Research programme PASTRES (Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience: Global Lessons from the Margins) has produced this report, which argues that debates around livestock’s climate impacts are distorted by a focus on intensive production systems in rich countries. It argues that these debates ignore the millions of people who depend on relatively low-impact forms of extensive livestock production, and makes suggestions for how to include pastoralists in debates on the future of food.

This report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) finds that 87% of current global government support for farming includes measures that are harmful to nature or health. It argues that redirecting - rather than eliminating - agricultural subsidies is key to making the global food system more healthy, sustainable and equitable.

This report from the Food Systems Handbook examines the impacts of crop pests and diseases on food security and farmer livelihoods, drawing on a roundtable of experts held in August 2021. It discusses the scale of the problems, the additional impacts that climate change is likely to have, and various interventions including genetic engineering, early warning systems, integrated pest management, post-harvest storage techniques, crop diversity, and legumes to enhance the soil biome.

This report by ActionAid USA examines corporate consolidation by US agribusinesses. It attributes the high degree of market control by a small number of multinational companies to decades of policy choices that supported corporate consolidation and larger farms. The report summarises the impacts on rural communities, such as loss of autonomy for farmers when using pricing models based on data-driven corporate recommendations. It also sets out an alternative model: a network of small-scale, localised farms and markets.

This paper compares the carbon footprint of broiler meat production in Europe with two uses of insect protein: either as chicken feed (in the place of soybean meal), or as food for direct consumption by humans. There is high variation in performance between insect species. On average, the carbon footprint per kg of protein produced for human consumption is lowest in the case of consuming insect protein directly as food, where the insects are fed on low-value industrial side streams. Replacing soybean meal chicken feed with insects can increase the carbon footprint, especially if the insects are fed on industrially produced composite feed as opposed to a waste stream.

This paper, co-authored by TABLE’s Ken Giller, looks at trends in farming systems and land ownership to explore who the farmers of the future might be, with a focus on the future of smallholder farming. 

This paper explores the links between market power - i.e. the influence that a firm or group of firms has over customers or suppliers - and the resilience of food supply chains to shocks, focusing on the UK as an example. It finds that market power can produce both positive and negative effects on resilience. 

This paper reviews the effects of voluntary sustainability standards - such as Fairtrade, organic and Rainforest Alliance - in the food supply chain, discussing several different crops. It argues that while standards can improve production sustainability in some circumstances, they are not alone sufficient to make the whole food system sustainable.

This blog post published by the Food Research Collaboration discusses the Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirement that would become part of the UK’s planning system under the new Environment Bill. BNG requires that building developments must prove they produce a 10% increase in biodiversity value, which can be achieved by buying biodiversity “credits” from farmers who change their production practices. The blog argues that the policy will reward farmers who currently manage their land unsustainably, and not those who already farm in biodiversity-friendly ways.