Publications, reports, resources and reviews from the Global Food Security programme.
This report details a priority questions exercise conducted by GFS’ Science Advisory Group. Findings highlight the latest contextual developments and research advances relevant to the food system, before drawing out a list of the top ten priority research questions for food security that could be addressed through interdisciplinary research.
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GFS Insight aims to offer a balanced and interdisciplinary representation of the current state of knowledge in a particular area relating to food security. This issue outlines the need for a food system that supports both health and the Paris climate agreement, exploring impacts of food production and consumption as well as potential interventions to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions across the system.
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Pesticides provide numerous benefits, yet pressures on their use has led to industry exploring other viable options for pest, weed and disease management. This report examines the challenges of using alternatives to conventional pesticides, and highlights future research priorities for biopesticides and Integrated Pest Management strategies.
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The 17 SDGs were adopted by the UN in 2015 with the aim of driving the implementation of global sustainable development. This report details discussion at an industry focused workshop exploring how far UK food retail and manufacturing businesses are prepared for and engaged with the SDGs, and how research might help them play their part in meeting the goals.
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This report explores how UK stakeholders and consumers perceive consumer-facing information that shows the carbon footprint of high-protein food products. The study was funded by the Global Food Security programme as part of the Policy Lab, in which post-doctoral researchers compete to write a report for the programme.
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This report details the findings of a public survey, looking to gauge public attitudes towards climate change, climatic shocks and how these issues link to the food system. Given evidence that adaptation from across the food system will be necessary to successfully mitigate climate change, this project aimed to explore public engagement with climate issues and potential routes for food system change.
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TempAg held a Foresight workshop in October 2016. 40 delegates from academia, policy, industry and professionals in the science-policy interface across 14 temperate countries participated.
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This report details outcomes and recommendations from an inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral working group considering tipping points in the food system. Their work provides evidence for the existence of environmental tipping point as well as an exploration of their potential consequences for global food security and options for risk mitigation.
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Environmental tipping points occur when a biophysical system shifts from one stable state to another, potentially bringing about changes in the provision of environmental goods and services. This report provides a summary of outcomes and recommendations from an inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral working group considering potential impacts of tipping points within the food system.
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This document describes the GFS programme’s strategy, including its three programme themes and a number of interdisciplinary research priorities that would benefit from a food systems approach.
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With the global food system as a whole currently responsible for around 30% of total anthropogenic greenhouse-gas emissions, the agri-food sector must adapt if we are to meet the terms of the Paris climate agreement. This report details discussions at an interdisciplinary workshop considering what a Paris-compliant healthy food system might look like in practice, and mechanisms by which this kind of food system might be realised.
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GFS Insight aims to offer a balanced and interdisciplinary representation of the current state of knowledge in a particular area relating to food security. This issue outlines the global impacts of overconsumption, exploring the varied range of dietary influences that lead to overconsuming and potential interventions for prevention.
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GFS collaborated with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to hold the UK-China Workshop on extreme weather and global food system resilience. This workshop report provides an overview of how extreme weather might impact food production in China, how Chinese food policy and trade might affect the global market, and a number of shared future research priorities.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This document details the stimulus presentation given at the sustainable intensification workshop.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This report details findings from the sustainable intensification dialogue, outlining panel discussions on the benefits and trade-offs of sustainable intensification as an approach to agriculture.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This report provides an overview of the entire public panel project.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This report provides an evaluation of the project as a whole, including lessons learned both during and at the end of project.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This report details findings of the food innovation dialogue, highlighting consumer perspectives on research and development across the food chain.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This panel evaluation report provides an evidence based external perspective on the design, delivery, impact and credibility of the panel.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This report provides a summary of an external evaluation of the panel process.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This report details results of the endline survey, exploring how opinions and understandings of global food security may have changed during the panel process.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This document details the stimulus presentation given at the food systems workshop.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This document details the stimulus presentation given at the food innovation workshop.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This report details findings from the urban agriculture dialogue, exploring issues associated with food production and supply for a growing urban population.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This report details findings from the food systems project, exploring public understanding the food system as a complex and interconnected set of actors and actions.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This document details stimulus material for the sustainable intensification dialogue.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This document details stimulus material for the food innovations dialogue.
