Volume 2 Issue 7, July 2021

Aquaculture is set to undergo robust growth in the years ahead. We must look beyond the economic gains and strategize aquatic food systems to improve food and nutrition security and livelihoods for all, says the 2021 World Food Prize Laureate, Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted.

Bioinspired, biodegradable seed coatings delivering plant growth promoting bacteria, osmolytes, and carbon sources provide a new tool to grow crops under the abiotic stressors accompanying climate change and marginalized soils.

Brexit may compromise diet-related health in the United Kingdom — but the risks could be mitigated with trade agreements, subsidy reform and nutrition policy.

Large-scale modelling underscores the need to reduce phosphorus fertilizer application in rich countries and increase it in poor regions. Yet, the realization of associated economic and environmental benefits will require complementary analyses locally.

Marginal areas of rice production have the potential to meet increasing oil palm demand in India, without sacrificing forests and associated biodiversity.

Continuous and chronic exposure to mixtures of multiple chemicals, particularly from food, medicine and cleaning products, are of concern. A proactive combinatorial approach to identify, assess and regulate the likelihood of exposure and potential health effects is presented.

A wetting method for cassava flour can further reduce cyanide exposure and its disease burden among children. The cost-effectiveness of the method in reducing cognitive disability is assessed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

An economic model estimates increases in the number of people unable to afford even half the cost of healthy diets in low- and middle-income countries due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on maternal and child nutrition outcomes, and productivity losses due to childhood stunting and mortality, in 118 low- and middle-income countries are projected under optimistic, moderate and pessimistic scenarios. Six nutrition interventions to mitigate excess stunting and child mortality are financially costed.

The seed coating consists of a silk/trehalose inner layer containing rhizobacteria and a pectin/carboxymethylcellulose outer layer that reswells upon sowing and acts as a water jacket. Coated common bean seeds showed better plant establishment in semi-arid soil.

Across 57 global food security projection and quantitative scenario studies that have been published in the past two decades, the total global food demand is expected to rise from +35% to +56% between 2010 and 2050, and the population at risk of hunger is expected to change by −91% to +8%. Both ranges are substantially lower than previous projections.

Post-Brexit free-trade agreements could increase diet-related health risks—but tariff and subsidy reforms could mitigate these risks.

Population growth and associated increases in food and feed demand may drive cropland expansion at the expense of natural area and biodiversity, as well as higher greenhouse gas emissions. This study shows how a more efficient and better targeted use of phosphorus is key to avoiding such environmental problems.

Characterizing and quantifying food loss and waste (FLW) is key to the design of sustainable food systems. Based on field surveys and literature review, this study provides data on FLW in China for several commodities at specific stages of the food supply chain. Associated environmental footprints are also calculated under baseline conditions and for three hypothetical scenarios of FLW reduction, revealing the effectiveness of different intervention levels.

Existing datasets of nitrogen (N) balance in agriculture are often discrepant. Comparing 13 of them regarding five metrics (fertilizer application, manure application, biological N fixation, atmospheric deposition, and N harvested as crop products) over 1961–2015 reveals why. Recommendations for improving N quantification and an N budget benchmark dataset are also proposed.