Articles

Coupling a two-step electrochemical system that converts CO₂ to acetate with photovoltaics increases solar-to-food energy conversion efficiency, providing an alternative route to produce food from carbon dioxide and electricity, independent of biological photosynthesis.

The concept of ‘less but better’ meat lacks clarity. A shared vision of livestock systems and meat consumption needs to be outlined to guide decision-makers towards food system sustainability.

The contribution of transportation to food systems’ total carbon footprint varies widely depending on calculation methods, indicating different priorities for climate change mitigation in the sector. Here, a global multi-region accounting framework that estimates food-miles and associated emissions over the whole supply chain shows the benefits of localizing food production.

A scalable, sustainable and cost-effective approach was developed to synthesize non-toxic, biodegradable pullulan fibres containing naturally derived antimicrobial agents. This food packaging system was tested on avocado and shows potential to enhance food safety while reducing food waste.

The projected increase in temperature will decrease processing tomato production in the three main producing countries by 2050. Temperature increases and water resource constraints in the future might change the main processing tomato growing regions and shift the value chain in the coming decades.

A physics-based digital twin simulating the physical, physiological and microbiological behaviour of citrus fruits shipped at sub-zero temperatures reveals that half of the shipments lie outside the ideal trade-off range between maintaining quality, killing fruit flies and avoiding chilling injury.

The extent to which policy-induced changes in food demand patterns help address environmental and health challenges remains poorly understood. Using a survey-based, randomized controlled experiment with almost 6,000 respondents from the United Kingdom, this study assesses the impacts on food purchases, greenhouse gas emissions and dietary health of applying carbon and/or health taxes, information provision and a combination of both tax and information strategies.

Biochemical reaction networks that characterize living organisms have a universality that enables the prediction of the chemical composition of food. A mathematical rationale is provided here for quantifying nutrient concentrations in food and imputing missing quantities in food composition databases.

This study explores the magnitude, spatiotemporal variation and drivers of nitrous oxide emissions from Chinese livestock production over the past four decades. Scenario analysis is used to estimate emissions mitigation potential of different measures, their associated marginal abatement costs and the social benefits.

Income reduction in high-income regions is insufficient for mitigating food systems greenhouse gas emissions. A deeper transformation is required that changes consumption patterns and prices emissions.

Food exports impact biodiversity in countries directly involved in trading and beyond. This study calculates food trade flows among high-hotspot, low-hotspot and non-hotspot countries, including high- and low-income ones, over 2000–2018. The amount of land saved through the imports is calculated for 189 food items.

Elimination of hunger will require shifts in crop usage by 2030. Calories will need to be obtained from crops currently harvested for purposes other than direct food consumption. Sub-Saharan Africa, however, will likely fall short even if all harvested calories are used directly as food.

Planning investments in agricultural inputs can be challenging when economic returns vary widely over time and locations. Applying a random forest algorithm to a large experimental maize trial dataset of 21,400 observation points, this study generates yield response curves and estimates economic return to fertilizers in 25 sub-Saharan African countries.

The environmental impacts of more sustainable diets vary across regions. Using linear optimization, this study compares the reductions of global warming potential, water use and land use associated with the replacement of animal-sourced foods with novel or plant-based foods in European diets. Three diet types were considered to meet nutritional adequacy and consumption constraints.

Between 1998 and 2016, tillage intensity across the US corn–soybean cropping systems shifted from a decreasing to an increasing trend. The decreasing tillage intensity is correlated to the wide adoption of herbicide-tolerant crops, whereas the tillage reintensification is found to be related to the emergence of herbicide-resistant weed species after 2008. The growing tillage intensity resulted in increased GHG emissions and undermined the GHG mitigation achievements from other activities or other sectors.

European soybean demand is highly dependent on imports. The data-driven relationships between climate and soybean yield show that the suitable area is much larger than the current soybean harvested area in Europe. A self-sufficiency level of 50% (100%) would be achievable in Europe under historical and future climate if 4–5% (9–11%) of the current European cropland were dedicated to soybean production.

Modelling analysis shows that the current rates of annual rice yields of the Southeast Asia region will not be able to produce a large rice surplus in the future unless the exploitable yield gap is narrowed down substantially within the next 20 years.

Genomic analyses reveal Escherichia coli samples from livestock in China have a third more plasmids than 50 years ago, contributing to the spread of antimicrobial resistance.

Greenhouses and vertical farming enable food production in cities, but their energy and energy-related land demands may affect their overall sustainability in specific regions. Through geospatial and mathematical modelling, this study compares open-field and two indoor farming methods for vegetable production in nine city-regions around the world.

High-resolution maps of livestock production in China indicate that dietary and production changes to lower nitrogen pollution could generate human and ecosystem benefits that outweigh the costs.