News & Comment

Hybrid intelligence — arising from the sensible, targeted fusion of human minds and cutting-edge computational systems — holds great potential for enhancing the sustainability of agriculture. Leveraging the combined strengths of both collective human and artificial intelligence helps identify and stress-test pathways towards the reconciliation of biodiversity and productivity.

Data-driven personalized nutrition (PN) can address the complexities of food systems in megacities, aiming to enhance food resilience. By integrating individual preferences, health data and environmental factors, PN can optimize food supply chains, promote healthier dietary choices and reduce food waste. Collaborative efforts among stakeholders are essential to implement PN effectively.

The first instalment of the FAO food systems roadmap is a key step in identifying pathways to achieve zero hunger without breaching the 1.5 °C climate change threshold. But future instalments should be more methodologically transparent, emphasize the need to reduce animal-sourced food consumption and align with a holistic One Health approach.

The Periodic Table of Food Initiative addresses food biomolecular composition information gaps through a standardized, accessible and enabling platform based on analytical tools, data and capacity building. Data from 1,650 foods serve as starting point for demonstrating the capacity of this initiative to contribute to nutrition, health and food systems transformations.

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.

Lived experience research recognizes the inherent expertise of communities, and challenges existing power imbalances in policy processes. Yet, without a strong rationale for including community lived experience, researchers, practitioners, community members and policymakers may face pushback when seeking to move community voice to the centre of food systems policy processes.

The concept of ultra-processed food was introduced more than a decade ago. The utility of this concept hinges partly on whether it is framed as the literal level of food processing, which we term ‘ultra-processing formulation’, or as system dynamics, which we term ‘ultra-processing regime’.

Insect farming is a rapidly expanding agricultural sector with the potential to improve the environmental sustainability of livestock production. A holistic approach is needed to use farmed insects responsibly and effectively with broad benefits across food systems.

Octopuses, crabs and lobsters are probably sentient, yet their welfare needs are poorly protected in the food system. Upholding animal welfare in the seafood industry presents challenges, and more research is needed to address humane capture, housing and slaughter.

The proposed benefits of cultured meat fail to track our moral intuitions because they are focused on the practical aspect of cultured meat production and consumption. A virtue-oriented approach can show cultured meat in a different light.

Industry and governments are increasingly investing in cellular agriculture. However, the trajectory of these technologies is likely to reinforce many current food system problems, particularly power asymmetries.