Pub Date : 2025-07-25DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01194-z
João Vasco Silva, Fernando Aramburu-Merlos, Frédéric Baudron, Samuel Gameda, Tesfaye Shiferaw Sida, Vicky Ruganzu, Joel Meliyo, Moti Jaleta, Jordan Chamberlin, Robert J. Hijmans
Acid soils are widespread across sub-Saharan Africa. Agricultural lime can be used to alleviate production constraints associated with soil acidity, but lime is not widely available in the region, and it is unclear if applying it would be profitable. Using lime requirement models and crop yield responses to soil acidity modelled as plateau–linear decay functions, we estimated the profitability of acid soil remediation through liming. Crop yield loss to soil acidity occurs on 32.7 Mha, or 23% of sub-Saharan Africa’s cropland. The burden of acid soils is US$6.0 billion (6% of the current production value), and 75% of that could be profitably alleviated. Under prevailing conditions, liming would be profitable in the year of application on 6.2 Mha (with an average profitability of US$278 ha−1) and on 8.8 Mha when lime’s long-term effect is considered. Intensification of crop production and lower relative lime/output prices could make liming profitable on more cropland. Soil acidity constrains agricultural productivity in a large proportion of sub-Saharan Africa’s croplands. This study estimates the location- and crop-specific amounts of lime required to remediate acid soils, taking into account the profitability and returns on investment of liming in the year of application and beyond.
{"title":"Soil acidity remediation in sub-Saharan Africa requires targeted investments","authors":"João Vasco Silva, Fernando Aramburu-Merlos, Frédéric Baudron, Samuel Gameda, Tesfaye Shiferaw Sida, Vicky Ruganzu, Joel Meliyo, Moti Jaleta, Jordan Chamberlin, Robert J. Hijmans","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01194-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-025-01194-z","url":null,"abstract":"Acid soils are widespread across sub-Saharan Africa. Agricultural lime can be used to alleviate production constraints associated with soil acidity, but lime is not widely available in the region, and it is unclear if applying it would be profitable. Using lime requirement models and crop yield responses to soil acidity modelled as plateau–linear decay functions, we estimated the profitability of acid soil remediation through liming. Crop yield loss to soil acidity occurs on 32.7 Mha, or 23% of sub-Saharan Africa’s cropland. The burden of acid soils is US$6.0 billion (6% of the current production value), and 75% of that could be profitably alleviated. Under prevailing conditions, liming would be profitable in the year of application on 6.2 Mha (with an average profitability of US$278 ha−1) and on 8.8 Mha when lime’s long-term effect is considered. Intensification of crop production and lower relative lime/output prices could make liming profitable on more cropland. Soil acidity constrains agricultural productivity in a large proportion of sub-Saharan Africa’s croplands. This study estimates the location- and crop-specific amounts of lime required to remediate acid soils, taking into account the profitability and returns on investment of liming in the year of application and beyond.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"6 8","pages":"799-808"},"PeriodicalIF":21.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144701531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Why food systems governance must be grounded in human rights","authors":"Matthew Canfield, Jessica Duncan, Anisah Madden, Molly Anderson, Dolunay Çörek Akyıldız, Giulia Simula","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01217-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-025-01217-9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"6 9","pages":"817-818"},"PeriodicalIF":21.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144701530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-23DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01204-0
Shahriar Kibriya, Naureen Fatema
Monitoring food security in regions experiencing multiple crises remains challenging. Satellite imagery combined with artificial intelligence can now estimate food availability in the fragile state of Yangon, Myanmar.
{"title":"Data collection in fragile states","authors":"Shahriar Kibriya, Naureen Fatema","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01204-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-025-01204-0","url":null,"abstract":"Monitoring food security in regions experiencing multiple crises remains challenging. Satellite imagery combined with artificial intelligence can now estimate food availability in the fragile state of Yangon, Myanmar.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"6 7","pages":"649-650"},"PeriodicalIF":21.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144684850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-23DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01192-1
Ben Belton, Peixun Fang, Shuo Liu, Kaifeng Zhang, Xiaobo Zhang
Food security is challenging to measure in fragile contexts. Here we combine data from previous field surveys with remotely sensed images and apply deep-learning techniques to estimate changes in the number and area of chicken houses on integrated chicken–fish farms and the supply of chicken meat and eggs from 2010 to 2023 in Yangon region, Myanmar. Yangon’s poultry sector grew ~10% annually from 2010 to 2020 but contracted ~8% annually from 2020 to 2023. Accurate data collection remains challenging in fragile contexts, which are prone to food insecurity. Remote sensing, survey data and deep learning can generate poultry–fish sector production estimates and contribute towards long-term food security monitoring.
