Regenerative agriculture aims to produce food while simultaneously improving soil health, supporting biodiversity, reducing input costs and enhancing climate resilience. Evidence on its environmental and socio-economic impacts across different systems and climates remains limited, with few studies measuring multiple outcomes following whole farming system transition. To be impactful, regenerative agriculture research must address farmers' knowledge needs and provide practically feasible, economically viable solutions. This can be achieved through action-based research, co-designed with farmer stakeholders in real-world settings. Such research is time-consuming and involves potential risk for farmers adopting new practice combinations. Here, we describe two UK research projects gathering evidence on regenerative agriculture in partnership with farmers, at different scales. One is a replicated large-plot trial that stacks regenerative principles, the other a farmer-led quasi-experiment, following the transition in active farm businesses and using a flexible scoring system based on regenerative principles. We highlight benefits, challenges and future research directions emerging from these projects, including: challenges defining regenerative agriculture; co-design and maximizing knowledge exchange; generalizing results beyond study sites, when practices and outcomes are context-dependent; the need for interdisciplinarity; and generating evidence on long-term transitions with time lags between system change and outcomes, in an environment of short-term funding.This article is part of the theme issue 'Transforming terrestrial food systems for human and planetary health'.

The UK food system is a driver of the public health crisis of non-communicable disease, is linked to the cost-of-living crisis, and contributes to climate change, biodiversity loss and soil degradation. The economy relies strongly on the health of its people and food businesses, while also impacting the livelihoods of food system actors. However, action towards more resilient, equitable and regenerative food systems remains too slow and unambitious to adequately address these challenges. The Transforming UK Food Systems Programme comprises a wide range of research projects which address these challenges in a novel place-based, co-produced and action-oriented way. We provide 27 suggested action areas for supporting food system transformation, grouped in five themes spanning production, manufacturing, supply chain and consumption. Among the suggestions, there is a strong emphasis on the importance of co-production with food system actors and affected citizens. We highlight the vital role of governance and policy in supporting these action areas in both a structural and financial way, noting that this needs both national policy and regional approaches to take into account geographically varying cultural circumstances and values, and to allow the high level of co-production necessary.This article is part of the theme issue 'Transforming terrestrial food systems for human and planetary health'.

Diets deficient in fibre are reported globally. The associated health risks of insufficient dietary fibre are sufficiently grave to necessitate large-scale interventions to increase population intake levels. The Danish Whole Grain Partnership (DWP) is a public-private enterprise model that successfully augmented whole-grain intake in the Danish population. The potential transferability of the DWP model to Slovenia, Romania and Bosnia-Herzegovina has recently been explored. Here, we outline the feasibility of adopting the approach in the UK. Drawing on the collaborative experience of DWP partners, academics from the Healthy Soil, Healthy Food, Healthy People (H3) project and food industry representatives (Food and Drink Federation), this article examines the transferability of the DWP approach to increase whole grain and/or fibre intake in the UK. Specific consideration is given to the UK's political, regulatory and socio-economic context. We note key political, regulatory, social and cultural challenges to transferring the success of DWP to the UK, highlighting the particular challenge of increasing fibre consumption among low socio-economic status groups - which were also most resistant to interventions in Denmark. Wholesale transfer of the DWP model to the UK is considered unlikely given the absence of the key 'success factors' present in Denmark. However, the DWP provides a template against which a UK-centric approach can be developed. In the absence of a clear regulatory context for whole grain in the UK, fibre should be prioritised and public-private partnerships supported to increase the availability and acceptability of fibre-rich foods.

Regenerative agriculture is promoted as a farming system that can improve agricultural sustainability, address soil degradation, and provide ecosystem service benefits. However, there remains limited evidence for the quantifiable benefits of a widespread transition to regenerative agriculture on soil, biodiversity, and crop quality, particularly at the landscape scale, and poor integration of findings across disciplines. Social and cultural aspects of the transition, such as the positioning of regenerative agriculture as a grassroots movement, farmers' perspectives on defining regenerative practices, and social or political barriers to implementation, are harder to quantify and often overlooked in evidence-based approaches. Here, we present the detailed methodology for our interdisciplinary, co-designed landscape-scale experiment measuring changes in soil health, biodiversity, yield, and grain quality, as well as social and political dimensions of the implementation of regenerative practices. Our unique approach, through the co-production process, the landscape-scale, and the focus on a systemic transition instead of individual practices, will bring strong evidence of the benefits of regenerative agriculture for sustained agricultural productivity, the mitigation of climate change and biodiversity depletion in agroecosystems. Our research aims to guide future studies transforming theoretical ecology into testable hypotheses in real-world systems and provide actionable evidence to inform agricultural policies in the UK and beyond.

