This report from the UK’s Nature Friendly Farming Network sets out information on how farming land is currently used in the UK, on greenhouse gas emissions from different farming types, and on how farms can use nature-based solutions to reduce emissions while improving farming resilience in the face of climate change.

This report from the UK-based Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions quantifies greenhouse gas emissions arising from the UK’s food sector. It finds that when emissions are accounted for using a consumption basis (which accounts for emissions associated with imported and exported food), emissions are 52% higher than when a territorial basis is used (only including emissions generated within the country).

This report from the International Labour Organization and the Inter-American Development Bank examines the implications of net zero emissions policies for employment patterns in Latin America and the Caribbean. TABLE readers may be particularly interested in the report’s comments on jobs in agriculture and plant-based food production, as well as the impacts of dietary change.

This study surveyed people from 119 countries about their experiences of food environments and food acquisition practices during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020). Many respondents experienced physical distancing requirements at food shops (90% of respondents), restricted access to stores (77%), stockpiling foods (67%), increased awareness of food waste (63%) and buying more food due to fear or anxiety (47%).

This paper looks at the climate impacts of dietary shift towards plant-based foods in high-income nations. It finds that adoption of the EAT-Lancet diet in 54 countries could both reduce annual agricultural production emissions from those countries by 61%, and spare land that could sequester carbon equivalent to 14 years of current global agricultural emissions, through restoration to the natural vegetation associated with today’s climate in each location.

This paper assesses the extent to which the recommendations of 41 food reports could transform the food system. It argues that few reports are targeting “leverage points” that could result in the most change, and that reports often neglect the implications of power differences between actors.

This blog post by Saloni Shah and Dan Blaustein-Rejto of US-based think-tank The Breakthrough Institute argues that decreases in the price of plant-based meat alternatives by 10% will likely only have a small impact on cattle production (a 0.15% decrease in the US) and emissions from global cattle production (equivalent to a decrease of 1.4% in US beef production). They conclude that while continuing to improve plant-based meat alternatives is important in order for them to gain a larger market share, it is also important to work on methods and technologies to reduce the environmental impacts of livestock production.

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 book explains the ecological and environmental impacts of today’s agricultural systems as well as their contribution to social inequality. It looks at how agrifood systems can use the principles of environmental sustainability.