{"title":"Geospatial analysis enables combined poultry–fish farm monitoring in the fragile state of Myanmar","authors":"Ben Belton, Peixun Fang, Shuo Liu, Kaifeng Zhang, Xiaobo Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01192-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-025-01192-1","url":null,"abstract":"Food security is challenging to measure in fragile contexts. Here we combine data from previous field surveys with remotely sensed images and apply deep-learning techniques to estimate changes in the number and area of chicken houses on integrated chicken–fish farms and the supply of chicken meat and eggs from 2010 to 2023 in Yangon region, Myanmar. Yangon’s poultry sector grew ~10% annually from 2010 to 2020 but contracted ~8% annually from 2020 to 2023. Accurate data collection remains challenging in fragile contexts, which are prone to food insecurity. Remote sensing, survey data and deep learning can generate poultry–fish sector production estimates and contribute towards long-term food security monitoring.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"6 7","pages":"664-667"},"PeriodicalIF":21.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-025-01192-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144684931","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-23DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01205-z
Madhura Rao
{"title":"Traditional knowledge at the centre of a circular bioeconomy","authors":"Madhura Rao","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01205-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-025-01205-z","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"6 8","pages":"733-734"},"PeriodicalIF":21.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144684845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-22DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01206-y
Jeroen Candel, Anne J. Sietsma, Robbert Biesbroek
The 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) marked a key moment in deliberating a transformation of the global food system. At the same time, the UNFSS process received considerable criticism for alleged industry capture and high symbolism. Here we assess the extent to which the summit has contributed to ambitious policy follow-up at national level. Using natural language processing tools, we systematically analyse and compare the content of 124 national food system pathway documents. We find that food production dominates these pathways, while issues such as food distribution, processing, consumption, environmental impacts, labour conditions and animal welfare receive minimal attention. Despite different national food system challenges, the pathways show limited variation in topics raised, closely following predefined global agendas. Our results suggest that the policy directions of UNFSS national pathways are mainly within the current food system, while more fundamental critiques of the food system are not raised. Here natural language processing tools are used to systematically analyse 124 national food system pathway documents submitted by countries between 2021 and 2023, following the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit. Besides drawing out key themes, the authors reveal key issues that remain unaddressed.
{"title":"National pathways for food systems transformation are limited in scope and degree of ambition","authors":"Jeroen Candel, Anne J. Sietsma, Robbert Biesbroek","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01206-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-025-01206-y","url":null,"abstract":"The 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) marked a key moment in deliberating a transformation of the global food system. At the same time, the UNFSS process received considerable criticism for alleged industry capture and high symbolism. Here we assess the extent to which the summit has contributed to ambitious policy follow-up at national level. Using natural language processing tools, we systematically analyse and compare the content of 124 national food system pathway documents. We find that food production dominates these pathways, while issues such as food distribution, processing, consumption, environmental impacts, labour conditions and animal welfare receive minimal attention. Despite different national food system challenges, the pathways show limited variation in topics raised, closely following predefined global agendas. Our results suggest that the policy directions of UNFSS national pathways are mainly within the current food system, while more fundamental critiques of the food system are not raised. Here natural language processing tools are used to systematically analyse 124 national food system pathway documents submitted by countries between 2021 and 2023, following the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit. Besides drawing out key themes, the authors reveal key issues that remain unaddressed.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"6 8","pages":"809-816"},"PeriodicalIF":21.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144677799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-22DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01195-y
Till Germerdonk, Andrea Bach, Alejandro G. Marangoni, Kim Mishra, Patrick A. Rühs
Food processing often overlooks nature’s complexity, favouring purified raw materials. This excessive purification fosters unsustainable practices and diminishes the taste and nutritional quality of food. Given the current global environmental and health crises, we propose three food innovation principles to embrace the complexity of plant raw materials: (1) leveraging the inherent chemical, physical, biological and nutritional potential of raw materials; (2) applying robust food processes that cope with raw material complexity; and (3) designing food products from field to colon. Adhering to these principles will allow the development of technologies that could transform raw materials into healthier, more sustainable food products. Food processing often overlooks nature’s complexity, favouring purified raw materials that are often associated with unsustainable practices and low nutritional quality. This Perspective proposes three food innovation principles to embrace the complexity of plant raw materials.
