This paper argues that research on genetically engineered crops in Africa fails to consider and report the social impacts, mainly focusing on crop yield and income and little or no attention paid to poverty alleviation, food security or gender equality. 

Groundwater exploitation across the world is causing land degradation and hunger, but stopping it without complementary policies would also undermine food security, the study finds. It explores five scenarios and finds that increasing efficient use of rain, investment in agricultural R&D would mitigate the effects of ending groundwater exploitation. Eating less animal products in high income countries would enhance this further. 

The study analyses how crop diversity impacts yield stability at a national scale, and finds that the stabilising effect of crop diversity increases as the land area increases. This doesn’t diminish the importance of field-level diversity, but it has implications for national strategies to diversify crop production. 

Methodology matters. Which figures scientists and researchers choose as benchmarks, what papers they choose, or exclude for their calculations, matter. This is because of the power of statistics to shape narratives and provide arguments that call for distinct solutions. The debate and backlash to the recent FAO report Pathways to Lower Emissions, a global assessment of emissions in livestock agri-food systems is over precisely this point; how the use of a single statistic has the potential to shape ideas about the future of food. 

This book explores the narratives of food systems transformation and how power manifests within food systems manifests. Intended for students, scholars and policymakers, this book deals with the contesting and competing nature of these diverse narratives which tell stories of change and how the food system should work in the future, and what or who might be left out from these imaginations. 

TV and radio presenter Tom Heap explores the various and often conflicting uses of land in the UK. Through interviews and encounters with farmers, scientists, conservationists and labourers, Heap looks at demands on land including food, renewable energy, carbon storage and housing. 

David Asher dives into all things cheese. From the cultural, agricultural practices, biological evolution of cheese and the transformation of milk into cheese. Asher pulls from his experience as a natural cheesemaker and educator to provide both a history of cheesemaking and inspiration for large and small cheesemakers to make their own natural cheeses. 

This report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) calls for the strengthening of urban and peri-urban food systems amidst rapidly expanding urbanisation and rural transformation. It provides detailed and context specific policy recommendations to improve food security and nutrition and is guided by the principles of the right to food and the right to the city.