This report from UK Research and Innovation discusses the future of the alternative protein sector in the UK, drawing on a workshop held with representatives of industry, research and policymaking. It discusses plant proteins (e.g. pulses, lupins), fermentation processes (algae, bacteria, fungi, mammalian cells) and novel systems such as insect proteins and new types of aquaculture.

This report, produced jointly by the Good Food Institute and the Breakthrough Institute, argues that the United States should attempt to take the lead in the rapidly developing alternative proteins sector, including cellular agriculture. It frames the move towards alternative proteins as being driven not just by technological developments and investment, but also by increased consumer demand for protein coupled with public concerns about health and sustainability. As we note in the TABLE explainer What is ecomodernism?, the ecomodernism movement (of which the Breakthrough Institute is part) tends not to seek to actively influence consumption patterns but rather seeks to meet demand sustainably.

This policy briefing from the Changing Markets Foundation argues that it will be very difficult for the European Union to meet its 2030 methane reduction targets without bringing in extra measures in the meat and dairy industries. 36% of the EU’s methane reductions could come from the agricultural sector, it estimates.

This report from the UK’s Sustainable Food Trust models the impacts on food production, land use, diets and self-sufficiency of a country-wide switch to sustainable farming methods, based on mixed farming rotations and grazing livestock.

This paper analyses how over 100 European think tanks talk about the links between animal-sourced foods and climate change, seeking to understand how they have influenced policymakers’ attitudes to the issue. It argues that the failure of many think tank documents to link the two issues contributes to a wider lack of attention to the environmental impacts of diets.

This paper explores the changing relationship between people and animal slaughter in Norway since the early 20th century. It argues that a broad shift has occurred away from rituals that make animal slaughter meaningful and socially acceptable, and towards a “judicialisation” of animal slaughter - meaning that laws, rather than rituals, now regulate animal deaths. The authors argue that while the increased importance of regulation has contributed to stricter animal welfare practices, it also alienates consumers from the animals they eat.

The importance of soil health for producing food and the complexity of life found within soil are increasingly visible in food systems debates. This paper investigates how the diversity of microbes within soils may be affected by warming climates.

This paper, co-authored by TABLE community member Hayo van der Werf, discusses which environmental issues, data, methods, formats and so on should be used in the environmental labelling of food in France. The motivation for the paper was to consider how the French government’s recent requirements to introduce environmental food labelling can provide relevant information that is feasible to gather.

This event was hosted by TABLE on 15 June 2022 and took the format of a panel discussion with: Dr Tara Garnett (director of TABLE and fellow of the Oxford Martin School); Helen Breewood, research & communications officer at TABLE & author of the explainer on ecomodernism; Linus Blomqvist, co-author of the Ecomodernist Manifesto, former director of the Conservation and Food & Agriculture programmes at the Breakthrough Institute & PhD candidate in Environmental Economics and Science at University of California, Santa Barbara; Sam Bliss, PhD candidate in natural resources at the University of Vermont's Gund Institute for Environment & president of DegrowUS.