International – Global Food Security

Future Trade Scenarios and the Impact on Agricultural Economies

Document Information: PDF 4MB
Date: July 2022

This report from the International Sustainable Temperate Agriculture Network (TempAg) uses a scenario exercise to explore how economic, social, environmental and political drivers may impact future trade, and how these in turn might shape agricultural economies, and their research agendas, globally.

TempAg was an international collaborative research network established to increase the impact of agricultural research in the world’s temperate regions. The network was established in April 2015 with support from the OECD Global Science Forum. The network’s activity was jointly coordinated by the Global Food Security (GFS) programme and INRA (National Institute of Agricultural Research, France).

Unintended consequences of cash crop production in Eastern Uganda demonstrate the need for holistic thinking and multi-pronged action

Date: 22 May 2020
Author(s): Denis Muwanguzi

Sugarcane production is a major industry in Uganda, however growing the cash crop often has negative impacts for local farmers. Denis Muwanguzi explains why holistic thinking and multi-pronged action are needed.

Why International Women’s Day is important to the way we think about global food security: a perspective from the Global Challenges Research Fund

Date: 8 March 2019
Author(s): Tahrat Shahid

On a day like International Women’s Day, it is important to talk about how women’s rights and empowerment cut across various parts of our lives – whether we are women, men, or any other gender – across the world.

Shocks to the food system: Building a prediction engine for policy

Date: 25 January 2019
Author(s): Valeria Shumaylova and Aled Jones

Valeria Shumaylova (University of Cambridge) and Aled Jones (Anglia Ruskin University) describe the rationale behind their recent project exploring data science techniques to study the link between food production shocks, food prices and food riots.

Policy brief: Food systems approaches to a sustainable future

Date: November 2018
Author(s): Maia Elliott

Food systems approaches to a sustainable future

Document Information: PDF 2MB
Date: November 2018

This policy brief conveys five key messages for this year’s Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change (COP24), based on the outputs of the Global Food Security programme’s Paris-compliant healthy food systems workshop. This document outlines why a food systems approach is required to meet the Paris Agreement and the wider Sustainable Development Goals, as well as to ensure future food security for a rapidly growing global population in the face of ongoing climate change.

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Creating and connecting a community of food systems thinkers

Date: 23 August 2018
Author(s): Global Food Security

A novel approach to addressing the challenges of the food system has marked its third successful year.

Foot-and-mouth disease vaccination strategy could help reduce food insecurity in eastern Africa

Date: 7 August 2018
Author(s): Global Food Security

Research generated by scientists at University of Glasgow and The Pirbright Institute has shown that a targeted vaccination programme against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) could alleviate poverty in eastern Africa.

Unpack a game, unpack the world? Exploring the future of South African fruit with game design

Date: 24 July 2018
Author(s): Joanne Craven

If the fruit sector were a game, what would it be like? Monopoly – rich get richer, poor get poorer? Snakes and Ladders – it’s all down to luck? Dungeons and Dragons – highly complex and best directed by experts? Or maybe like Twister – needing strength and flexibility?

Bananas at a crossroads

Date: 10 May 2018
Author(s): Dan Bebber

Bananas, the UK’s favourite fruit, appear at first glance to be among our most reliable and resilient fresh produce. They are stocked in every supermarket on every day of the year, and their price seldom varies by more than a few pence per kilo.

Hidden Hunger: Biofortified wheat and zinc deficiency in Pakistan

Date: 5 March 2018
Author(s): Heather Ohly

Zinc deficiency affects around 17% of the world’s population, mostly in developing countries. In Pakistan, the most recent national nutrition survey indicated that over 40% of women are zinc deficient. Could using a new type of flour in cooking help tackle this deficiency?

Why UK researchers are needed to achieve diets that nourish, rather than just feed people

Date: 18 September 2017
Author(s): Alastair Ager

Following the previous blog from Riaz Bhunnoo, Head of Global Food Security, on the opportunity for further research into food security using a ‘food systems’ approach, Professor Alastair Ager, Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department for International Development (DFID) explains why there is a need for this cross-cutting research and the challenges he hopes this will address.

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