This feature from Oxford’s Our World In Data project investigates the figures behind the often-heard statistic that the world has only 60 harvests left because of soil erosion. It concludes that although this figure is not correct, soil erosion is a problem. Globally, 16% of soils are estimated to have a remaining lifespan of less than 100 years; half are expected to last over 1000 years; and one-third are expected to last over 5000 years. The feature recommends cover cropping, minimal or no tillage, and contour cultivation to extend soil lifespans.

This book, co-authored by Table member Colin Sage, uses case studies to investigate how local food movements, enterprises and networks can contribute to the transition towards a sustainable food system. Chapter 1 is available for free download, and Chapters 3, 7 and 8 will also become available for download shortly.

UK supermarket Tesco and the British Nutrition Foundation have produced this report, which outlines recommendations for a healthy, sustainable diet. It uses the UK government’s Eatwell Guide as the basis for discussion and lists ways in which Tesco will encourage its customers to eat differently, including a “Healthy Choice” logo, reformulating products, committing to a 300% increase in meat alternative sales by 2025, and tackling food waste.

This report by the Cornell Atkinson Centre for Sustainability and Nature Sustainability examines the technological scope for moving to food systems that are healthy, equitable, resilient and sustainable. It finds that successfully scaling up promising technologies depends on specific “biophysical, political, socio-economic, and cultural contexts”, and therefore proposes creating “socio-technical innovation bundles” that are customised to the relevant context.

The Sixth Carbon Budget from the UK’s Climate Change Committee sets out the UK’s permissible emissions between 2033 and 2037. Food-relevant recommendations include reducing consumption of meat and dairy by 20% by 2030, adopting low-carbon farming practices while raising productivity, and shifting some land use towards reforestation and bioenergy production.

The journal EuroChoices has released a special issue, “Towards more Resilient Agricultural Systems in Europe”, which showcases findings from the Horizon 2020 SURE‐Farm research project which was coordinated by Wageningen University & Research.

This paper, by the Wellcome Trust-funded Oxford Livestock, Environment & People (LEAP) programme, finds that non-meat eaters, particularly vegans, have a higher total risk of bone fractures and some specific fracture types, such as hip fractures. After controlling for various confounding factors, the study finds that, relative to meat-eaters, vegans have a 2.31x higher risk of fractures; vegetarians have a 1.25x higher risk; and fish eaters have a 1.26x higher risk.

This paper presents a global analysis of the greenhouse gas balance of the world’s grasslands - both managed and natural - between 1750 and 2012, aiming to separate the direct effects of management by humans and the indirect effects of climate change. It finds that in most world regions, managed grasslands (those grazed by livestock or mown for grass forage) have a net warming effect on the climate, while sparsely grazed grasslands (natural grasslands not affected by livestock, but which may be grazed by wild animals) have a net cooling effect. 

This paper uses data from 19 countries to test the link between climate and dietary diversity in children. It finds that higher temperatures are generally associated with lower diet diversity, while higher precipitation is generally associated with greater diet diversity.