This article in The Counter argues that, contrary to previous predictions, meat grown via cellular agriculture is unlikely to become economically viable as a mainstream source of food. Citing a competing technical analysis, the article argues that the cost of the equipment needed to grow cells and keep them from contamination is likely to remain prohibitive, as is the cost of animal-ingredient-free versions of the liquid used to feed cells.

This book sets out the potential benefits and challenges associated with farming so-called orphan crops, also called “neglected and underutilised species”, such as certain types of millet and buckwheat.

This book examines the ecological, social, economic and institutional impacts of industrial crops such as soybeans, cotton, maize and jatropha, using case studies from around the world.

This book, which is being released in its third edition, offers a critical examination of the food system through the lenses of gender, ethnicity and poverty. This edition includes a new chapter on sustainable diets and ethical consumption.

This report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations sets out trends in climate finance with a focus on agriculture and land use. It finds that the agriculture and land use sector has received US$122 billion in climate finance between 2000 and 2018. While in the earlier years studied, agriculture and land use received 45% of climate finance flows, the sector now receives 24%, since a greater proportion of climate finance is going to energy as well as transport and storage.

This report from US public policy think tank Brighter Green discusses industrial-style livestock production in Africa, which, although growing, has not yet reached the scale seen in the United States. Starting from the assumption that industrial livestock production is undesirable, the report sets out how Brighter Green engaged with academics and researchers in sub-Saharan Africa to challenge this agricultural development model.

This report from the International Fund for Agricultural Development argues that food systems need to be transformed or even “disrupted” dramatically so that everyone has access to sustainable, nutritious food. The report sees governance as key to this transformation, for example by providing incentives for agroecological and nature-based strategies, supporting smaller-scale producers, incorporating environmental costs into the pricing of food, and building partnerships between different food systems actors.

This report from conservation charity WWF-UK finds that the UK’s financial sector is heavily involved in investing in and lending to companies that trade commodities with a high risk of creating deforestation, including soy, palm and beef. It calls for stricter government regulation, including mandatory due diligence for all companies in the supply chain including financiers, hefty penalties, and stronger informed consent provisions for Indigenous communities.

This article outlines two different models for understanding the obesity pandemic: the first and most commonly accepted being the energy balance model, which argues that obesity is driven by high energy consumption, and the second, favoured by the authors, being the carbohydrate-insulin model, which suggests that obesity is instead driven by consumption of rapidly digestible carbohydrates.