(Broken) Promises of Sustainable Food and Agriculture through New Biotechnologies: The CRISPR Case

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-31
Author(s):  
Todd Kuiken ◽  
Rodolphe Barrangou ◽  
Khara Grieger
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Food And Agriculture

Impacts of price, weather and policy changes on maize and rice farming in Togo

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manzamasso Hodjo ◽  
Acharya Ram ◽  
Don Blayney ◽  
Tebila Nakelse
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
National Level ◽  
Yield Response ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Cropland Allocation

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate how climatic, market and policy factors interact to determine food production in Togo. Specifically, we estimate acreage and yield response to market prices, weather and policy changes for maize and rice.Design/methodology/approachWe use panel data estimators in a Seemingly Unrelated Regressions Equation (SURE) model with region-level data from the Food and Agriculture Organization statistics department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the US Department of commerce.FindingsWe found lower fertilizer price and higher grain price effects on maize acreage and yield. In addition, we found a positive effect of expected rice price on both its acreage and yield. As expected, rainfall during planting months has a significant impact on both maize (April) and paddy (May) acreage allocations. Similarly, total rainfall during the growing season has a positive impact on both maize and paddy yields. Moreover, recent agricultural policy initiative designed to boost domestic food production has significantly increased acreage and yield for maize, and yield for paddy, especially the strategy for agricultural growth.Research limitations/implicationsThe dataset includes region-level observations from 1991 to 2012 which limits the observation span. However, we had enough variability in key variables to determine the estimated coefficients.Practical implicationsAlthough the dataset is limited in time (1991–2012) and uses national-level output prices, this investigation reveals that cropland allocation to maize and rice is sensitive to fertilizer and grain prices, weather expectations and policy interventions. These findings provide evidence for sustainable food production and productivity enhancement in Togo.Social implicationsUnderstanding drivers of cropland allocation and cereal yield contribute to better food security and poverty reduction in developing countries, especially Togo.Originality/valuePrior to this study, little was known on the effect of price, climate and policy on cropland allocation in Togo. This investigation contributes significantly to filling this knowledge gap and provides insights for effective interventions.

Exploring the Consistency of Adults’ Food Choice motives with Sustainable Diet Components: a Qualitative Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arezoo Haghighian Roudsari ◽  
Abouali Vedadhir ◽  
Maryam Shokouhi ◽  
Ali Milani Bonab
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Health And Nutrition ◽  
Sustainable Diet ◽  
Food And Nutrition ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Todays, due to the impact of human food choices on increasing greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and environmental degradation, there is a new thinking about changing the pattern of food production and consumption, including sustainable food and nutrition system related to consumption. This study aimed to explore the dimensions of a sustainable diet among the determinants of people's food choices. Methods This qualitative study was carried out using an in-depth interview with 33 individuals aged 30-64 years old living in different areas of Tehran. Data gathering, data analysis and theoretical conceptualization were performed simultaneously and from the beginning of the research, and for managing and organizing the data, the MAXQDA 10 software was used. Results In this paper, the findings are categorized according to the key components of a sustainable diet in five themes: "Health and Nutrition", "Food and Agriculture Security", "Environment and Ecosystems", "Markets, food trade and production chains", "social, cultural, and policy factors" were categorized. Meanwhile, the components of the "Health and Nutrition" domain had the highest contribution and the components of the two domains "food and agriculture" and "environment and ecosystems" had the lowest role among the statements of the participants in this study. Conclusion considering to the low importance of the dimensions of a sustainable diet in food choices of the community, promoting the individual awareness of sustainable diet components, clarifying the importance of food choices in creating environmental impacts and leading the national macro policies in the field food and nutrition toward sustainable diet goals are essential.

Multi-Stakeholder and Multilevel Food Governance

2020 ◽  
pp. 60-72
Author(s):  
Sérgio Pedro
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Central Element ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Food Governance ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
Global And Local

The contemporary food system, in its global and local dimensions, is a central element of the debate on the sustainability of the planet, a debate that increasingly involves more stakeholders and areas of knowledge in the search for answers to the multiple questions related to the attainment of more sustainable patterns for food and agriculture. The present chapter analyses the participative multi-stakeholder and multilevel model of food governance of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), in which stakeholders from different societal and expertise sectors participate in equal manners in the process of co-construction of institutional, technical, and financing measures for the functioning of a given food system. The present chapter has the main goal of sharing and critically analysing the CPLP´s institutional context for the promotion of sustainable food systems as an example of an integrated methodological approach to support the creation of coordinated public policies and institutional conditions to implement a transition to more sustainable food systems and diets.

scholarly journals The Social Ecology of Food: Where Agroecology and Heritage Meet

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13981
Author(s):  
Diana Rahman ◽  
Theano Moussouri ◽  
Georgios Alexopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Food System ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Global Food Security ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
The Social ◽  
Entry Points ◽  
The Creation

The current food system is unsustainable and no longer able to cope with the challenges caused by climate change and consumer behaviours. In this context, agroecology, with its commitment to crossing disciplinary boundaries, has been endorsed as one of the main approaches to the creation of a sustainable food system. Despite this, the integration of the social research on food has not been evident enough in agroecology as a discipline. To be sure, studies related to foodways, food traditions, and, more recently, food heritage have long been present, and have provided important insights into the social and cultural aspects of food. However, there appears to be little convergence between this body of research and the mainstream agroecology literature. This paper aims to address this disconnection between the sociocultural and environmental aspects of the food system, and to propose ways of moving forward. We argue that knowledge about food heritage can be a catalyst for the achievement of agroecology’s vision for whole-system transformative change, and a moving towards global food security and nutrition. Using the agroecology framework of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and looking at the examples of the subak system in Indonesia and the EU-funded BigPicnic project, we employ the elements of ‘co-creation and sharing of knowledge’, ‘culture and food traditions’ and ‘human and social values’ as entry points for the creation of sustainable transitions of the food and agricultural systems.

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