This report from the Global Alliance for the Future of Food calls for action in seven areas to transform the food system. The seven areas are drawn from a synthesis of the Global Alliance’s previous dialogue events and reports. For each area, the report also presents a “Beacon of Hope” - an example of the action being successfully implemented.

This report details a workshop held jointly by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) - the first collaboration between the two institutions. The workshop aimed to clarify the complex interactions between climate change and biodiversity. The report emphasises that these two issues must be addressed together.

This report from international non-profit GRAIN analyses all food and agriculture grants made by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aiming to understand how the Foundation is influencing the food system. It finds that while most of the grants are supposedly targeted towards African farmers, most of the funding actually goes to groups in North America and Europe, including research, development and policy organisations. The report argues that the Foundation has a harmful influence and that its activities gloss over the knowledge, technologies and biodiversity that farmers in the Global South already possess.

This discussion paper from UN Nutrition examines the role that livestock can play in contributing to nutrition, particularly for young children and in low-income settings, and the impacts of livestock on the environment. It aims to go beyond blanket messages about livestock-derived food and instead provide a nuanced overview of how the role of livestock in sustainable healthy diets depends on local context and specific production methods. It concludes that some groups of people - such as those already eating high levels of livestock-derived foods - could improve both health and environmental impacts by reducing their consumption.

This paper presents two qualitative narratives for possible futures of seafood production: a transition from fisheries towards aquaculture, and the co-existence of both fisheries and aquaculture. Within each narrative, the authors examine what could happen in the presence or absence of regulation.

This paper models the resource use of solar-powered single-cell protein (SCP) production and finds that SCP can produce 10 times more protein and double the calories per unit of land, compared to conventional crop production. SCP is any form of edible biomass from microbes such as algae, fungi or bacteria.

US-based startup BIOMILQ says it has produced the world’s first milk made from lab-cultured human mammary cells. The product, made by culturing human mammary cells in the laboratory, has a similar composition of “proteins, complex carbohydrates, fatty acids and other bioactive lipids” to breast milk. BIOMILQ stresses that its product is not identical to breastmilk, the composition of which can be influenced by hormones, baby behaviour, skin contact and so on. Furthermore, it does not contain the antibodies that breast milk does.

This short film from the Consumer Council explores the difficulties that low-income households in Northern Ireland face in accessing healthy and affordable food, particularly with the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. It features parents, academics and people working in local communities.

This free online book explores how consumers, nations, and international organisations can work together to improve food systems and restore ecosystems and their ability to provide for people.