Defra project AC0206 (2007) aims to review key scientific research reports on agriculture and climate change and other information about relevant agricultural practices which have already been adopted (in the UK and overseas) in order to identify good practice by farmers and land managers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and highlight the main gaps in knowledge that may require further research.

The Standing Advisory Committee on Nutrition has published its report on Iron and Nutrition. The purpose of the report was to “to review the dietary intakes of iron in its various forms and the impact of different dietary patterns on the nutritional and health status of the population and to make proposals.”

A New York Times article looks at some of the initiatives being taken in Sweden to carbon label their food, including efforts by one fast food hamburger chain, Max. For the link to the article see here.

This study in the Journal of Consumer Research may be relevant to the whole carbon labelling debate. A New Scientist article (Issue 2663, 02 July 2008, p 14) about the study reported: There is an old dieters' joke that anything eaten directly from the fridge has no calories. Wrong. But surely anything in a teensy snack pack must help you lose weight, right? Wrong again.

According to an article published in January 2011 in Nature News the world will be able to feed the predicted 2050 population of nine billion people. This is according to two French agricultural research organizations who have published the French Foresight report: Agrimonde. 'Scenarios and Challenges for Feeding the World in 2050'. The joint report lays out findings gleaned from 2006 to 2008 that could overturn some current assumptions about the state of global farming. More infomation is available here.

This paper (Plassmann K, Norton A, Attazadeh N, Jensen M P, Brenton P and Edwards-Jones G (2010). Methodological complexities of product carbon footprinting:a sensitivity analysis of key variables in a developing country context, Environmental Science and Policy, 13, 5.