Cogent Food & Agriculture

Global food systems are putting increasing pressure on planetary boundaries while demonstrating high levels of fragility in the face of shocks and stresses. The gains from various agricultural revolutions and technological developments have failed to equitably distribute benefits in food and nutrition security, health outcomes, decent livelihoods, and environmental outcomes. The triple burden of malnutrition in the form of undernutrition, overnutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies is worsening, while supply systems for food strain under the pressures from climate change, COVID19, conflicts, geopolitical tensions, and increasing resource scarcities across multiple domains. There is an urgent need to transform activities within the food system in a way that will improve outcomes for people across the world and will be resilient in the face of shocks and stresses.

The triple burden of malnutrition continues to be an area of deep concern for many countries, with trends indicating a turn for the worse across multiple areas of concern. A food systems approach presents benefits for understanding the issues and exploring opportunities for change beyond production and consumption focused solutions. Adding the element of resilience ensures that discussions consider transition pathways that include but are not limited to emergency aid, long-term transformation of food environments, and re-examining social and economic safety nets. Better strategies are needed that address the symptoms of food system dysfunction, take into account system-level consequences of actions, and consider a reorientation of what ‘good’ food system outcomes look like.

This call for papers invites submissions that tackle food security from a food systems perspective, actively integrates interdisciplinary methods and insights, and considers the impact of trade-offs in the efforts of achieving food security.

Potential subtopics for this collection include, but are not limited to:

• Resilience in food systems
• Food system trade-offs and dynamics
• Equity, fairness and justice in food systems
• Transitions to 2050

Cogent Food & Agriculture welcomes original research and review articles.

Please contact Marya Baig at [email protected] with any queries regarding this Article Collection.

Dr Saher Hasnain is a researcher at the Food Systems Transformation Programme with the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute. Trained as an environmental scientist and geographer, she has worked on food geography, urban environmental health, and the impacts of infrastructure and fuel disruptions on urban communities. With the Environmental Change Institute, she works on an interdisciplinary portfolio of projects focused on food systems and foresight analysis and supporting informed and strategic decision making between food systems stakeholders. Dr Hasnain holds degrees from the University of Oxford (DPhil in environmental sciences and geography), University of Pennsylvania, USA (MSc in environmental studies/environmental health), and Bahria University, Pakistan (BSc in environmental and earth sciences).

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