This report by Dutch bank ING considers the potential for a protein shift away from animal to plant protein. It finds that a quarter of EU consumers expects to eat less meat in five years’ time, mainly because of the concerns about the associated negative health effects. In addition, it poses that a further shift in consumer preferences is likely as the level of innovation in alternative protein is high and governments are increasingly concerned about the carbon footprint of diets.

In November 2017, in response to the FCRN’s report Grazed and Confused, the Eating Better Alliance brought together a range of researchers and civil society to discuss pasture farming and in particular its contribution to climate change. The meeting began with a presentation by Tara Garnett. It was organised because Eating Better was keen to have a discussion about the implications of this research for civil society messaging toward ‘less and better’ meat and dairy, and farming in pasture-based livestock systems.

This article by researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC examines four pervasive myths about women in agriculture: 1) 70% of the world’s poor are women; 2) Women produce 60 to 80% of the world’s food; 3) Women own 1% of the world’s land; and 4) Women are better stewards of the environment. For each myth, the authors examine the relevant literature to evaluate any truth behind it and to identify its underpinning assumptions and fallacies.

This article presents the results from a new global soil erosion model, based on a combination of remote sensing, GIS modelling and census data. It finds that accelerated soil erosion due to land use change between 2001 and 2012 is a major threat to soil and future agriculture but that previous commonly used estimates of annual global soil erosion were twice too high. In comparison with previous studies which had a mapping resolution of around 10–60 km cell size, this model with its high-resolution 250m cell size has far greater predictive power than any previous model. 

This new report by the Sustainable Food Trust, ‘The hidden cost of UK food’, presents an analysis of the price of the externalities (and subsidies) of the UK food system, which they compare to the amount of money spent on food and non-alcoholic drink at consumer outlets. 

The Agricultural Model intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) is an international collaborative effort to improve agricultural modelling and to understand climate impacts on the agricultural sector at global, national, and regional scales. They have produced a beta version of a visualization tool for the assessment of current and future agricultural systems. 

The Food Ethics Council has published a free, special edition, online magazine – ‘For whom? Questioning the food and farming research agenda' – that brings together the thoughts and opinions of over 30 experts.

This blog by Annabel de Frece and Rebecca Wells talks about their work as teaching Fellows for the Innovative Food Systems Teaching and Learning (IFSTAL) Programme. IFSTAL aims to improve food systems teaching across universities in the UK. In the blog, the authors relate some of the rationale behind the teaching methods.

This edition of Newshour Extra hosts a panel of experts to discuss whether 'the pleasures of eating meat are worth the costs.'