Weekend reading: A roundup of recent food system reports

I’ve gotten way behind on posting reports, so I thought I’d take care of several today.  These international reports on one or another aspect of food systems are all worth a read.

The UK Food Resilience report: Just in Case: 7 steps to narrow the UK civil food resilience gap

This is Tim Lang’s masterful analysis of what the UK needs to bounce back after interruptions to its food supply.  The UK currently depends on emergency services from police, ambulance, firefighters, and rescue services, but these “have next to no engagement on food matters.” The report considers who and what is needed to make sure populations have enough to eat during crises of one kind or another.  There is much useful to be learned here.

The U.K.’s food strategy (Thanks to Lindsay Graham for this one)

This document sets out the context and key challenges facing the food system, a high-level vision of what the UK food system of the future looks like, its approach to a patriotic campaign to realise that vision, what will make the vision a reality, and the next steps that need to be taken.

Health & Global Food Systems: An Investor’s Guide (Thanks to Carlos Monteiro for sending)

The Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group — the world’s seventh-largest bank with US$2.8 trillion in assets — explains in detail why ultra-processed foods pose major risks to food sector investors, and urges them to push companies to cut reliance on these products.

IFPRI’s 2025 Global Food Policy Report | Food Policy: Lessons and Priorities for a Changing World

This report examines the evolution and impact of food policy research and assesses how it can do better. Written by IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute), it explores a broad range of issues and research related to food systems, from tenure and agriculture extension to social protection, gender, and nutrition to conflict, political economy, and agricultural innovation, and more.  A textbook!

That’s enough for today.  More to come!