The Oxford Martin Programme on
The Future of Food
The Challenge
A significant overhaul of the current global food system is needed to meet the challenges of feeding a growing world population in a healthy, equitable, sustainable and resilient way.
The future of food programme links together research on the food system at Oxford and facilitates solution-orientated research to address these major concerns. The research includes scientific, economic, social and environmental issues of food production and consumption, as well as how food affects health, sustainability and economic development.
By integrating existing research, supporting new interdisciplinary initiatives, and facilitating interactions between academia, government, civil society and the private sector, we provide fresh insights and propose effective action to address the challenges of feeding the global population.
latest news
View allTailored food policies could cut emissions and improve health, global study finds
People face different social and environmental contexts that shape the food they eat. Yet policies are often designed around national averages. A new global study finds that recognising those differences could help governments improve health and reduce the environmental impact of diets more effectively and more fairly.
World’s highest-consuming 10% cause up to $5.7 trillion a year in environmental damage - more than the global climate and biodiversity funding gaps combined
Biodiversity loss, not climate change, is the largest component of the global damage bill, a new Oxford Martin School and University of Leiden study finds
How the world can avoid millions going hungry when supply chains collapse
Millions more people will face hunger in the coming months if the conflict in the Middle East is not resolved soon, the UN has warned.
How to avoid food security crises in Africa’s megacities
Only 40 years ago, the urban population of sub-Saharan Africa was just over 100 million; today, the UN estimates this figure at 560 million. The continent contains some of the fastest growing urban areas on the planet with Cairo, greater Lagos, Kinshasa and Dar es Salaam each being home to more than 10 million people and still growing.
In the press
Heatwave forces farmers to abandon crops as harvests fail
The British food items at risk due to extreme drought conditions
Organic free-range eggs ‘are worst for the environment’
Organic chicken eggs could be worse for the environment, study finds
Organic eggs have worse impact on climate than eggs from caged chickens
Britain's Ticking Time Bomb: The Food Security Crisis
The Food Programme: Inside the chocolate crisis
The World's Top Consumers Cause Up to $5.7 Trillion in Environmental Damage Every Year
‘Mega-consumers’ of food and energy cost environment $5.7tn a year, study finds
Publications
View all
High-resolution carbon and biodiversity mapping shows correlated losses across space and agricultural products
The environmental cost of welfare-driven policy changes in UK egg production
Dietary environmental impacts and quality differ by socio-demographic characteristics
Reduced meat and dairy consumption improves health, environmental and most nutritional outcomes without increasing diet costs among Scottish adults
Environmental damages of the top ten percent consumers exceed global climate and biodiversity funding gaps
Assessing the resilience of global grain supplies to compound climatic and non-climatic shocks
Stranded assets in European agriculture during food system transformations
Obesity and climate change: co-crises with common solutions
Inclusion of wellbeing impacts of climate change: a review of literature and integrated environment–society–economy models
people
View allCharles Godfray
Director, Oxford Martin School
Susan Jebb
Professor of Diet and Population Health
Tara Garnett
Director of Table
Marco Springmann
Professorial Research Fellow in Climate Change
Sarah Harper
Director, Oxford Institute of Population Ageing
Mike Rayner
Professor of Population Health
Jim Hall
Professor of Climate and Environmental Risks
Peter Scarborough
Professor of Population Health
Stanley Ulijaszek
Professor of Human Ecology
Michael Clark
Associate Professor in Sustainable Food Solutions
Joseph Poore
Researcher
Lexi Earl
Programme Manager
Patricia Clavin
Professor of Modern History
Paul Behrens
British Academy Global Professor
Charles Spence
Professor of Experimental Psychology & Director, Crossmodal Research Laboratory
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