Food and Farming

We need to break down the perceived barrier between farming and the environment to restore the health of our soil and water - and of the human and non-human life they sustain. ELIZABETH WAINWRIGHT, a contributing editor to The Ecologist, argues we also need to better understand the connections between them

Today marks the launch of World Meat Free Week where 200 million people globally will be asked to skip just one meaty meal. The impacts on climate change and the environment will be significant. And some people may even try new, delicious vegan food, writes BRENDAN MONTAGUE

Gardeners across Britain are being asked to earn their stripes by joining the Great British Bee Count and help our threatened pollinators. Bees are good for flowers - and also support our farmers, argues EMI MURPHY of Friends of the Earth

The impact of the meat industry on the environment is well documented. While global solutions to this problem are necessary, there is a very real, immediate and visceral change people can make right now - on World Environment Day - to turn the tide. Go vegan. GEORGE MONBIOT et al write an open letter to the movement to support the Vegan Society's Plate Up for the Planet challenge

Meat production is the elephant in the room when it comes to addressing the major threats to environmental sustainability. Going vegan seems like biting off more than you can chew for many campaigning charities. But DR JULIAN VIGO argues that now we must take the bull by the horns...

Most consumers have no idea how appalling the lives of intensively reared pigs are. As the truth comes out eating habits are changing. MATT MELLEN and KIRSTIE PHILPOT report

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism report published today reveals industrial scale beef farming is now a 'fact on the ground' across the UK. The new farms raise concerns about animal welfare and health. ANDREW WASLEY and HEATHER KROEKER from the Bureau report

Aquaculture - a controversial topic due to concerns of the health and treatment of farmed fish - could become a sustainable food source and help preserve wild fish populations, writes EMILY FOLK

Brexit will result in Britain exiting the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy. It will have to decide whether subsidies to farmers should be retained, or reformed. In the second part of this groundbreaking investigation a team of investigative journalists from across Europe - publishing with THE ECOLOGIST - assess how effective the environmental mechanisms of CAP really are.

Almost a trillion Euros in taxpayers' money is handed to EU farmers as part of the Common Agricultural Policy. The money is supposed to leverage environmental practices. But an international team of investigative journalists, today publishing with THE ECOLOGIST, has found the cash actually feeds significant pollution

The government’s consultation on future farming policy in England ended last week. Many see it as a unique opportunity to make some positive changes - not least in the provision of information about differences in quality and production systems, says PETER MELCHETT of the Soil Association

Bee-killing insecticides will face a near total ban in Europe following a vote by member states in favour of proposals by the European Commission. The UK government supported the ban, which it says it will maintain after Brexit. CATHERINE EARLY reports

We are told there is a choice between forest and food. But in reality it is industrial processes that are destroying sustainable farming and the ecosystem. KIRTANA CHANDRASEKARAN discusses a new report from Friends of the Earth International which suggests agroecology is an alternative that can respect people and planet

Scientists from the University of Sheffield have identified factors which are driving the evolution of herbicide resistance in crops – something which could also have an impact on medicine as well as agriculture. BRENDAN MONTAGUE reports

Animals bred for meat now consume a third of all vegetable crops. This has increased dramatically since a ban on pigswill following the Foot and Mouth outbreak in the UK. But it is an appalling waste. Japan can show the way to feeding pigs our waste food which is safe, argues the Green MEP MOLLY SCOTT CATO

Appalling conditions have been found at a farm supplying meat to a Spanish sausage brand stocked at Morrisons and high street butchers. JAVIER MORENO, the executive director of Animal Equality Spain, argues that this is not an isolated incident. He hopes the latest undercover investigation could be a turning point for animal welfare

Trends shaping consumerism, transport and farming could provide answers for some of the world’s sustainability problems, according to the think tank Forum for the Future. CATHERINE EARLY reports

Michael Gove, the environment secretary, will today announce plans to radically reform the payment of farm subsidies - in the wake of Brexit. If the promise is kept and the changes implemented well these changes could support a growing minority of farmers attempting to end soil depletion and economic destruction.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Agroecology for Food and Farming has warned poor international trade deals made following Brexit could have a significant impact on British farmers - and in turn the regional and global environment. BRENDAN MONTAGUE reports.

Britain is known as a nation of animal lovers. It is the birthplace of Watership Down, Peter Rabbit - and Animal Farm. But the meat, cosmetics and other animal dependent industries are also a large part of the British economy. Until now, EU regulations have improved animal welfare. As the country prepares for Brexit, HELEN BROWNING asks whether animal sentience will remain recognised by UK law.

A new report from the Sustainable Food Trust reveals that the £120 billion spent on food by UK consumers incur additional, hidden costs of a further £120 billion. The largest proportion of the hidden costs are from damaging impacts of intensive production methods and food-related healthcare, reports EMMA ROSE

China led the reclamation of the largest abandoned rice farm in Mozambique, with the blessing of the authorities. But now the company involved is accused of land grabbing and displacing thousands. Cecilia Anesi and Andrea Fama report

The health of our soils is more important now than ever, says the Soil Association’s Helen Browning - especially with the challenges that climate change will bring ...

The claims made for GM agriculture are a transparent fraud. The real purpose of GM foods is to give giant corporations legally-enforceable monopoly powers over the entire global food chain.