What we’ve been reading this week

This week’s summary on the news stories, reports and blogs that have grabbed our attention. We welcome your thoughts and comments on these articles.

Agricultural science is the backbone of sustainable development, Thomson Reuters Foundation

New Generation of GM Crops Puts Agriculture in a ‘Crisis Situation’, Wired

Amped-up plants, Nature

Moral Hazard? ‘Mega’ public-private partnerships in African agriculture, Oxfam

The African Landscapes Action Plan, Landscapes for People, Food and Nature

Closing the Gap for Post-2015: New Ambition for Acute Malnutrition, Huffington Post

UN: only small farmers and agroecology can feed the world, The Ecologist

The Time Has Come for Agroecology, IPS

Is FAO opening a window for ecological farming?, Greenpeace

How to equip farmers for climate change, CNN

Climate-smart agriculture: balancing trade-offs in food systems and ecosystems, CCAFS

Commodities: Cereal excess, Financial Times

Planet palm oil: peasants pay the price for cheap vegetable oil, Grain

Seeding plant diversity for future generations, Science Daily

Coca-Cola is not the solution to hunger in Africa, The Ecologist

Labour promises ‘long-term’ farming plan if elected, Farmers Weekly

Unchecked trade in fake agro inputs blamed for low yields, poor profits, The East African

Assessing Nigeria’s poverty eradication strategy, Nigerian Pilot

Tesco: why did it all go so wrong?, The Guardian

Testing Future Conditions for the Food Chain, The New York Times

The Next Green Revolution, National Geographic

A New Generation of GMOs, Ensia

As Uganda Heats Up, Pests and Disease Flourish to Attack its Top Export Crop, IPS

UnderMining Agriculture – How the Extractives Industries Threaten our Food Systems, The Gaia Foundation

Quote: “What’s troubling is the gap between the magnitude of our challenges and the smallness of our politics”, Ideas for Sustainability

It’s not overpopulation that causes climate change, it’s overconsumption, The Guardian

Disrupting the global commodity business, Climate and Land Use Alliance

Edible Packaging? Retailers Not Quite Ready To Ditch The Wrapper, The Salt

Forget GMOs. The Future of Food Is Data—Mountains of It, Wired

As farmland runs out, seafood looks better than you think, Grist

Global Agricultural Land Resources – A High Resolution Suitability Evaluation and Its Perspectives until 2100 under Climate Change Conditions, PLOS One

Study reveals major gender differences in access to fertile land and agriculture support in Africa, CCAFS