing so, and the potential gains for development and society at large.

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD PRESS RELEASE A policy known as sustainable intensification could help meet the challenges of increasing demands for food from a growing global population, argues a team of scientists in an article in the journal Science.

This paper focuses on how countries can take practical steps to adapt their agriculture to climate change even in the face of considerable uncertainties in the climate models as to how change will play out on the ground for farmers. Amid fears of wasted investments and imprecise science (which themselves become politically motivated excuses for inaction), it shows how countries can adopt a  ‘regret-free’ approach to adapting agriculture to climate change – actions that will benefit farmers and society regardless of specifically how and when climate change plays out on the ground. The paper notes that this very uncertainty often becomes an excuse for inaction.

This campaign has been launched to re-introduce the feeding of waste to pigs. It hopes to encourage farmers about the benefits of feeding pigs surplus food and calls for a change in European law so farmers can return to feeding pigs waste in the long term.

Sustainability is high on the agenda for the food industry, but many companies are not actively monitoring or measuring the sustainability of the ingredients and products they source. These findings come from a new report, Driving Sustainability, from LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming). 

For those interested in the current EU CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) reforms, you may find this blog useful. It provides news, views and analysis relating to what is going on, bringing together the work of researchers, activists and analysts from across Europe and elsewhere.

In this book Michael S. Carolan argues that the goal of any food system should not simply be to provide the cheapest calories possible. Rather, a secure food system is one that affords people and nations – in both the present and future – the capabilities to prosper and lead long, happy, and healthy lives. For a variety of reasons, food security has come to be synonymous with cheap calorie security. 

This book offers a broad introduction to food policies in the United States. Real-world controversies and debates motivate the book’s attention to economic principles, policy analysis, nutrition science and contemporary data sources. It assumes that the reader's concern is not just the economic interests of farmers, but also includes nutrition, sustainable agriculture, the environment and food security.

A new special issue on food security has been published in the Journal of Rural Studies. It provides a rural social science contribution to the food security debate. The papers focus on food security in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Italy.