The joint forces of climate change and violent conflict are pushing Nigeria’s food security to the brink. It is estimated that over 25 million Nigerians will be food insecure in the coming months, with the country dropping from 97 to 107 out of 133 in international food security rankings. With two thirds of the labour force working in agriculture, the increasing extreme weather patterns brought about by climate change are putting the country under severe threat. Simultaneously, Boko Harma extremist groups continue to occupy the North of the country, where the majority of agricultural production takes place.

Russia has pulled out of the Black Seas Grain Initiative, risking the loss of millions of tonnes of food from the global market. The landmark deal made last summer provided assurance that ships entering and leaving ports in Ukraine would not be attacked. This allowed 32.9 mn tonnes of food to be exported to food insecure regions in Africa, the Middle East and Asia since August. The Kremlin announced on Monday that Russia would suspend the initiative until its demand to get its own agricultural shipments to the world are met, despite the fact that Russia has been exporting record quantities of wheat and fertilisers.

This book introduces critical mapping as a problematizing, reflective approach for analysing systemic societal problems like food, scoping out existing solutions, and finding opportunities for sustainable design intervention.

Universal Food Security offers an accessible introduction to key areas that are driving research, investment and policy. Denning provides a well informed, partial account of how to solve global security through science led agricultural innovation. His approach sets out several key features for food system transformation: sustainable intensification, market infrastructure, postharvest stewardship, healthy diets and social protection.   

This report establishes how the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) are responding to rising levels of food insecurity in the UK. With the price of food rising alongside other costs, UK consumers are reducing their spending on food, and decisions over what food to buy are coming under increased pressure. With the statutory objective of protecting consumers, the FSA is changing its practices to understand how food insecurity pressures are increasing the risk of unsafe practice and unsafe or inauthentic food.  

With 122 million more people hungry in 2022 than in 2019, the latest UN State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report highlights that the world is regressing in its goal to end world hunger by 2030. The report highlights that there has been a deterioration in nutrition goals since the outbreak of the pandemic, with around 700 million people (compared to 579 million in 2019) not having enough to eat and a further 3 billion unable to afford a healthy diet. 

The authors of this article present a multi-layer network model that analyses the propagation of shocks in the global food trade system. The authors recognise that shocks, such as extreme weather events and political or geopolitical crises, have become more frequent over time. They therefore propose a model that simulates the complex interactions between countries, production processes, trade networks, and product allocation to study the impact of production shocks on food availability in different countries or regions.

The dramatic increases in agricultural yields over the 20th century have been supported by the broad spread application of fertiliser containing, amongst other elements, phosphorus. Whilst phosphate can be obtained from mining, the vast majority is obtained from cheap sulphur, which is a byproduct of refining fossil fuels. As the energy sector decarbonises, there will therefore be a large decrease in the availability of sulphur, leading to a rapid increase in price.  

The conflict in Ukraine has spotlighted significant insecurities in the global food system. Many countries with restricted access to imported staples have seen their food prices soaring and populations become increasingly food insecure, with effects most pronounced in the world’s poorest countries who tend to be import reliant. This paper highlights the impacts of current international crises on food security, highlights over-reliance on imports as the major threat to food security, and offers four suggestions as to how food systems can be diversified to enhance future food security