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Using spatial statistics on a detailed land use map, the study highlights the impact of cropland fragmentation in China. Optimizing cropping structures to meet animal food demand or relocating fragmented croplands for large-scale farming can release the potential of the fragmented croplands for increased agricultural productivity and environmental protection.
A mass-balance and fish-in/fish-out ratio approach demonstrates that redistributing wild-caught fish used in salmon aquaculture to human consumption could improve nutrient retention and support sustainable marine resource use.
Organic nitrogen (N) sources management is critical to achieve high rice yield and carbon (C) neutrality. This study scaled up the field findings using machine learning and showed that the co-benefits of improved rice yield and reduced net C emission can be realized with integrated management of organic N and water on a global scale.
High-income groups contribute significantly to air pollution through their food choices, but most of the associated health burden is borne by low-income groups living close to agricultural areas. This study measures this discrepancy along the Chinese food supply chain and examines pathways to reduce it.
Trade-off analyses are common in agriculture, but differences in their design and application make comparisons difficult. This systematic review examines the existing trade-off analysis literature in terms of methods, spatial scale, farming system, indicators and other analytical features.
Most people in sub-Saharan Africa cannot afford a nutritious diet. Using consumer demand system modelling, this study estimates diet quality sensitivity to changing income and prices of specific foods in Malawi, Niger, Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria.
Canada’s Food Guide recommends greater consumption of plant protein foods, but replacing animal with plant protein sources might have important consequences. Based on actual food intake values, this study assesses the impacts of partial replacement (that is, 25% and 50%) on nutrient inadequacy, health outcomes and diet-related GHG emissions.
The coupled impacts of diets on health and the environment must be considered when setting food policy targets and evaluating the effectiveness of specific interventions. A newly proposed health–environment efficiency indicator applied to 195 countries over two decades can aid this process, revealing important trends and drivers.
A database addresses the magnitude, composition, location and environmental footprint of global food loss and waste, providing a link to global trade, nutritional security and environmental impacts.
The patterns of how yield gaps change can suggest likely future outcomes for crop growth. This study conducts a spatial and temporal analysis of yield gaps for ten major crops from 1975 to 2010 and identifies regions where crops are experiencing ‘ceiling pressure’, signalling opportunities to improve future food security.
A natural pathway in rice and in seven other major crop species degrades 57–89% of accumulated methylmercury and releases Hg into the air. The MeHg demethylation within rice mitigates Hg flux into human food webs, diminishing human cognitive damage and generating global economic benefits of US$30.7–84.2 billion.
Protein production and consumption changes are needed to support healthy and sustainable food transformations. This systematic review explores narratives, gaps in the literature and paths forwards by focusing on the protein shift as a transition process in high-income countries.
This study analyses the synergistic effects of reductions in ozone and aerosols on China’s maize, rice and wheat yields, showing that meeting air quality targets would help the country to achieve grain self-sufficiency.
Effective solutions for food systems transformation must be designed in a participatory way. This study illustrates the application of an integrated assessment framework to explore stakeholder-driven scenarios towards climate-smart nutrition security in Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.
While nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycles have been investigated separately, the links between them are key for sustainable food systems. Combining material flow and ecological network analysis, this study examines the resilience of China’s N–P-coupled cycling network over time under different scenarios.
Optimizing agricultural management practices has the potential to support sustainable agricultural intensification. This study presents a hybrid data-model integration approach that enables spatiotemporal optimization of agricultural management practices to maximize crop yield while reducing resource use and greenhouse gas emissions.
Data on aquatic food loss and waste are limited outside small-scale fisheries, and major gaps exist for aquaculture species that make up half of global production. This study estimates loss and waste in the US aquatic food supply chain from 2014 to 2018, including the top ten species groups that together represent 89% of the country’s aquatic food supply.
Livestock feed production competes directly or indirectly with food crops for natural resources. This study demonstrates that more efficient use of food system by-products in livestock diet can reduce feed–food competition, increase the global food supply and decrease the pressure on land and water resources.
The relationships between the use of agricultural inputs and crop yields are complex. This study presents a machine learning model to predict the changes in crop yield in the face of single and combined agricultural input shocks and shows that shocks in the availability of commercial agricultural inputs have a considerable impact on crop yields, particularly in high-yield regions worldwide.
Storage and processing can impact micronutrient levels of biofortified foods at the point of consumption. A systematic review and online dashboard present data on how processing methods affect micronutrient retention.