Feeding over 9 billion people by the second half of this century will require a major paradigm shift in agricultural systems. Agriculture uses approximately 40 % of the terrestrial surface, is the major user of fresh water resources and contributes 17%of greenhouse gas emissions. In turn, agriculture will be detrimentally affected by climate change in many climatic regions. Impacts of agriculture on ecosystem services include land clearing, loss of forest cover and biodiversity, significant soil degradation and water quality decline. Agricultural production will have to increase, even if we can reduce the rate of increase in demand for food. Given the current pressures on natural resources, this will have to be achieved by some form of agricultural intensification that causes less environmental impact. Therefore, it is not just intensification of agriculture, but ‘sustainable intensification’ that must be at the forefront of the paradigmshift. There is also a need to assess the situation holistically, taking into account population growth and resource intensive consumption patterns, improved systems of governance, changing diets and reducing waste. We review how and where natural resources are being placed under increasing pressure and examine the Becological footprint^ of agriculture. Suggested solutions include the application of existing scientific knowledge, implementation of emerging principles for sustainable land and water management and reclamation of salinized land. Encouragement of community action and private sector supply chain and production codes, backed up by improved national and regional governance and regulation also need to be encouraged if we are to see agricultural production become truly sustainable.

Natural resources are consumed in food production, and food loss is consequently accompanied with a loss of resources as well as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study analyses food loss based on India-specific production data (for the year 2013) and reported food loss rates during production and post-harvest stages of major food crops and animal products in India. Further, the study evaluates the environmental impacts of food loss in terms of utilization of water, land resources and GHG emissions. The total food loss in harvest and post-harvest stages of the food supply chain for the selected food items amounted to 58.3 ± 2.22 million tonnes (Mt) in the year 2013 with the highest losses by mass in sugarcane and rice. The volume of water associated with the food losses was found to be 115 ± 4.15 billion m³, of which 105 ± 3.77 billion m³ was direct water use (blue + green) and 9.54 ± 0.38 billion m³ was indirect water use (grey). Wasted sugarcane and rice were found to be the largest contributors for water loss. Land footprint and carbon footprint associated with food loss were found to be 9.58 ± 0.4 million hectares (Mha) and 64.1 ± 3.8 Mt CO₂eq, respectively, with rice accounting for the largest impact in both. This highlights the immediate need for quantification and taking measures for minimization of losses across the food supply chains in India.

The sustainability of food production systems is inherently linked with energy, water and food (EWF) resources directly and in-directly throughout their lifecycle. The understanding of the interdependencies between the three resource sectors in the context of food production can provide a measurable account for resource requirements, while meeting food security objectives. The energy, water and food Nexus tool developed by the authors has been designed to model the inter-dependency between energy, water and food resources, whilst conducting an environmental assessment of product systems. With emphasis on the inter-linkages between EWF resources, the tool quantifies material flows, natural resource and energy consumption at component unit process level. This work integrates greenhouse gas control and waste to power technologies within the energy, water and food Nexus tool and evaluates the environmental impact of a hypothetical food product system designed to deliver a perceived level of food self-sufficiency (40%) for the State of Qatar. Multiple system configurations, representative of different pathways for the delivery of consistent food products are evaluated, transforming a once linear product system into a circular design. The sub-systems added consist of a biomass integrated gasification combined cycle which recycles solid waste into useful forms of energy that can be re-used within the nexus. In addition, a carbon capture sub-system is integrated to capture and recycle CO2 from both the fossil fuel powered and the biomass integrated gasification combined cycle energy sub-systems. The integration of carbon capture with the biomass integrated gasification combined cycle transforms the carbon neutral biomass integrated gasification combined cycle process to a negative greenhouse gas emission technology known as bio-energy with carbon capture and storage. For the different scenarios and sub-system configurations considered, the global warming potential can be theoretically balanced (reduced by ∼98%) through the integration of photovoltaics, biomass integrated gasification combined cycle and carbon capture technologies. The peak global warming potential, i.e. a fully fossil fuel dependent system, is recorded at 1.73 × 10⁹ kg CO2 eq./year whilst the lowest achievable global warming potential is 2.18 × 10⁷ kg CO2 eq./year when utilising a combination of photovoltaics, carbon capture integrated with combined cycle gas turbine in addition to the integrated negative emission achieving system. The natural gas consumption is reduced by 7.8 × 10⁷ kg/year in the best case configuration, achieving a credit. In the same scenario, the photovoltaics land footprint required is calculated to a maximum of 660 ha. The maximum theoretically achievable negative emission is 1.09 × 10⁹ kg CO2/year.

