Volume 3 Issue 7, July 2022

The Ukraine–Russia war will impact global food security over months if not years. In the wake of COVID-19 and in the face of increasing climate change, we propose responses to a multi-layered global food crisis that mitigate near-term food security risks, stabilize wheat supplies and transition towards long-term agri-food system resilience.

Nutrient security in the United Kingdom appears to be stable and secure, but it is unclear whether this will continue to be the case if dietary patterns change, or if new trade arrangements emerge.

In silico cultivar selection estimates that the global potential wheat yield may be doubled. However, there remain many challenges in leveraging the yield potential into practice.

Advancing wheat sowing dates has a large benefit to crop yields in the Eastern Ganges Plain of India. The contribution of better crop calendar management to yield gains should be studied more extensively around the world, especially in underperforming regions.

Tillage on slopes thins the soil and reduces crop yields. Increased yields in regions where soil is deposited partially compensate for this reduction in crop yields at regional scales. However, continued increases in tillage intensity and climate-change-induced increases in dry spells may lead to reduced crop yields.

The role of social resilience in mitigating hunger related to climate change is explored in North Korea, South Korea and China, regions with similar climatic conditions but varying levels of economic development.

Micronutrient availability is key to future global food security. A macroanalysis reveals how sources of micronutrients and countries of origin have varied in the United Kingdom over the six decades before Brexit. Through scenario analysis, the effects of trade and dietary choices on nutrient supply and demand are also explored.

Shifting from cattle farming to camels and goats could deliver more sustainable milk production under climate-change-induced heat stress and resource scarcity in the drylands of north sub-Saharan Africa.

The wheat genetic yield gap globally ranges from 30% to 70%, indicating current wheat yields are substantially below achievable genetic yield potentials. There is potential to close the existing genetic yield gap with crop genetic improvement and adaption.

Current cropping calendar management erodes wheat yield potential in the rice–wheat cropping system of eastern India. By combining field and household survey data, time series of remotely sensed information and dynamic crop simulations, this study shows that exploitable wheat yield gaps could increase by 69% through planting date adjustments that enhance climate resilience.