Farmers urgently need to diversify, but they cannot do it alone

Boosting biodiversity on farms is crucial to make them more resilient to climate change and protect future food security, but it will not happen without change across the food supply chain from seed producer to consumer, agronomists say. Many solutions exist for ways to increase the diversity of plants grown on farms – from planting … Read more

Q&A: Why shorter isn’t necessarily better when it comes to food supply chains

Fears over supermarket shortages during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic led many people to buy their food from local producers, raising the prospect of a transformation in the way people get their food in the future. But while eating locally and shorter supply chains are often viewed as a more sustainable alternative to our global … Read more

Hydroacoustic 3D snapshots of fish habitats could help stem overfishing

Robotic eyes and ears under the water’s surface could help researchers figure out how much fish are in our oceans – and how much we can eat. Researchers are hoping fishing nets scanned by high resolution sonar, underwater cameras and unmanned aquatic vehicles can help paint one of the most accurate assessments of current fish … Read more

Smartphone, blockchain technologies to open new frontier in fight against food fraud

Food fraudsters have found myriad ways to trick shoppers – from cheap horsemeat sold as beef to conventional apples labelled as organic. But new rapid testing and tracing technologies may help turn the tables on food crime. The stakes are high for producers of expensive foods, which are particularly vulnerable to fraud. These include extra virgin olive oil, saffron, … Read more

A climate-friendly diet means rethinking the entire food system – researchers

By: Alex Whiting Shifting people to a new diet that is healthier for both the planet and for our bodies will require radical changes in the way food is grown, sold and eaten, including possibly adding a tax on meat and dairy products. The standard diet for much of the world – industrially produced calories … Read more

Sharing seeds could help farmers grow better food

A seed-sharing network would allow European farmers to manage their own seed resources rather than depend on what big agribusiness want to sell. Image credit - Pixabay/ StockSnap, licensed under pixabay license

Tapping into the genetic diversity contained within the seeds of wild relatives and forgotten crop plants could help farmers decrease their dependency on global agribusiness and grow food better suited to local conditions. Since the start of the 20th century, global demand for certain fruit and vegetables has seen farmers shift away from using local … Read more