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. 

The WWF present a detailed analysis of the similarities, differences, opportunities and trade-offs across different food system types – outlining the transformation levers. It’s also an interactive tool is designed to help identify the places in which different solutions will deliver the highest impact. You can browse by country or specific solution.

This report by the Perennial Green Manures project shows its experiments with a system of providing nitrogen to crops by use of trees and shrubs grown in 'bioservice areas'. It argues it increases farm resilience by providing shelter and habitats, but also produces nitrogen-rich foliage which is applied to cropland. This could have benefits over fertiliser nitrogen and traditional organic methods in reducing greenhouse gases. 

A report from the Good Food Institute, a thinktank for Alternative proteins, indicates ​​​​that a shift toward alternative proteins in the US protein supply would enable​ ​a significant amount of land to be repurposed​ ​for agroecological and regenerative farming​​ as well as ​​f​or ​habitat restoration and conservation​​. 

This research finds that urban food policies in the Global North do not meaningfully consider immigrants and their experience of food. It argues many urban food policies promote dominant and nationalist understandings of healthy and sustainable food without recognising immigrants’ food-related knowledge and skills. 

This paper argues that shifting consumption from refined grain foods to fortified whole grain and whole blend foods can improve food security and make diets healthier. They suggest this would also make food systems more efficient and resilient, and help mitigate the food crisis.