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Staying within the safe and just planetary boundary of phosphorus in China at the river-basin scale requires a systemic management strategy for the livestock sector.
Crop diversity and cropland area stabilize food production as much as irrigation, but larger countries are likely to benefit more. This relationship can guide policy development and nation-specific management strategies in the pursuit of stable food supplies.
Circularity principles and tipping the ratio of animal- to plant-based proteins towards plant-based diets could largely reduce greenhouse gas emissions and land-use change impacts in the EU28, while avoiding micronutrient losses associated with lower animal-based protein intake.
Dietary patterns make a substantial contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Research is needed to investigate whether these dietary pattern-level GHG emission contributions can be disaggregated into food product-specific GHG emissions estimates and used to encourage citizens to switch from high- to low-emitting foods.
A sweet gel from the endocarp of cocoa pods and the concentrated juice of the cocoa fruit pulp can replace sugar in a chocolate recipe, reducing the environmental impact associated with its production and improving the nutritional value of chocolate.
Food systems are responsible for around one-third of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, and dish-level emissions are detailed end-use representatives of demand-side emissions. Low-carbon food consumption strategies are therefore linked to the Paris Agreement targets and might determine their achievement.
Linking spatially explicit inter-city nitrogen pollution transfer embedded in food trade to urbanization pathways and historic agricultural production trends reveals evidence of a ’pollution haven’ phenomenon in China’s Greater Bay Area, exacerbated by impeded agricultural development in less-urbanized surrounding cities.
Society must revisit the currently dominant agricultural production model based on land expansion and intensification. Greenhouse cultivation represents a promising alternative, particularly in the Global South.
Estimates of the nutritional value of recreational inland fisheries highlight their importance for aquatic food access and vulnerability to climate change. Yet, communicating the importance of data-poor natural resource sectors remains challenging, particularly when defining sustainable development priorities.
The intensification of livestock farming and related global trade are increasingly linked to the expansion of endemic bacterial pathogens, including zoonotic transfers to people. To preserve food security and public health, it is imperative to find measures that counter this trend.
Management practices including augmenting the ratio of organic to chemical fertilizers, implementing deep application techniques and reintegrating straw into fields can bolster food production while optimizing resource use efficiency and abating nitrogen pollution in China.
Matching phosphorus fertilizer applications to optimal thresholds required by crops mitigates the exhaustion of phosphorus resources and promotes agricultural sustainability.
Cropland fragmentation poses a significant threat to agricultural sustainability in China. Rational crop layout is required for different ecological regions to manage the fragmented croplands.
Wild forage fish can provide nutrients essential for human health, yet some nutrients may be lost when forage fish are used as aquafeeds. Reallocating a third of food-grade forage fish towards direct human consumption can optimize seafood systems to deliver dietary nutrients for feed and food at different scales.
In sub-Saharan Africa, where the affordability of a healthy diet remains a pressing concern, recent research offers fresh insights into how food prices and income influence dietary quality. These insights provide a roadmap for targeted food and nutrition policy interventions.
Ambient temperature increases occurring under climate change could induce livestock heat stress, resulting in lambing losses and an estimated economic burden of up to Australian $166 million per annum to the Australian sheep industry.
Food systems are complex and actions in one area are likely to have ripple effects in others. A newly proposed efficiency metric shows how well environmental resources used (and degraded) by food systems contribute to diet-related health outcomes.
An assessment of the supply chain reveals a rising trend in global food loss and waste, with uneven distribution across regions. Integrated interventions are necessary to reduce food waste and improve nutritional and environmental security.