Topic description and stories

The task of ensuring affordable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food for all is one of the major challenges of the 21st century.

Fresh vegetables at supermarket

Supermarket promotions boost sales of less healthy foods more than healthier foods

11 Feb 2015

Supermarket price promotions are more likely to lead to an increase in sales of less healthy foods than healthier choices in supermarkets, according...

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R100 at mast in Canada

The ‘flying scientist’ who chased spores

11 Feb 2015

A passion for fungi led Cambridge mycologist Dr Dillon Weston to ever-more inventive means of trapping fungal spores, even from the open window of an...

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Doughnut

Price gap between more and less healthy foods grows

09 Oct 2014

Novel use of UK national data finds a growing gap between the prices of more and less healthy foods between 2002 and 2012. Healthy foods in 2012 were...

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Cows

First national model for bovine TB calls for greater focus on cattle

02 Jul 2014

The majority of outbreaks of bovine TB within cattle herds are caused by multiple transmissions routes – including failed cattle infection tests...

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Agriculture

Two million hectare shortfall in UK land possible by 2030, study finds

26 Jun 2014

Cambridge-hosted industry platform calls for joint action plan with government

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Marchantia - a primitive plant form used as the 'chassis' for designing new plants

From foundry to factory: building synthetic plants

20 Jun 2014

A movement is under way that will fast-forward the design of new plant traits. It takes inspiration from engineering and the software industry, and...

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Deforestation starves fish

11 Jun 2014

Research shows forest debris that drains into lakes is an important contributor to freshwater food chains – bolstering fish diets to the extent that...

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Ship loading at the Cargill Elevator

Agricultural markets and the Great Depression: lessons from the past

07 May 2014

Seventy five years ago, the publication of John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath shocked the world with its description of starvation in the...

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Taste-makers for the nation: Britain’s fine-dining revolution

10 Apr 2014

Frequently derided as stuck-up and exclusive, haute cuisine has dropped its posh image and is appealing to a wider range of customers than ever...

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Field and sky

Plant scientists call for rethink of GM crop regulation

19 Mar 2014

Leading plant scientists have called for major changes to the way GM crops are licensed.

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Testing the water

16 Oct 2013

A new online tool enables users to assess not only how much water we use and for what, but also how we can mitigate future scarcity.

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Rice terraces in the Philippines

A step towards increasing crop productivity

09 Oct 2013

A breakthrough in understanding the evolutionary pathways along which some crops have become significantly more productive than others may help...

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