This book explains how True Cost Accounting - i.e. the practice of tallying up all of the environmental and social costs and benefits associated with the production of a good or service - can be used to reform the food system.

NGOs have warned in an open letter to state leaders that 34 million people are currently at risk of famine, with many more experiencing hunger. The letter says “These people are not starving, they are being starved” and points to drivers including violence, inequality, the impacts of climate change, loss of land or jobs, and the impacts of COVID-19. They call for $5.5 billion to be provided to support immediate food assistance.

Prof Simon Bush, Chair of the Environmental Policy Group at Wageningen University, has written an opinion piece critically reflecting on the Netflix documentary Seaspiracy and its argument that we should stop eating fish to protect ocean ecosystems. Bush queries some of the factual claims of the film, including statements about whether fish stocks will collapse by 2048, the fraction of fish that is illegally caught and the presence of pollutants in fish. He argues that seafood is an essential source of nutrition for billions of people, including many of the poorest people.

On 11 May 2021, TABLE and LEAP facilitated a dialogue between Ken Giller (Wageningen University) and Yichao Rui (Rodale Institute) on the topic of Regenerative Agriculture. We asked: why is it taking the world by storm and what are the broader implications for farmers and food systems?

The paper, co-authored by TABLE member Rebecca St. Clair, reviews the literature on business models in the seafood sector (covering both fisheries and aquaculture) and draws links between the principles of circular economy and resilience through a new Circular Economy Resilience Framework for Business Models (CERF-BM). It hypothesises that seafood businesses could increase their resilience (i.e. the ability to keep functioning despite external shocks and pressures) by using circular economy principles.

This paper argues that the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) is being used by large corporations, philanthropic organisations and export-oriented countries to take control of the narrative around food systems transformation and undermine more democratic forms of food systems governance. It analyses how the Summit was organised and how stakeholders were selected to take part.

This special issue of the journal Restoration Ecology examines trends, opportunities and research gaps in the restoration of grassland ecosystems. TABLE readers may be particularly interested in the special issue’s coverage of grazing and land-use legacies.