This report by Compassion in World Farming highlights the so-called “negative externalities” associated with livestock-based food production – that is, costs to human health and the environment that are borne by society as a whole and which are not accounted for by the cost of producing the food or the price of consuming it.

The 2016 Global Risks Report (GRR) analyses the responses of 750 experts and decision-makers to the Global Risks Perception Survey, in which they were asked to give an estimate of the likelihood and impact of 29 different risks, categorised into 5 categories: societal (s), technological (t), economic (ec), environmental (en) and geopolitical (g).

This report by Ecometrica summarises the five key agreed outcomes of the recent 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) held in Paris and highlights their implications for businesses.

This publication summarises the work of the FAO with the agricultural community to tackle climate change and its effects. The report begins by summarising four key underpinning principles of their work with food production systems:

This report by The Food Foundation describes typical British family diets, their healthiness and environmental footprint, and in particular the social and economic drivers that influence typical food choices.

This report quantifies the losses of reactive nitrogen from EU agriculture and food systems by food type, and assesses the impact of alternative diets (especially reduced meat) on the environment (through nitrogen emissions, greenhouse gas emissions and land use) and human health. Reactive nitrogen losses associated with agriculture refer mainly to the release of ammonia and nitrous oxide into the air, and nitrates into the ground. Nitrous oxide is a powerful greenhouse gas, and nitrate excesses in soil can lead to water pollution.

This paper presents evidence that humans are undoubtedly altering many geological processes on Earth—and that we have been for some time. According to the international group of geoscientists the evidence is overwhelming that the impact of human activity on Earth has pushed us into a new geological era, a human-dominated time period, termed the “Anthropocene.”

This commentary published in Science Letters, discusses new data recently released by FAO’s statistical division, and makes the case that the current large-scale reversion in pasture area is opening up a potential conservation opportunity. Author and FCRN member Joseph Poore argues that as grazing of land has become more intensive globally, we are seeing ruminant outputs increasing while large agricultural areas are being abandoned, and he argues that this offers a new opportunity for land-sparing conservation.

This very useful paper focuses on Brazilian beef production in the Cerrado grasslands region of Brazil makes an important contribution to the on-going debate about the merits of different livestock production systems, and of different consumption patterns.