food
Healthy soils: essential for food and climate, but on shaky ground
Soils are vital for producing food and tackling climate change, but Europe’s soils are in a sorry state. A proposed EU law to be hashed out this year aims to monitor soils and restore them to health - what are the prospects for getting this precious resource back on track?
A scientist’s opinion: Interview with Jan Peter Lesschen on soil health and climate
Dr Jan Peter Lesschen is a senior researcher and project leader on soil and climate at the Dutch institute Wageningen Environmental Research where he focuses on greenhouse gas emissions, soil science, land use and regional scale modelling. It is estimated that 60-70% of European soils are in an unhealthy state – what is causing this ...
A scientist’s opinion: Interview with José Gomez on soil health and climate
Agricultural engineer José A. Gomez of the Spanish National Research Council researches soil management systems in agricultural areas. He also is the project coordinator of the Horizon 2020 funded project TUdi that develops solutions for restoring soil health. It is estimated that 60-70% of European soils are in an unhealthy state – why is this ...
Technologies at the heart of STOA’s work on Green Deal
The EU Green Deal has been a priority for the European Parliament's Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) in the 2019-2024 legislative term, with the scientists, other experts and MEPs exploring how technology can help reduce Europe’s carbon footprint. Creating a climate-neutral EU European economy requires a deep transformation in areas like ...
Revolutionising food production: ‘Similar to making wine’
Peter Rowe is part of the REACT-FIRST consortium and CEO of Deep Branch, a British carbon recycling biotechnology company. They have pioneered a process that uses microbes to convert carbon dioxide from industrial emissions and turns them into high-value proteins. This way, they aim to secure the global food system by meeting the demand for ...
Producing milk with CO2 and electricity
Milk without cows: the European Hydrocow project, funded by the European Innovation Council, aims to produce milk with carbon dioxide (CO2) and electricity, removing the cow from the process. They are working on engineering a microbe that converts CO2 and hydrogen, produced from water using electricity, into beta-lactoglobulin, a major constituent of milk. We interviewed ...
Rachel Mazac: ‘The whole food system needs to change’
Rachel Mazac is a postdoctoral researcher at Stockholm University’s Stockholm Resilience Centre, working on food systems transformation for sustainability in a globalised context for Sweden and at the broader Nordic and EU levels. She focuses her research on the nexus of global food systems sustainability, agroecology, and diversifying foods, and has investigated future diet shifts ...
Janina Seubert: ‘Studying emotions helps to better understand our food habits’
How might neuroscience help to change producers’ practices and consumers’ choices for more sustainable food? Janina Seubert is an expert in affective neuroscience and human chemosensation at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and a recipient of a European Research Council (ERC) grant. She was one of the ERC-funded researchers who discussed consumer behaviour at a ...