OUR WRITING KeywordsAgri-food systemAgricultural biodiversityAgricultural innovationAgricultural intensificationAgricultural lossesAgricultural monocultureAgricultural productionAgricultural productivityAgricultural yieldAgroecologyAgroforestry/silvopastureAlcoholic drinksAlternative food movementAlternative proteinAlternatives to intensive farmingAnimal feedAnimal welfareAnthropoceneAnthropocentrismAquacultureArable crops and arable landBeefBig foodBiodiversityBiodiversity conservationBioenergyBiological nitrogen fixationBiotechnologyCarbon footprintCarbon sequestrationCarbon sinksCarbon sinks and sequestrationChicken/poultryClimate changeClimate change impactsClimate policyCommunicable diseasesConservation biologyConsumer food choice appsConsumer perceptions and preferencesConsumptionConsumption and production trendsConventional agricultureCorporate food regimeCrop diversityCrop systemsCrop-livestock integrationCulture & communityDairyDeforestationDeforestation riskDevelopment policiesDietary guidelinesDietary surveyEcomodernismEconomics, business, and tradeEcosystemEcosystem restorationEcosystem servicesEcosystems & biodiversityEcosystems and ecosystem servicesEnvironmental & Social ImpactsEnvironmental impact assessmentsEnvironmental policyFarmingFarming systemsFeed conversion efficiencyFish stocks/overfishingFish/aquatic typesFisheriesFlexitarianismFood and agriculture policyFood and healthFood chainFood consumptionFood cultureFood justiceFood policyFood securityFood sovereigntyFood supplements/nutritional enhancementFood System TransformationFood systemsFood systems thinkingFood systems: an introductionFood systems: research methodsFood waste/surplus foodFruitFuture of foodGenderGHG emission trendsGHG emissions and mitigationGHG impacts and mitigationGHGsGlobal healthGlobal warming potentialGovernance, policy, and powerGrazed and confusedGrazing and grasslandGreen economy/alternative economic modelsGWP*Health and nutrition policyHealth concernsHorticulture and fruit treesHousehold food consumptionHuman health & wellbeingHungerIndustrial food manufacturingIndustry actions/CSRInequalityInsectsIntensive agricultureInvasive speciesInvestmentLand governanceLand sparing - sharingLand systems & changeLand useLand use and land use changeLegumes/pulsesLife cycleLife cycle analysisLivestockLivestock on LeftoversLocal foodMalnutritionMalnutrition/undernourishmentMarine and aquatic ecosystemsMarketsMeatMeat and taboos/religious beliefsMeat, Dairy & LivestockMethaneMilkMitigation policiesMonogastricMultiple burdens of malnutritionNitrogenNitrogen fixationNon-communicable diseasesNutritionNutritionismOrganicOrganic farmingOvernutritionPalm oilPlant/crop sciencePolitical economyPolitics & ParadigmsPorkPost-harvest lossesPoverty alleviationPower & ProteinProduction efficiency/intensityProteinProtein malnutrition and PEM (Protein-energy malnutrition)Public attitudesRegenerative agricultureRegenerative grazingResearch methodsResilience and vulnerabilityRewildingRuminantRuminantsScaleScience and backgroundSmallholder (farms)Soil healthSoilsSoySoy MoratoriumSpotlight onStandards/certificationStorage and refrigerationSubstitutes for meat & dairySupply chainsSustainable development goalsSustainable food securitySustainable healthy dietsSustainable intensificationTechnology & innovationThe Great Protein FiascoTradeUltra-processed foodUltra-processed food (UPF)UndernutritionUrban agricultureUrban food systemsVegetablesVegetarianism/veganismWater footprintWater managementWater use/consumptionWritten materialsZoonotic diseases TypeEssayExplainerLetterboxPublication RegionAfricaAsiaAustralasiaEuropeGlobalLatin America and the CaribbeanMiddle-eastNorth America Year20122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 Image Publication An exploration of food systems debates in Colombia This report examines the factors that energize or restrict debates on food systems in Colombia in the context of the multi-stakeholder conversations between the Government, rural organizations, agribusiness and academia. To answer the question, we address two main aspects. First, we analyse the perceptions of various stakeholders about food systems in the country, based on a workshop carried out in February 2024 and focusing on priority issues such as hunger and malnutrition, deforestation and biodiversity loss, the effects of climate change, and inequality. Second, we discuss the competition or complementarity of various axes at the centre of food systems discussions: large-scale agriculture and family farming, native seeds and genetically modified seeds, and local food systems and international trade. The report concludes by drawing attention to the challenges of public policy coordination, information gaps, and the great diversity of actors, visions, and values in the discussions. Read Image Explainer Making Nature Count: How should we value nature in our food systems? Natural systems are being degraded at an unprecedented rate, with rapid loss of biodiversity and an average temperature rise of almost 1.5˚C on pre-industrial levels in 2023. Most economists believe that these problems have arisen because the value of nature is not sufficiently considered in policy and