{"title":"Unrefined plant raw materials are key to nutritious food","authors":"Till Germerdonk, Andrea Bach, Alejandro G. Marangoni, Kim Mishra, Patrick A. Rühs","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01195-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-025-01195-y","url":null,"abstract":"Food processing often overlooks nature’s complexity, favouring purified raw materials. This excessive purification fosters unsustainable practices and diminishes the taste and nutritional quality of food. Given the current global environmental and health crises, we propose three food innovation principles to embrace the complexity of plant raw materials: (1) leveraging the inherent chemical, physical, biological and nutritional potential of raw materials; (2) applying robust food processes that cope with raw material complexity; and (3) designing food products from field to colon. Adhering to these principles will allow the development of technologies that could transform raw materials into healthier, more sustainable food products. Food processing often overlooks nature’s complexity, favouring purified raw materials that are often associated with unsustainable practices and low nutritional quality. This Perspective proposes three food innovation principles to embrace the complexity of plant raw materials.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"6 7","pages":"657-663"},"PeriodicalIF":21.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144678127","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-15DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01190-3
Ningqi Wang, Gaofei Jiang, Zhong Wei
A study of Escherichia coli O157:H7 survival in soils across eastern China highlights the role of soil properties in pathogen persistence and the need for policies to reduce food-borne disease risks from soil reservoirs.
{"title":"Soil drivers of food-borne pathogen persistence","authors":"Ningqi Wang, Gaofei Jiang, Zhong Wei","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01190-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-025-01190-3","url":null,"abstract":"A study of Escherichia coli O157:H7 survival in soils across eastern China highlights the role of soil properties in pathogen persistence and the need for policies to reduce food-borne disease risks from soil reservoirs.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"6 8","pages":"747-748"},"PeriodicalIF":21.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144629924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-15DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01203-1
David B. Lobell, Richard J. Lee
Southern Africa faces high food insecurity and projected declines in agroclimatic conditions. Multiple satellite measures indicate that cropland productivity has stagnated for most of the region except South Africa in the past 20 years, in contrast to what official crop statistics suggest. Climate trends do not explain this stagnation, with the region experiencing more rainfall and less warming than most climate model projections. A change of course is needed before climate impacts accelerate. Understanding recent trends in agricultural productivity and climate can inform mitigation and adaptation strategies. Based on satellite imagery, this study shows that yields have stagnated in much of southern Africa despite moderate climate trends over the past 20 years.
{"title":"Crop productivity in southern Africa is stagnant despite moderate climate trends","authors":"David B. Lobell, Richard J. Lee","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01203-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-025-01203-1","url":null,"abstract":"Southern Africa faces high food insecurity and projected declines in agroclimatic conditions. Multiple satellite measures indicate that cropland productivity has stagnated for most of the region except South Africa in the past 20 years, in contrast to what official crop statistics suggest. Climate trends do not explain this stagnation, with the region experiencing more rainfall and less warming than most climate model projections. A change of course is needed before climate impacts accelerate. Understanding recent trends in agricultural productivity and climate can inform mitigation and adaptation strategies. Based on satellite imagery, this study shows that yields have stagnated in much of southern Africa despite moderate climate trends over the past 20 years.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"6 8","pages":"762-765"},"PeriodicalIF":21.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144630056","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-15DOI: 10.1038/s43016-025-01209-9
As global shocks intensify and forecasting technologies advance, investing in food crisis preparedness — rather than waiting until crises fully unfold — has never been more urgent or achievable.
{"title":"Preparing more effectively for food crises","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s43016-025-01209-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-025-01209-9","url":null,"abstract":"As global shocks intensify and forecasting technologies advance, investing in food crisis preparedness — rather than waiting until crises fully unfold — has never been more urgent or achievable.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"6 7","pages":"633-633"},"PeriodicalIF":21.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-025-01209-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144629925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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