This paper outlines the concept of values-based food systems building on the related idea of values-based food chains (VBFCs), terms which are definitionally diffuse but which cohere around a common commitment to environmental sustainability and social justice. The paper examines the development of four multi-stakeholder local food partnerships in Birmingham, Bristol, Rotherham and Sheffield—and the national Sustainable Food Places network to which they are affiliated. Based on our collaborative research with these organizations and a review of their public statements, the paper identifies the values that guide their work. The paper then draws on the evidence of a series of workshops which revealed some of the challenges the partnerships face as they seek to put their values into practice, focusing on governance issues (and related funding challenges) and the implementation of equity, diversity and inclusion policies. Our findings show that the partnerships’ work is consistent with the concept of values-based food systems though they do not use the term themselves. Our research also shows the range of work being undertaken by these local food partnerships with much in common but also some significant divergence in their activities. The paper concludes with some reflections about scale and the differences between our English case studies and earlier work on VBFCs in the US.

Biofortification (increasing the micronutrient content of food before harvest) has been successfully used to nutritionally improve staple foods in low- and middle-income countries. This approach could also help address micronutrient shortfalls in at-risk populations in high-income countries (HICs), however, the potential of biofortification interventions in this context is not well understood. The aim of this scoping review is to assess the nature and extent of available research evidence on biofortified foods in relation to human consumption in HICs. Literature searches were conducted in MEDLINE, WoS, ProQuest, CINAHL, AGRIS and Epistemonikos. Forty-six peer-reviewed articles were included. Most research was conducted in the USA (n = 15) and Italy (n = 11), on cereal crops (n = 14) and vegetables (n = 11), and on selenium (n = 12) and provitamin A (n = 11). Seven research domains were identified in the literature: bioavailability (n = 17); nutrient stability (n = 11); opinions and attitudes (n = 9); functionality (n = 9); sensory properties (n = 2); safety (n = 1); and modeling (n = 1). Evidence from HICs in each domain is limited. There is a need for more research particularly in areas sensitive to the cultural and socio-economic context.

This review seeks to demonstrate how the social and economic dimensions of sustainability need to be considered alongside its environmental dimensions. This is particularly important when, as in the case of the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNRs), policymakers are attempting to address the twin goals of health and sustainability. For a policy that might make good sense when seen in purely environmental terms, it might not prove sustainable in social and economic terms - if it is too costly, it exacerbates existing inequalities or has detrimental effects on public health. There are some 'win -wins' in the field of health and sustainability policy. However, difficult choices between competing policy options will occur, similar to those facing ordinary consumers in their everyday lives. Being clear about the way food is framed as an issue and how different framings shape policy outcomes is a useful way forward in addressing the inevitable trade-offs and compromises between competing objectives.

Contrary to conventional models of ethnic 'assimilätion', which predict a consistent decline in residential segregation as an ethnic group improves its socio-economic position with the progress of time, ethnic segregation tended to increase slightly overall in the 1960s in New York. Blacks and Puerto Ricans are among the most highly segregated groups in New York, yet while they are becoming generally more segregated from other ethnic groups, they are becoming simultaneously less dissimilar from each other, outside the suburbs at least. Research on racial neighbourhood transition has argued persuasively that, at least in the early stages of 'succession', black families entering previously all-white neighbourhoods tend to have similar or superior socio-economic profiles to the white families they replace.

Until recently geographers have used the terms race and race relations uncritically, following the commonsense language of political discourse and academic social science. The development of a radical social geography of race and racism depends on the evolution of a more adequate theoretical foundation. This chapter defines race as a social relation between groups of people across deeply entrenched lines of inequality. It then retheorizes the significance of space in the development of particular social relations of race by exploring some specifically territorial forms of racial oppression. Social geographers are now moving away from an exclusive interest in patterns of immigration, segregation, and assimilation to focus on racism and its geographical ramifications. Suggesting that racism is the problem rather than race, the chapter concludes by examining the variety of ways in which racist oppression can be challenged, employing the concept of resistance first proposed by Gramsci and later developed by Hall and others.