economic decision-making, but within the field, different economists disagree about how to express nature's value. This has consequences especially within our food systems.https://www.doi.org/10.56661/d2feedad Read Image Publication Alternative proteins and better food futures: Moving beyond binaries Alternative proteins - and especially novel APs like cell-cultured meat and precision fermentation - are the subject of some contention in food system debates. For advocates, they may offer a way to produce animal products with fewer environmental and ethical harms, an accessible first step towards dietary diversification and change, or a tool to challenge the economic dominance of the industrial livestock model. For critics, they might smack of techno-credulity, be a distraction that will prop-up an ultra-processed and industrially-produced status quo, or a threat to valued modes of living and means of producing. In this report, based on three webinars hosted by TABLE in the summer of 2025, we outline these polarised positions and try to go beyond them. What diversity of views do we find within advocates and critics? Where is there overlap and agreement between those who are concerned and those who are optimistic? What are the more nuanced, and perhaps more achievable, futures for APs that we should be discussing?https://www.doi.org/10.56661/6238c4bc Read Image Essay Games at TABLE: A new platform for food system serious games Games at TABLE will soon be launched as the first food-systems-focused serious games library to encourage future project collaborations and support food system education, research, and broader transformation. Serious game expert Federico Andreotti provides an overview of serious games around farming and food systems, with three examples of existing serious games designed by students at Wageningen University.Federico is a lecturer and researcher at Wageningen University. He is the game expert of the CiFoS research team, and coordinator of the WUR Games Hub that connects multiple researchers that use games to bridge science and society. Federico’s PhD project was on the co-design and application of serious games for the sustainability transition of farming and food systems; his current research and education focus is on games design and play and participatory research methods to explore futures farming and food systems. Via “Games at TABLE” he aims to foster an international community connecting game researchers and designers across the globe, encompassing social sciences, natural sciences, and design. These partnerships may serve to develop effective strategy games and engage players with agency: decision makers who play and take action to transform systems.https://www.doi.org/10.56661/d1243efe Read Image Essay Coca and asparagus: How a US drug policy led to soaring water scarcity in Peru Intrigued by a news story about smuggled cocaine seized in a shipment of asparagus, researcher Azam Lashkari explored an unlikely connection between a booming agro-industry in Peru and an international effort to control cross-continental drug trade.Azam is a postdoctoral scientist and mathematical agroecologist at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK. Her research is concerning the role of climate change on food production. She uses data and mathematical models to explain and predict crop response to increasing temperature and drought. Beside her main research, she is interested in socio-economic aspects of climate change and human behaviour on environment. Read Image Publication Tomorrow on the table: The politics and economics of food system transformation In October 2024, TABLE brought together a diverse range of stakeholders across the food system with the aim of exploring how they envisaged a better food future, and what system transformations would be needed to get there. The participants included non-governmental and civil society organisations, policymakers, philanthropists, community leaders, and academics from diverse disciplines. Over the course of the workshop, they together discussed, developed and refined different visions for the future of the food system based on three initially conceived visions: market-led, state-led, and bottom-up. This report synthesises the workshop methods and dialogue process, the discussions participants had and the areas of agreement that emerged. https://www.doi.org/10.56661/421fa6df Read Image Essay Moving forward, looking back: Indigenous agriculture in Guatemala Growing crops in the mountainous rural areas of Guatemala presents unique challenges, and farmers there rely on a mix of Indigenous practice and new experimental treatments of bio-inputs, infused with micro-organisms. Nathan Einbinder writes about the farmers he met in Guatemala who are innovating collaboratively within their communities to instil resilience and sustainability on their farms.Nathan Einbinder is a lecturer and researcher specializing in agroecology and food systems. Since 2009, he has worked with Indigenous farmers and organizations in the Maya-Achí territory of Guatemala, on issues related to community development, traditional knowledge and soil health, and more recently, homemade biological inputs. This research was conducted while the author was working at the University of Plymouth.Also published in Spanish.https://www.doi.org/10.56661/cf0704b0 Read Image Essay Out of sight, out of mind? Addressing the invisibility of aquatic foods in food systems debates Blue food is too often left out of debates on food systems and food security. The physical inaccessibility of aquatic creatures, habitat and resources create their cultural invisibility - meaning their role in solutions goes unexplored, and key issues unaddressed. Learning from the Blue Humanities, IIED Researcher Giulia Nicolini calls on us to think blue food back into food systems - and so into their transformation. This essay draws on IIED’s ‘What about seafood?’ paper and work on aquatic foods. Giulia Nicolini is a researcher at the International Institute for Environment & Development (IIED). She works at the intersection of food and environmental issues, including blue foods and their role in the future of the UK food system. Giulia is also a PhD student in Anthropology at the University of Exeter, based in the Centre for Rural Policy Research. Her doctoral research explores how taste and demand for seaweed as a food are changing in the UK. Read Image Essay Three approaches for sustainable agriculture and their relationship with nature: a view from Colombia In early 2024, the MESA team held a workshop in Colombia. The discussion in the room framed the main similarities and differences in relation to nature for each of three agricultural approaches: organic agriculture, agroecology and regenerative agriculture. Camilo Ardila Galvis joined TABLE in December 2023 as part of the team at the University of the Andes (School of Government) in Colombia. He holds a BA in Economics, MA in Development Studies and MSc in Agroecology.This essay is also available in Spanish. 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Image Publication An exploration of food systems debates in Colombia This report examines the factors that energize or restrict debates on food systems in Colombia in the context of the multi-stakeholder conversations between the Government, rural organizations, agribusiness and academia. To answer the question, we address two main aspects. First, we analyse the perceptions of various stakeholders about food systems in the country, based on a workshop carried out in February 2024 and focusing on priority issues such as hunger and malnutrition, deforestation and biodiversity loss, the effects of climate change, and inequality. Second, we discuss the competition or complementarity of various axes at the centre of food systems discussions: large-scale agriculture and family farming, native seeds and genetically modified seeds, and local food systems and international trade. The report concludes by drawing attention to the challenges of public policy coordination, information gaps, and the great diversity of actors, visions, and values in the discussions. Read
Image Explainer Making Nature Count: How should we value nature in our food systems? Natural systems are being degraded at an unprecedented rate, with rapid loss of biodiversity and an average temperature rise of almost 1.5˚C on pre-industrial levels in 2023. Most economists believe that these problems have arisen because the value of nature is not sufficiently considered in policy and economic decision-making, but within the field, different economists disagree about how to express nature's value. This has consequences especially within our food systems.https://www.doi.org/10.56661/d2feedad Read
Image Publication Alternative proteins and better food futures: Moving beyond binaries Alternative proteins - and especially novel APs like cell-cultured meat and precision fermentation - are the subject of some contention in food system debates. For advocates, they may offer a way to produce animal products with fewer environmental and ethical harms, an accessible first step towards dietary diversification and change, or a tool to challenge the economic dominance of the industrial livestock model. For critics, they might smack of techno-credulity, be a distraction that will prop-up an ultra-processed and industrially-produced status quo, or a threat to valued modes of living and means of producing. In this report, based on three webinars hosted by TABLE in the summer of 2025, we outline these polarised positions and try to go beyond them. What diversity of views do we find within advocates and critics? Where is there overlap and agreement between those who are concerned and those who are optimistic? What are the more nuanced, and perhaps more achievable, futures for APs that we should be discussing?https://www.doi.org/10.56661/6238c4bc Read
