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Resource constraints and environmental impacts associated with current phosphorus fertilizer manufacture and use highlight considerable risks within global food production systems. Research portfolios targeted at existing soil phosphorus reserves might offer a solution.
Food systems transformations are necessary, but will be difficult to achieve without disrupting current political framings and governance mechanisms. The academic community can do more to drive change at the science–policy interface to open a larger political, social and economic space for progress.
The success of the European Union’s Farm to Fork strategy depends on the success of the expected legislative framework for sustainable food systems and the design and implementation of a new food systems governance architecture. Key elements include deliberative food systems governance and democracy, science–policy interfaces, independent progress monitoring, obligatory reporting rules and strategic and adaptive policy design.
The recent involvement of Nestlé in the Africa Food Prize reinforces the presence of the ultra-processed food industry in the continent and invites us to reflect on the implications this may have for Africa’s sustainable food systems agenda.
Climate change mitigation in agri-food systems is hindered by the weak interconnection between research, policy and societal action. Modelling tools, together with international superordinate bodies and stakeholder-inclusive assessment frameworks, can support a better alignment between these three pillars of human progress.
Finance is a critical catalyst of food systems transformation. At the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit, the Financial Lever Group suggested five imperatives to tap into new financial resources while making better use of existing ones. These imperatives are yet to garner greater traction to instigate meaningful change.
The overlooked link between fossil fuel-derived sulfur and the production of phosphate fertilizers may lower agricultural productivity and harm global food security unless action is taken.
The assignment of foods to one of four categories proposed by the Nova framework may be challenging in the absence of information on how these foods were prepared and their specific composition. A three-step iterative approach can make the categorization process more efficient and transparent, thereby increasing the accuracy of Nova estimates.
World Trade Organization rules must be reformed to allow governments to build and manage public food reserves, providing a critical tool in preventing or mitigating food crises.
‘Loss and damage’ is seen as a new paradigm for international climate action, but has long affected the operational realities of institutions that keep responding to climate-induced food system breakdowns. Without stronger systems for climate prediction and protection, escalating humanitarian needs risk crowding out the financial space for loss and damage prevention.
