The Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institution of Chemical Engineers have published a new report called The Vital Ingredient – chemical science and engineering for sustainable food. The report describes meeting energy and food demand despite declining fossil fuel resources – without permanently damaging the environment – as the greatest technological challenge facing humanity.

This book by Julia Wright, published by Earthscan in 2009 considers Cuba's food crisis after the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc. When other nations are forced to rethink their agricultural and food security strategies in light of the post-peak oil debate, they only have one living example to draw from: that of Cuba in the 1990s. Based on the first and - up till now - only systematic and empirical study to come out of Cuba on this topic, this book examines how the nation successfully headed off its own food crisis.

This report shows, through analysis and a wide variety of case studies, that urban agriculture can, in a very practical way, yield a range of benefits.