This report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations sets out the latest statistics on food security around the world, analyses how government policies are affecting food and agriculture, and sets out options for repurposing government support to improve the affordability of healthy diets. It finds that hunger has continued to worsen, with around 150 million more people affected by hunger in 2021 compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

This randomised controlled trial of 47 patients experiencing depression found that taking a multi-strain probiotic supplement for a month experienced reduced depressive symptoms compared to patients taking a placebo. All participants continued to receive their usual treatment as well. The authors say the study shows the importance of the connections between the microbiome, gut and brain.

This study examines domestic and imported supplies of five micronutrients (vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, calcium and zinc) to the United Kingdom over the period 1961 to 2017, with the aim of assessing how future post-Brexit trade arrangements and also shifts towards plant-based diets might affect the security of the supply of these micronutrients.

This paper identifies research priorities relating to threats to global food security caused by extreme events such as heat waves, floods, war or financial crises. Focusing on the next two decades, the authors asked experts for emerging threats to food security as well as research questions, which were then ranked according to their potential impact and effort required to answer them.

This article in digital magazine Undark explores the development of Kernza, a perennial grain intended to produce food while reducing soil erosion and nitrogen loss. Despite research and development efforts, Kernza yields per hectare still remain well below annual wheat yields - a problem if perennial grains are not to lead to the expansion of farmland.

This book examines the politics and narratives around so-called “superfoods” such as quinoa, kale and rooibos tea, discussing their links to intellectual property, marketing, venture capital and more.

This book critiques three approaches to agriculture: Malthusian (expansion of agriculture), industrialisation (dependent on external inputs), and intensification (based on labour). It argues that the world can be fed with an alternative to industrial agriculture, which tends to be overlooked.

In this report, WWF explores what would happen if the UK were to feed livestock only on “low opportunity cost” feed sources such as grass, food waste and industrial byproducts. It argues that pressures on arable land could be reduced while producing more food overall than in a completely vegan food system; that a reduced livestock population would free up land for nature restoration; that the UK’s impacts on ecosystems in other countries would be reduced; and that space would be made for more extensive forms of grazing and mixed farming, such as agroecological farming using crop rotations. For comparison, see the Sustainable Food Trust report Feeding Britain from the ground up for a similar vision for the UK’s food system (albeit with a non-zero level of grain-fed livestock production).

This memo from the One Health Poultry Hub explores the power dynamics that lead to corporate concentration in the livestock industries in low- and middle-income countries, using poultry in India as a case study. It uses an analytical framework that examines agricultural subsidies, financialisation, trade liberalisation and infrastructure at the global, national and subnational levels.