Our World in Data, part of the Oxford Martin School, has launched a new data visualisation on the topic of food. The interactive graphic presents data from FAOSTAT in the form of charts, tables and maps showing changes over time for many different metrics (including production, yield, land use, trade patterns, and use of crops for food and for feed), individual food types, and countries.

This report from UK charity WRAP, co-authored by TABLE member Hamish Forbes, provides a comprehensive mapping of the carbon footprint of UK food and drink consumption, building up a detailed sector-by-sector analysis of where emissions arise and how that has changed from 2015 to 2019. Showing the importance of the food sector in achieving net zero targets, it finds that a 50% reduction in the UK’s food-related emissions by 2030 (compared to 2015) is possible, but only if urgent action is taken.

This book examines the ecological, social, economic and institutional impacts of industrial crops such as soybeans, cotton, maize and jatropha, using case studies from around the world.

In this paper, Table member Erasmus Zu Ermgassen and co-authors use publicly available data to trace Brazil’s beef exports from 2800 municipalities to 152 countries, along with their deforestation links. The authors argue that, because of the high variation between the sources of beef for different trading companies, it is not advisable to rely on national level statistics when assessing environmental footprints.

This paper, co-authored by Table member Francesca Harris, calculates the ground and surface water use associated with cereal traded between states in India. It uses a new modelling method based on supply and demand data to quantify sub-national food flows in the absence of relevant food trade data. It reports that 154 km3 of water travels between Indian states through the trade of cereals each year. 41% of the cereals traded are produced in states with over exploited groundwater.