This report by the Nature Friendly Farming Network, Pesticide Action Network UK and RSPB finds that the UK’s “Red Tractor” food standards label fails to support farmers in reducing pesticide use. It also reports a gap in perceptions of the Red Tractor label between retailers and consumers: retailers see the label as only a guarantee that farmers adhere to national pesticide regulations, while consumers are under the impression that the label indicates more sustainable production practices. The report includes excerpts of a response from Red Tractor.

UK NGO Eating Better reports that the UK’s four biggest supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons) are using promotions such as multi-buy or price reduction to encourage meat sales. The report argues that this contradicts the climate commitments made by supermarkets.

This report from the Global Alliance for the Future of Food presents 14 case studies of countries that have incorporated food systems into their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) towards meeting the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. It finds that most of the 14 countries have focused their climate efforts on food production as opposed to other parts of the food system such as diet, waste, processing and transport. Many of the assessed NDCs emphasise agroecology and regenerative agriculture as well as ecosystem protection. While many NDCs discuss food systems resilience in the face of climate change, few have put concrete adaptation measures in place.

This paper identifies six key elements of the Paris Climate Agreement and discusses how they could be applied to the challenge of tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at the global level. The elements are: a collective global goal; a focus on social and economic transformation; nationally determined contributions that become more ambitious over time; an annual multi-stakeholder forum; global scientific stock-taking every five years; and an international legal framework. Most of these elements are not yet in place in relation to AMR.

This paper reviews current knowledge on the health consequences of ingested micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs). Studies have shown that MNPs can be ingested through seafood, sea salt, drinking water, possibly fruit, vegetables and rice, and even airborne particles. One estimate suggests that each person consumes an average of 5 grams of plastic in the form of MNPs each week, although other studies suggest only a fraction of ingested plastic is actually absorbed into the body.

This paper analyses satellite data and finds that the annual rate of carbon loss from tropical forests has doubled between the time periods 2001-05 and 2015-19, primarily driven by agricultural expansion.

This study reviews the variation in greenhouse gas emissions resulting from vegetable oil production around the world. It re-analyses life cycle data covering almost 6000 producers of palm, soybean, rapeseed and sunflower oil across 38 countries. It finds that the carbon opportunity cost of farming oil crops instead of keeping native land cover drives considerable variation in the carbon footprint of vegetable oils.

In this blog post, Kath Dalmeny, Chief Executive of UK NGO Sustain, argues that the cost of living crisis in the UK should be tackled using windfall taxes on large corporations that are reporting record profits; Real Living Wages that are linked to the cost of living; strong safety nets such as free school meals for all children; extending the principle of “public money for public goods” to cover more state spending on food; joined-up local responses to food crises, e.g. through local food poverty alliances; and strong accountability in government for action on food poverty.

Six Inches of Soil will be a documentary about how British farmers are moving away from industrial agricultural models, towards agroecological and regenerative methods. A trailer is now available to watch. The film is still in production, and is being crowd-funded.