The OECD and FAO have published their latest joint Outlook report. Key points as follows: The macroeconomic environment underlying the commodity projections is more positive than in the 2009 Outlook.

This paper (Gerbens-Leenes W, Nonhebel, S (2005), Appetite 45 (2005)) assesses the relationship between food consumption patterns and the use of agricultural land. Despite the physiological limit to food consumption, a difference of a factor of 6 was found between the land requirement for a hypothetical diet based on wheat and the requirement for an affluent diet based on existing consumption patterns. Even in Europe, large differences were observed between land requirements for existing food consumption patterns.

This report, published in 2010 by the Commission for Rural Communities, argues that the English uplands are landscapes that provide a wealth of natural and cultural assets and have potential to generate many valuable public goods and market products, supporting a low carbon future and green economy.

This report is one of the outputs of the IRENA operation (Indicator Reporting on the Integration of Environmental Concerns into Agriculture Policy). Released by the European Commission in December 2005, the report highlights the interactions between agriculture and the environment in the EU.