July food for thought…

• Look beyond the farm to solve global food system challenges
• Increasing a dairy herd’s nitrogen efficiency
• Texture trumps management in influencing soil carbon improvements
• World will miss 1.5C warming limit - top UK expert 

Look beyond the farm to solve global food system challenges – from Agrilinks. The world produces more than enough food to feed everyone, yet 828 million people are still critically malnourished. In the face of that irony, there has been a growing chorus of calls to move food system reforms supposedly designed to alleviate it past siloed projects that actually stymie such efforts. Yet many solutions remain focused on improving agricultural practices. The problem demands a new paradigm — if we truly want to repair food systems, it’s time to look past the farm. Read the article

Increasing a dairy herd’s nitrogen efficiency – from Dairy Global. Research by Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) in Northern Ireland has shown the average nitrogen use efficiency by dairy herds to be low at around 30%. Most of the remaining 70% nitrogen is therefore excreted in manure, and part of this manure nitrogen can be lost to the environment during housing, manure storage and field spreading. The article explores how to increase nitrogen efficiency – read the article

Texture trumps management in influencing soil carbon improvements - from Farming Future Food. Soil texture may be more important than farm management approaches in affecting how much organic carbon is stored in sequestration schemes. Read the full article

World will miss 1.5C warming limit - top UK expert – from BBC News. Leading British climate scientist, Professor Sir Bob Watson, former head of the UN climate body believes the target to limit global warming to 1.5C will be missed. His warning comes amidst a summer of extreme heat for Europe, China and the US. Read the article