This study maps the U.S. agri-food distribution onto real-world highways, railways and waterways to quantify the trade-offs between cost, carbon emissions, and path redundancy across different transport modes. It finds that highways cost three times as much, produce 60 times more carbon and have the highest path redundancy relative to waterways. 

This paper reviews the literature on the sustainability of four technologies that are being developed for use in sustainable food systems: vertical farming, plant-based alternatives, food delivery services and blockchain in food systems. These four technologies were chosen because they have recently attracted significant investments in the Nordic region.

Researchers from the University of Manchester argue that the widespread switch to remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how academia can function in the future without flying, to reduce carbon emissions. They set out recommendations on how to retain low levels of aviation, including combining necessary trips, supporting cultural changes by improving virtual methods of working, and considering using carbon budgets for travel.

The Global Alliance for the Future of Food held the Salzburg Process on the Climate Emergency and the Future of Food in May 2020. In this blog post, Ruth Richardson (Executive Director of the Global Alliance) reflects on lessons learned from holding the event virtually because of COVID-19, rather than physically as originally planned.

This opinion paper calls for organisers of scientific meetings to adhere to 12 principles to minimise the environmental impacts of the meetings, as outlined in the Cercedilla Manifesto. The principles cover food, transport and careful planning of remote meetings so that they are effective for all participants. The paper emphasises that nitrogen pollution is an often-neglected aspect of food sustainability.

Online conferences have the advantage of reducing carbon emissions from travel, particularly air travel, but they can be less convenient when it comes to networking and developing personal connections. The November meeting of the European Biological Rhythms Society tried to fix this by inviting psychologists to develop remote ways of encouraging networking.

FCRN member Anna Birgitte Milford has co-authored this report, which offers a case study of a proposed rooftop greenhouse project in Bergen, Norway. The report considers the opportunities and challenges associated with building rooftop greenhouses.