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Increased yields, reduced food waste and loss, and a shift to healthier diets are key to achieve carbon neutrality, food security and global sustainability simultaneously.
Rural dietary diversity largely depends on farmers’ access to wild food and forests. The policy environment on achieving global food security must consider managing multi-functional landscapes for a diverse array of goods and services, including food.
Future rice supply for African rice consumers is affected by domestic trends of population growth, per capita consumption, socioeconomic developments, trade and climate change. Strong import dependency makes African consumers dependent on trends and shocks in Asia; a new study models the impacts of trends and shocks.
Food consumption has triggered considerable quantities of greenhouse gas emissions at various stages of the food supply chain. Tracking food-related emissions along supply chains is key to systematically identify their sources, drivers and mitigation opportunities.
Adopting healthier diets is key to ensure food security and can bring other benefits, but might also be associated with trade-offs. A new study reveals how the partial transition towards the EAT-Lancet diet by 2030 would affect food affordability, food loss and waste and other environmental indicators.
A new high-resolution map of cocoa plantations in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana allows for large-scale accurate studies of the impact of cocoa cultivation on the landscape and better understanding of priority areas where improvements of cultivation practices are needed.
A wireless miniaturized sensor can report a ‘spoiler alert’ via a mobile phone by detecting volatile biogenic amines that are produced by spoiled protein-rich foods, providing a feasible solution to identify and prevent food spoilage and promote food safety.
The time has come to include the wellbeing of animals in cost–benefit evaluations that inform agricultural policy. By doing so, we would account for those with the most to gain — or lose — from our choices.
Empirical analyses of historical yields paired with manipulative experiments reveal that extreme rainfall reduces rice yields in China by physically disturbing the panicle and by reducing available soil nitrogen. Such mechanistic understanding aids prediction and mitigation of damages from climate change.
The double burden of malnutrition affects one-third of children globally. Knowledge on children’s current food consumption and related sociodemographic factors can guide actions towards improving children’s lifelong nutrition and health, and promote environmentally sustainable diets.
A scenario analysis reveals how changes in food production and consumption towards circularity could save natural resources in Europe — without compromising the provision of sufficient micronutrients and macronutrients for the continent’s population.
Climate change has already impacted nitrogen use and crop production. Nitrogen and climate scientists have to work together to understand future agricultural nitrogen use and adapt nitrogen management in a changing climate.
Better use of nitrogen fertilizers is key to tackling the challenge of feeding a growing world population without impairing planetary sustainability. Advanced nitrogen management and dietary changes could substantially increase Earth’s feeding capacity.
Many countries respond to short-term price fluctuations by adopting export restrictions and importing liberalization measures. The mere announcement of trade policy changes can aggravate price volatility.
The Russia–Ukraine conflict affected the price of staple crops and spurred interest in tropical wheat production. Regional consumption patterns and trade are better placed to guide effective and sustainable food security policy strategies.
Life cycle assessment reveals that the emissions from the treatment and disposal of lost and wasted food account for around half of greenhouse gas emissions from food systems. Therefore, saving food is essential to reduce food systems’ environmental impacts.
Low-cost informational interventions promoting the environmental and health benefits of reducing meat consumption can stimulate long-lasting dietary change and build support for systemic meat reduction policies.
The capacity of carbon dioxide removal currently deployed is far below what is needed to achieve the Paris Agreement temperature target. Biochar from crop residues could help China meet its 2060 net zero goal while bringing health and environmental benefits.
Taxing meat could benefit the environment, animal welfare and public health. However, such demand-side policies often face political obstacles, and politicians fear public backlash; strategic policy framing and design offer leeway.