Image Essay Games at TABLE: A new platform for food system serious games Games at TABLE will soon be launched as the first food-systems-focused serious games library to encourage future project collaborations and support food system education, research, and broader transformation. Serious game expert Federico Andreotti provides an overview of serious games around farming and food systems, with three examples of existing serious games designed by students at Wageningen University.Federico is a lecturer and researcher at Wageningen University. He is the game expert of the CiFoS research team, and coordinator of the WUR Games Hub that connects multiple researchers that use games to bridge science and society. Federico’s PhD project was on the co-design and application of serious games for the sustainability transition of farming and food systems; his current research and education focus is on games design and play and participatory research methods to explore futures farming and food systems. Via “Games at TABLE” he aims to foster an international community connecting game researchers and designers across the globe, encompassing social sciences, natural sciences, and design. These partnerships may serve to develop effective strategy games and engage players with agency: decision makers who play and take action to transform systems.https://www.doi.org/10.56661/d1243efe Read
Image Essay Coca and asparagus: How a US drug policy led to soaring water scarcity in Peru Intrigued by a news story about smuggled cocaine seized in a shipment of asparagus, researcher Azam Lashkari explored an unlikely connection between a booming agro-industry in Peru and an international effort to control cross-continental drug trade.Azam is a postdoctoral scientist and mathematical agroecologist at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK. Her research is concerning the role of climate change on food production. She uses data and mathematical models to explain and predict crop response to increasing temperature and drought. Beside her main research, she is interested in socio-economic aspects of climate change and human behaviour on environment. Read
Image Publication Tomorrow on the table: The politics and economics of food system transformation In October 2024, TABLE brought together a diverse range of stakeholders across the food system with the aim of exploring how they envisaged a better food future, and what system transformations would be needed to get there. The participants included non-governmental and civil society organisations, policymakers, philanthropists, community leaders, and academics from diverse disciplines. Over the course of the workshop, they together discussed, developed and refined different visions for the future of the food system based on three initially conceived visions: market-led, state-led, and bottom-up. This report synthesises the workshop methods and dialogue process, the discussions participants had and the areas of agreement that emerged. https://www.doi.org/10.56661/421fa6df Read
Image Essay Moving forward, looking back: Indigenous agriculture in Guatemala Growing crops in the mountainous rural areas of Guatemala presents unique challenges, and farmers there rely on a mix of Indigenous practice and new experimental treatments of bio-inputs, infused with micro-organisms. Nathan Einbinder writes about the farmers he met in Guatemala who are innovating collaboratively within their communities to instil resilience and sustainability on their farms.Nathan Einbinder is a lecturer and researcher specializing in agroecology and food systems. Since 2009, he has worked with Indigenous farmers and organizations in the Maya-Achí territory of Guatemala, on issues related to community development, traditional knowledge and soil health, and more recently, homemade biological inputs. This research was conducted while the author was working at the University of Plymouth.Also published in Spanish.https://www.doi.org/10.56661/cf0704b0 Read
Image Essay Out of sight, out of mind? Addressing the invisibility of aquatic foods in food systems debates Blue food is too often left out of debates on food systems and food security. The physical inaccessibility of aquatic creatures, habitat and resources create their cultural invisibility - meaning their role in solutions goes unexplored, and key issues unaddressed. Learning from the Blue Humanities, IIED Researcher Giulia Nicolini calls on us to think blue food back into food systems - and so into their transformation. This essay draws on IIED’s ‘What about seafood?’ paper and work on aquatic foods. Giulia Nicolini is a researcher at the International Institute for Environment & Development (IIED). She works at the intersection of food and environmental issues, including blue foods and their role in the future of the UK food system. Giulia is also a PhD student in Anthropology at the University of Exeter, based in the Centre for Rural Policy Research. Her doctoral research explores how taste and demand for seaweed as a food are changing in the UK. Read
Image Essay Three approaches for sustainable agriculture and their relationship with nature: a view from Colombia In early 2024, the MESA team held a workshop in Colombia. The discussion in the room framed the main similarities and differences in relation to nature for each of three agricultural approaches: organic agriculture, agroecology and regenerative agriculture. Camilo Ardila Galvis joined TABLE in December 2023 as part of the team at the University of the Andes (School of Government) in Colombia. He holds a BA in Economics, MA in Development Studies and MSc in Agroecology.This essay is also available in Spanish. Read