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This think-piece showcases new technologies with strong disruptive potential in the next decade. New technologies will play an important role in food security, given that in just a 35 year period the earth is being tasked with producing more food than it has in the last 2000 years combined.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This report details findings of the buying British dialogue, exploring the cultural, attitudinal and behavioural issues involved with buying British food.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This report details results of the baseline survey, run at the start of the panel process to benchmark panel attitudes, opinions and understandings of global food security.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This document details stimulus material for the urban agriculture dialogue.
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The GFS programme commissioned a panel of 600 members of the public to take part in engagement activities, exploring different aspects of food security research. This document details stimulus material for the food systems dialogue.
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It is clear that a range of different approaches and sustainable sources will be needed to meet growing demands for protein-based animal feed, one option being use of insects. This workshop report examines the potential of insects as animal feed, exploring possible issues associated with rearing insects on an industrial scale, consumer acceptability and economic viability.
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This annex to the Insects as Animal Feed workshop report breaks down ideas developed by the five multi-disciplinary groups around the five research priorities voted most important.
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This document provides a list of delegates who attended the insects as animal feed workshop.
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This synthesis report presents evidence that the global food system is vulnerable to production shocks caused by extreme weather, and that this risk is growing. Preliminary analysis suggests that the risk of multi-breadbasket failure from extreme weather will triple, going from a 1-in-100 year event to a 1-in-30 year event by 2040. A number of recommendations are made to improve resilience of the food system.
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This report presents a set of scenarios for weather-driven production shocks that are plausible in the present or near future climate. This work highlights the risks extreme weather poses to global food production, recommending further investigation into the meteorological teleconnections between major food production regions and the probability of coincident shocks in multiple breadbaskets.
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Impacts of extreme weather-related food production shocks can be heightened by protective policy responses that further amplify price volatility and market shocks. Through data analysis, literature reviews and expert interviews this report puts forward potential government and market responses to food production shocks in major crops that might create a more resilient food system.
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This report examines the impacts of potential extreme weather-related shocks to global grain production at a country level. Key recommendations include encouraging countries to take measures to reduce their exposure to grain production shocks, and more public-private partnerships to play a role in lessening the impact.
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This document provides a visual summary of a weather-driven production shock scenario, fictional but plausible in the present or near future climate.
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The GFS programme brings together funding agencies, government and business both domestically and internationally to address the food security challenge. We deliver impact and add value through agenda setting, focusing research priorities, coordination and collaboration, and through public engagement activities, examples of which are provided in this report.
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This report details outcomes and recommendations from three interdisciplinary and cross-sector working groups, considering principles of healthy and sustainable eating patterns, consumer behaviour, and sustainable consumption and growth. These working groups met as follow-on to the Green Food Project, 2012, that examined the challenges of simultaneously increasing food production and improving the environment.
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Water is a critical resource under threat, so recognising the risks will be vital to understanding how water use will change in the upcoming years. This synthesis report is an amalgamation of key findings from the three water sub-reports, produced by GFS and the UK Water Partnership.
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This sub-report details discussions of an interdisciplinary working group, coordinated by GFS and the UK Water Partnership. Their work explored the tensions between water availability and food production in the UK, identifying future challenges, knowledge gaps and potential methods for easing the pressure on water resources.
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This sub-report details outcomes of an interdisciplinary working group, coordinated by GFS and the UK Water Partnership. Discussions focused on the routes by which high aspirations for environmental water quality could be balanced with significant growth in agricultural production, meeting food security and environmental objectives while providing viable livelihoods for farmers.
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This sub-report details discussions of an interdisciplinary working group, coordinated by GFS and the UK Water Partnership. This report focuses on the issues presented by water availability in food trade, considering risks for different food system stakeholders when obtaining food from overseas in times of increasing global demand for fresh water.
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This document provides a list of delegates who attended the GFS nexus workshop.
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This workshop report identifies interdisciplinary research priorities and areas for cross-sector collaboration, in order to deliver efficient use of natural resources. It conceptualises the linkages between food, water, energy and land for future resource security and the interactions of these four areas, referred to as the ‘nexus’.
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