This policy brief from UK food waste NGO Feedback sets out recommendations for how to make the food surplus sector in the UK sustainable and inclusive. It stresses that the top priority should be to reduce food surplus in the first place, followed by effective redistribution of unpreventable food waste.

This paper assesses four recent influential publications on food - the EAT Lancet Commission, the World Resources Report, Growing Better from the Food and Land Use Coalition and the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land. It argues that they do not give enough attention to the livelihoods of food producers, particularly poorer rural people. The authors note that only a limited subset of smallholder producers are likely to be able to escape poverty through growth in their agricultural productivity.

This study interviews urban Indians, mainly people living in Mumbai, on their meat consumption habits. It finds that there is a difference between public and private eating patterns, because of the social stigma attached to eating meat despite rising consumption.

This special issue of the journal Outlook on Agriculture, edited by James Sumberg and Ken Giller, focuses on biomimicry and ‘nature-based solutions’ in relation to food production. The introductory paper contrasts a technological approach to solving food system problems with the “(re)turn to nature” style of thinking seen in (for example) agroecology and regenerative farming. The rest of the special issue covers a range of topics including perennial grain crops and their downsides, the philosophical and conceptual underpinnings of nature-based agricultural practices, soil organic carbon, and the “epic narratives” that have been built around natural agriculture.

Current cropland use could be reduced by 37% to 48%, finds this modelling study of different land-sparing strategies. The paper looks at regional potentials for reducing cropland use and global impacts on crop prices and production levels, finding that more efficient use of land could decrease crop prices and increase global agricultural production by 2.8%. The authors argue that their results can feed into debates about the impacts of afforestation policies - see also the TABLE summary of the paper Land-based climate change mitigation measures can affect agricultural markets and food security.

This study models the impacts on food security and food prices of using land-based mitigation strategies to limit climate change to 2°C, focusing on three mitigation policies: non-CO2 emissions reductions, bioenergy production, and afforestation. It finds that tens of millions more people could be at risk of hunger in 2050 compared to the baseline scenario in which these mitigation measures are not applied. See also the TABLE summary of the paper Global cropland could be almost halved for views on how agricultural intensification could impact afforestation debates.

This podcast, produced by FAI Farms, interviews Josiah Meldrum, founder of Hodmedods, which specialises in legumes and grains grown in Britain. The podcast discusses why Meldrum classes Hodmedods as an agroecological retailer, how relationships with suppliers are developed, and approaches to scaling up regenerative agriculture.

A number of media articles have raised concerns about the potential food security impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, not only for Ukraine but for other countries that rely on food exports. We have put together a round-up of relevant news articles.

12-14 million people are currently at risk of acute food insecurity across some areas of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, because of an ongoing, multi-season drought, warns the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. If rains continue to fail, the number of highly food insecure people could rise to 15-20 million. According to the Addis Standard, increasing numbers of livestock are succumbing to the drought, and pastoralists are being forced to travel further to find water and pasture.