This paper argues that the threats to humanity and the biosphere from environmental damage is much greater than is usually acknowledged, and that current political and economic solutions do not match the scale of the danger. The authors call for scientists to speak “candidly and accurately” to policymakers, businesses and the public about the risks to our future.

The research programme ‘Resilience of the UK Food System in a Global Context’ has launched an online hub. The programme aims to identify the major vulnerabilities of the UK food system and assess how its resilience can be improved. The hub gives details of its 13 research projects, lists programme outputs, and has sections for news and blogs and events.

This blog post, co-authored by Table member Ken Giller, summarises the final session of the eDialogues series What Future for Small-Scale Farming? This session explored policy implications for the inclusive transformation of small-scale agriculture in challenging times.

This book discusses a set of legal cases that have been settled recently within the United States Department of Agriculture regardings its treatment of farmers from different ethnic and gender backgrounds. It explores how these cases link to current trends relating to food justice in the wider food culture.

This open access book explores the conditions that support or hinder the transition of the food system towards agroecology: rights and access to nature; knowledge and culture; systems of economic exchange; networks; equity; and discourse. 

In this report, charity Rewilding Britain argues that natural regeneration is the best method of reforesting large areas of land across the UK, and that more active methods (such as planting trees) should be reserved for cases where natural regeneration would be more difficult. The report suggests that doubling woodland cover from 13% to 26% by 2030 is both desirable and achievable. The report stresses that woodland regeneration should take place in a way that supports rural livelihoods and engages communities. 

This report from the UK’s International Institute for Environment and Development and Dutch development aid organisation Hivos discusses how citizens’ agency (i.e. ability to act freely and make independent choices) can be supported within food systems in the context of a development sector that is often strongly driven by stakeholders from the Global North.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations has released the 2020 update of its dataset on agricultural emissions (accessible at FAOSTAT), with the newest figures covering the year 2018. Total agricultural emissions in 2018 were 9.3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent, of which 4 billion tonnes were from land use and land use change, and 3 billion tonnes of which were from livestock processes such as enteric fermentation and manure deposition. Agricultural and related land use emissions accounted for 17% of global emissions from all sectors.

This report from the UK’s Food, Farming & Countryside Commission finds that agroecological farming could produce enough healthy food to feed the expected UK population in 2050 while freeing up 7.5% of current agricultural area for uses such as woodland creation and public access. The model assumes that diets would include less meat, dairy and sugar, and more fruit, vegetables and nuts.