This paper aims to examine various questions relating to the Mongols’ attitude towards religious matters: specifically, the way in which the Mongols exploited the religious allegiances of their unsubdued enemies, their much-vaunted “religious toleration,” their attitude towards the “religious classes” within their conquests, and the possible contexts for their eventual conversion to Islam or Buddhism. Further discussion of these questions is important, not least in order to reach a fuller explanation of the failure of Latin missionaries from Western Europe to win over the Mongol rulers: in a recent article, Professor James Ryan lays the blame for this squarely at the door of the missionaries themselves.2 The scope of the paper will largely be confined to the thirteenth century.

Aim This study assesses community readiness to prevent overweight/obesity among Ghanaian immigrants in Greater Manchester, England. Subject and method The Community Readiness Model (CRM) was applied using a semi-structured interview tool with 13 key informants (religious and other key community members) addressing five readiness dimensions. A maximum of 9 points per dimension (from 1 = no awareness to 9 = high level of community ownership), was assigned, alongside qualitative textual thematic analysis. Results The mean readiness score indicated that the study population was in the “vague awareness stage” (3.08 ± 0.98). The highest score was observed for community knowledge of the issue (4.42 ± 0.99) which was in the pre-planning phase, followed by community climate (vague awareness; 3.58 ± 0.62). The lowest scores were seen for resources (denial/resistance; 2.70 ± 0.61) and knowledge of efforts (no awareness; 1.53 ± 0.44). Findings identified structural barriers, including poor living conditions as a result of poorly paid menial jobs and high workload, contributing to the adoption of unhealthy lifestyle behaviours. Socio-cultural factors such as fatalism, hereditary factors, and social status were associated with acceptance of overweight. Conclusion Despite recognising overweight/obesity as an important health issue in these communities, especially among women, it is not seen as a priority for targeting change. To help these communities to become more ready for interventions that tackle overweight/obesity, the focus should initially be to address the structural barriers identified, including reducing poverty, alongside designing interventions that work with these structural barriers, and thereafter focus on the socio-cultural factors.

Given the global environmental impacts associated with single-use plastics, alternatives are being considered, including the reuse of product packaging, which aim to retain the functionality of products while reducing waste and broader environmental impacts. Drawing on the Multi-Level Perspective approach, we analyse three national examples of reuse in Denmark, Germany, and Mexico. While the success of reuse initiatives is often attributed to heightened levels of environmental consciousness, we argue that understanding national variations in levels of reuse requires greater attention to the commercial drivers, regulatory factors, and provisioning systems in which they arise. This argument is developed through case studies of the beverage sector in the three national contexts - specifically beer, mineral water, and soft drinks - as this sector is often regarded as a successful illustration of business-to-consumer reuse systems. To conclude, we consider what the implications might be for nations such as the UK where reuse levels remain comparatively low.

Within agri-food scholarship, longstanding debates have focused on the empirical applicability and conceptual utility of differing agricultural paradigms. These have often dovetailed with considerations around the future of agriculture in countries such as the UK given a shift in emphasis away from the central tenets of a high-input, yield-oriented productivism. Alternative diagnoses, particularly in notions of a post-productivist paradigm, have proven influential in capturing broad changes in the restructuring of agricultural activity. Whilst debates around the characterisation of these paradigms continue, they highlight distinct contestations in broader (and shifting) questions around what agriculture should be 'for', e.g. whether environmental 'goods' should be valued more highly than material production. Situating our paper within these ongoing debates, we draw on farmer perspectives in examining the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices in two farmer clusters in the East and South-West of England respectively. As a diverse array of practices which appear favourably positioned in a post-Brexit policy environment, we explore the ways in which regenerative agriculture can be understood as seeking to reconcile productivist and post-productivist tendencies. Drawing attention to the tensions, contradictions and uncertainties at play in these farmer perspectives, we highlight: the environmental and emotional appeal of regenerative agriculture compared to its adoption for more pragmatic (economic) reasons; the parallels and differences between regenerative agriculture and organic production; and the multiple sources of trusted information drawn upon by farmers in an uncertain policy environment. We conclude the paper by reflecting on the need to better contextualise and conceptualise contemporary interest in regenerative agriculture within longer theoretical lineages, in which the voice of farmers themselves must be central.