news 2022

Study of farmer preferences shows that turning whole areas of farmland into habitats comes with half the price tag of integrating nature into productive farmland, if biodiversity and carbon targets are to be met.

Phosphorus use in the UK needs to be better managed and used in a much more sustainable way to reduce river pollution and increase resilience over rising fertiliser prices, say researchers. Despite phosphorus being a key nutrient in the agricultural sector for which there is no alternative, the food and feedstock industries rely on imports from a small number of countries including China, Russia and Morocco.

Harmful fungal toxins are on the rise in Europe's wheat and affect almost half of crops, according to a new study led by the University of Bath. Wheat - the most widely cultivated crop in the world - is under growing attack from harmful toxins. Across Europe, almost half of wheat crops are impacted by the fungal infection that gives rise to these toxins, according to a study led by fungal biologist Dr Neil Brown from the University of Bath, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Exeter.

Increasing intake of protein and drinking regular cups of tea or coffee is a way women could reduce their risk of suffering a hip fracture, according to new research. Food scientists at the University of Leeds have found that for women, a 25 grams a day increase in protein was associated with, on average, a 14% reduction in their risk of hip fracture.

A map showing the environmental pressures from global food production has been developed by researchers, to identify ways of creating more sustainable and just food systems. The analysis looked at greenhouse gas emissions, water use, habitat disturbance and pollution, such as effluent or fertiliser run off from farms.

The research reveals that the low-cost devices could be as effective as diagnostics that are up to 50 times more expensive A new study, led by the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), has determined that low-cost thermal imaging devices show minimal difference in effectiveness of detecting lameness in dairy cattle when compared to more expensive devices.

Eating pheasant killed using lead shot is likely to expose consumers to raised levels of lead in their diet, even if the meat is carefully prepared to remove the shotgun pellets and the most damaged tissue. By eating pheasant, people are also unwittingly eating lead, which is toxic. Professor Rhys Green A study has found that pheasants killed by lead shot contain many fragments of lead too small to detect by eye or touch, and too distant from the shot to be removed without throwing away a large proportion of otherwise useable meat.

A projected shortage of sulfuric acid, a crucial chemical in our modern industrial society, could stifle green technology advancement and threaten global food security, according to a new study led by UCL researchers. The study, published in the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) journal The Geographical Journal , highlights that global demand for sulfuric acid is set to rise significantly from '246 to 400 million tonnes' by 2040 - a result of more intensive agriculture and the world moving away from fossil fuels.

A new review from Dr Chris Bryant focuses on the health and environmental benefits of plant-based products, as well as consumer attitudes. Plant-based dietary alternatives to animal products are better for the environment and for human health when compared with the animal products they are designed to replace, say the authors of a new study.

Scientists evaluate the evidence that intensive livestock farming is causing pandemics, and find that intensive farming could actually reduce the risk of future pandemics compared to 'free range' farming. Those calling for a move away from intensive farming often fail to consider the counterfactual Harriet Bartlett In the wake of COVID-19, many have pointed to modern industrial farms with tightly-packed livestock as potential hothouses for further pandemics caused by "zoonotic" diseases: those transmitted from animals to humans.

Chickens were introduced to Britain, mainland Europe, and Northern Africa later than previously thought, and were primarily regarded as exotica not food, new research suggests. The study, led by Cardiff University and published in the journal Antiquity is one of two papers published today which together, transform our understanding of how humans' relationship with the popular poultry has evolved over time.

Climate change and intensive agricultural land use have already been responsible for a 49% reduction in the number of insects in the most impacted parts of the world, finds a new study by UCL researchers. The study published in Nature is the first to identify that an interaction between rising temperatures and land use changes, is driving widespread losses in numerous insect groups across the globe.

The research sheds new light on the mechanisms by which the adoption of agriculture led to complex hierarchies and states It challenges the conventional -productivity theory- which holds that regional differences in land productivity explain regional disparities in the development of hierarchies and states, by theoretical arguments and empirical analysis.

A new study challenges the universal land-saving claims of vertical farming, finding that there is no one size fits all approach for land use, food security and sustainable agriculture. Faced with population growth, environmental change, and increasing concerns over food security and sustainability - the interest in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is on an upward trend.