This paper examines how narratives with epic elements - such as heroic figures, a difficult journey and facing monumental challenges - have developed around several well-known personalities in the nature-based agriculture movement.

This paper argues that animal-source foods are unjustly stigmatised as being harmful for health and the environment, and that nutritionism - focusing on the individual components of food rather than its broader benefits - is overly reductive. The paper criticises the use of narrow metrics such as emissions per kg of food, and instead calls for “wholesome and nourishing diets” rooted in values such as “conviviality and shared traditions”.

This report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature examines the links between wildlife and emerging human pathogens as well as the origins, drivers and risk factors of zoonotic diseases. It finds that around 99% of the human incidence of zoonoses come from domesticated animals or habitats disrupted by people (for example through the food system), as opposed to from direct exposure to wildlife.

This report from the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute explores how local authorities and non-profits across the UK responded to household food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the period between September 2020 and September 2021. It finds that some existing initiatives were adapted for the pandemic, while other new initiatives emerged.

This policy insight from the UK’s Food Research Collaboration argues that the 2021 Independent Review for the National Food Strategy failed to address the specific nutritional needs of babies and young children. The report identifies eight policy recommendations, including supporting women who wish to breastfeed, regulating the composition, labelling and marketing of foods aimed at young children, and reforming the Healthy Start scheme.

This report from the UK’s Food, Farming & Countryside Commission investigates how people who are experiencing food insecurity make decisions about what to eat. It focuses on Devon, with the report interviewing food producers, people receiving emergency food, and others in the food system. Buyers and producers want to see more investment in small and sustainable food production, food projects built around community access, sharing of resources, and collective food buying and preparation.

This policy brief from the UK’s Food Research Collaboration argues that thinking of vegetable supply chains in the UK as interactive and entangled networks of state, community and commercial actors, rather than primarily as markets, can give communities greater influence over supply chain governance and provide growers with alternatives to supermarket supply chains.

This report from the WWF considers how agriculture and land use across the UK can be changed to help meet climate commitments while also protecting nature. The key components of its strategy are moving towards agroecological farming practices, tackling nitrogen pollution, restoring natural ecosystems in appropriate locations, and shifting diets. It calls for governments across the UK to support farming communities through financial support, regulation and strong trade standards.

This book presents a toolkit of agroecological methods of farming, based on case studies including the author’s farm, Huxhams Cross Farm in Devon, England.