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Salmon has one of the most efficient feed-to-food conversion rates among farmed animals, but its high trophic level makes salmon aquaculture a major consumer of marine resources — including species that are consumed directly by people, such as herring and mackerel. Re-allocating species currently used in salmon feeds towards direct human consumption can increase the overall amount of nutritious seafood while avoiding increases in wild-caught fish supply. Most edible feed fish contains higher concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids, iodine, calcium, iron and vitamin A than farmed salmon. Nutrient retention approaches can drive better performance of aquaculture and identify pathways towards sustainable growth.
The Periodic Table of Food Initiative addresses food biomolecular composition information gaps through a standardized, accessible and enabling platform based on analytical tools, data and capacity building. Data from 1,650 foods serve as starting point for demonstrating the capacity of this initiative to contribute to nutrition, health and food systems transformations.
In sub-Saharan Africa, where the affordability of a healthy diet remains a pressing concern, recent research offers fresh insights into how food prices and income influence dietary quality. These insights provide a roadmap for targeted food and nutrition policy interventions.
Ambient temperature increases occurring under climate change could induce livestock heat stress, resulting in lambing losses and an estimated economic burden of up to Australian $166 million per annum to the Australian sheep industry.
Wild forage fish can provide nutrients essential for human health, yet some nutrients may be lost when forage fish are used as aquafeeds. Reallocating a third of food-grade forage fish towards direct human consumption can optimize seafood systems to deliver dietary nutrients for feed and food at different scales.
Cropland fragmentation poses a significant threat to agricultural sustainability in China. Rational crop layout is required for different ecological regions to manage the fragmented croplands.
Returning agricultural organic residues to the soil is imperative for food security and carbon neutrality. We scaled up field findings using machine learning and found that the co-benefits of improved rice yield and reduced net carbon emissions can be realized with integrated management of organic residues and water worldwide.
Temperature increases of 1 °C and 3 °C arising from climate change will likely increase risks for tropical sheep production with negative impacts on ewe fertility, milk production and lamb survival rates.
Trade-off analyses are common in agriculture, but differences in their design and application make comparisons difficult. This systematic review examines the existing trade-off analysis literature in terms of methods, spatial scale, farming system, indicators and other analytical features.
A mass-balance and fish-in/fish-out ratio approach demonstrates that redistributing wild-caught fish used in salmon aquaculture to human consumption could improve nutrient retention and support sustainable marine resource use.
Using spatial statistics on a detailed land use map, the study highlights the impact of cropland fragmentation in China. Optimizing cropping structures to meet animal food demand or relocating fragmented croplands for large-scale farming can release the potential of the fragmented croplands for increased agricultural productivity and environmental protection.
Organic nitrogen (N) sources management is critical to achieve high rice yield and carbon (C) neutrality. This study scaled up the field findings using machine learning and showed that the co-benefits of improved rice yield and reduced net C emission can be realized with integrated management of organic N and water on a global scale.
High-income groups contribute significantly to air pollution through their food choices, but most of the associated health burden is borne by low-income groups living close to agricultural areas. This study measures this discrepancy along the Chinese food supply chain and examines pathways to reduce it.