This report, commissioned by the UK’s Food Standards Agency, aims to assess the most likely changes to the UK food system over the next five years resulting from climate change. It argues that although policies for net zero are aspirational, the near-term transition costs and experiences for stakeholders, particularly in food production, processing, and consumption, may be negative.

The UN's "Pact for the Future," is essentially a recommitment to the Sustainable Development Goals with additional focus on AI, governance and reforming the UN Security Council and climate finance. It has a section on food security which journalist Thin Wei Lin shows has been eroded throughout the negotiation process.

This study in Nature Food claims that widespread efforts to sequester carbon on agricultural land could offer farmers around the world extra income and allow net zero emissions in agriculture by 2050 for a lower cost than other options. To achieve this, the study argues that it requires deploying highly efficient institutions and monitoring systems across the world in the next five years. 

This study finds methane emissions from slurry stores on dairy farms may be up to five times greater than official statistics suggest. It also claims there is huge potential for turning them into a renewable energy source. The study shows that if captured and turned into biogas, emitted methane could be valuable.

The Land Use for Net Zero (LUNZ) Hub is a consortium founded in November 2023 to provide all four UK administrations with the rapid evidence they need to develop policies that will drive the UK land transformation required to achieve Net Zero by 2050, alongside other environmental targets. LUNZ has produced two films framing the perspectives of an array of land managers who are actively dealing with the challenges of trying to transition to net zero.

Is it possible to change the system from within or should we instead apply pressure from the outside? Or maybe even create an entirely new system instead? In this edition of Fodder, we dig into the fundamentally different attitudes to collaboration when it comes to food systems transformation. Can social movements and environmental groups collaborate with industry to drive change, or do they risk being co-opted for the profits and interests of corporations?

Folklorist Ben Gazur guides you through the dark alleys of British history to uncover how our food habits have been passed down through generations of folklore. Gazur investigates the origins of famous food superstitions as well as much more bizarre and lesser-known tales. 

This book makes the case for an urgent move away from industrial agriculture towards regenerative farming and the promotion of plant-based diets. It features renowned experts such as Vandana Shiva, Jennifer Clapp, Olivier De Schutter and Henry Dimbleby as they discuss the routes in policy and practice to transform the food system. 

William Mosely explores why so many approaches to food and farming policy fail in Sub-Saharan Africa. He argues that it’s down to Western, colonial agricultural science that is infused with power and politics. This version is open-access.