This report by researchers at Wageningen University considers current food policies and practices in the EU, as well as the potential for change in the future.

Geoengineering to fix climate change could harm biodiversity, according to two modelling studies.

In this article, researchers from the UK and USA present their findings of a 2015 case study of Scottish salmon farming, their goal being to illuminate the economic and food security value that may be gained through improved management and use of aquaculture by-products.

This paper reviews the evidence on two widespread explanations for the importance of meat in Western history and culture: biophysical and political-economic. The first is the notion that meat eating is essential to both human nutrition and agricultural sustainability, whereas the second puts forward the argument that meat eating practices are largely determined by consumers’ relationships to the means of production and the power of government and corporations.

At the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) 2018, the director general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) spoke about the need for lower emissions from the livestock industry. In addition to efficiency gains, Graziano da Silva suggested that governments target the demand side with policies that reduce meat and dairy consumption. He said that alternative sources of protein, such as fish and pulses, are available and should be used.

In this brief communication paper published in the first volume of the new journal Nature Sustainability, researchers from the US and Belgium assess the impact of international trade on global food supply, at the level of individual nutrients, rather than total calories. Based on their hypothetical comparison of food supply in a world with and without trade, they argue that international food trade is essential for global food security.

Researcher at the University of Nottingham have developed a free Excel-based tool to reduce the use of antibiotics on dairy farms. It is hoped this will help combat antimicrobial resistance in the farming industry. The calculator gives measurements which graphically display to farmers their use of antibiotics and detects any patterns. The calculator also tells farmers how their antibiotic use compares to other farms.

This tool provides business users with an overview of their cradle-to-farm gate emissions. It is developed by Ecofys, the University of Aberdeen and PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. They are inviting companies to use the developed methodology and set science-based targets to contribute to keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.

This feature in the newly launched journal Nature Sustainability focuses on the growth of urban agriculture in the US due to increased availability of unused land and innovative development of urban farms and community gardens.