This study explores the observed lack of recognition of labour issues within Canadian food systems governance work (the various laws, policies, and regulations that shape food systems) and seeks to identify barriers to their inclusion in future work. The authors broadly find a lack of capacity within CSOs in Canada to address food and farm workers’ issues. The authors conclude by examining potential pathways to aid food system CSOs to consider the potential benefit of investing and participating in food systems governance work to foster stronger engagement in labour issues. 

A recent study has reviewed the main determinants of obesity and discussed how they impact obesity rates in Latin America. The review identifies eight determinants of obesity; physical environment, food exposure, economic and political interest, social inequality, limited access to scientific knowledge, culture, contextual behaviour and genetics. The authors analyse these determinants in the context of Latin America to provide evidence and guidance for public policy and strategy aimed at understanding and slowing the growth rate of obesity. 

The systematic literature review explores methodologies of peer-reviewed trade-off analysis (TOA) articles in agriculture, finding that this research prioritises productivity and profit maximisation while disregarding risk, social and cultural indicators. The authors conclude that this reduces the effectiveness of TOA in holistic food systems policymaking and recommend a wider integration of indicators, scale, stakeholder involvement and risk in TOA methodology to enhance its use to policy and decision-makers to promote sustainable agricultural landscapes.

Reuters reports on a recent update by the USDA to the WIC program, expanding access to fruits, vegetables, and seafood while reducing allowances for dairy, juice and cheese, in alignment with modern dietary science, marking the first revision since 2014.

This article from the Guardian highlights how extreme weather in the UK is impacting food supply, with low supply and high prices expected due to factors such as reduced vegetable yields from flooding, challenges with imports and food sourcing from countries facing their own climate related issues.

The Financial Times explores Africa's potential to shift from a major food importer to an exporter, citing challenges such as low productivity, political instability, and climate change, while also highlighting opportunities, including available arable land and a growing population willing to engage in agriculture. 

The authors of this book propose a new regenerative business management strategy that seeks to reduce negative environmental externalities and create new positive environmental externalities by linking climate science to management studies. 

This report from the Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return (FAIRR) initiative links financial and environmental risks associated with livestock production using the planetary boundaries framework as a benchmark. It serves as a detailed reference for investors and highlights the poor performance of the industry in addressing these issues so far. It provides a comparison of nature based and engineered key solutions to aid investors’ evaluation of their potential feasibility.