The big challenge of the next decades is meeting the global nutritional demand, while reducing the pressure on food resources and the GHG emissions. In this regard, the overall goal consists of redesigning the food systems and promoting sustainable dietary patterns is a crucial aspect. This article focuses on reviewing the state-of-the-art of the combined Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the Water–Energy–Food (WEF) Nexus approach in assessing the effects of diet transitions. Diet LCAs differ in methodology, design, and assessed environmental impacts. The WEF nexus, which aims at finding synergies and trade-offs between the water, energy, and food resources systems, has been applied to different contexts and levels. However, a limited number of nexus methods have been developed at the food and diet levels, and no commonly recognizable methodology for the nexus assessment has been achieved. An integrated LCA and WEF Nexus approach can be a decisive tool to improve the understanding of the interconnections in the nexus, as it enables the consideration of entire supply chains.

Water use and agricultural practices in the Mediterranean area are unsustainable. The situation is worsened by the increased frequency of droughts and floods, as well as desertification and soil depletion, associated with climate change. The aim of Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) is to foster an integrated programme of sustainable food production and water provision in the framework of the water-energy-food nexus. A monitoring tool developed under PRIMA is based on the Sustainable Development Goals, two of which are specifically dedicated to food security (SDG 2) and sustainable management of water (SDG 6).The 12 indicators that have been chosen to be monitored in the Mediterranean area are: Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI); population overweight (%); land use (%); GHG emissions (total and AFOLU)(tCO₂ₑ); cereal yield (kg/ha); agriculture value added (US$/worker); fertilizer consumption (kg/haₐᵣₐbₗₑ ₗₐₙd); crop water productivity (kg/m³); annual freshwater withdrawal for agriculture (%); population served using with safely managed water service (rural, %); population served using with safely managed sanitation (rural, %); amount of agricultural residues used for energy purposes (t). Datasets for these indicators are collected by international bodies such as the World Bank, WHO, FAO and UNFCCC; recent series are available for almost all Mediterranean countries and are constantly updated. The aim of the proposed monitoring tool is to keep track of the impact generated in by PRIMA research and innovation projects Mediterranean countries.

Urban areas are considered net consumers of materials and energy, attracting these from the surrounding hinterland and other parts of the planet. The way these flows are transformed and returned to the environment by the city is important for addressing questions of sustainability and the effect of human behavior on the metabolism of the city. The present work explores these questions with the use of systems analysis, specifically in the form of a Multi-sectoral Systems Analysis (MSA), a tool for research and for supporting decision-making for policy and investment. The application of MSA is illustrated in the context of Greater London, with these three objectives: (a) estimating resource fluxes (nutrients, water and energy) entering, leaving and circulating within the city-watershed system; (b) revealing the synergies and antagonisms resulting from various combinations of water-sector innovations; and (c) estimating the economic benefits associated with implementing these technologies, from the point of view of production of fertilizer and energy, and the reduction of greenhouse gases. Results show that the selection of the best technological innovation depends on which resource is the focus for improvement. Urine separation can potentially recover 47% of the nitrogen in the food consumed in London, with revenue of $33 M per annum from fertilizer production. Collecting food waste in sewers together with growing algae in wastewater treatment plants could beneficially increase the amount of carbon release from renewable energy by 66%, with potential annual revenues of $58 M from fuel production.

International audience | Based on the GRAFS method of biogeochemical accounting for nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and carbon (C) fluxes through crop, grassland, livestock and human consumption, a full description of the structure and main functioning features of the French agro-food system was obtained from 1850 to the present at the scale of 33 agricultural regions. For the period since 1970, this description was compared with the results of an agronomic reconstitution of the cropping systems of the Seine watershed based on agricultural census and detailed enquiries about farming practices at the scale of small agricultural regions (the ARSeine database), which were then used as input to an agronomical model (STICS) calculating yields, and the dynamics of N and C. STICS was then coupled with a hydrogeological model (MODCOU), so that the entire modelling chain can thus highlight the high temporal inertia of both soil organic matter pool and aquifers. GRAFS and ARSeine revealed that the agriculture of the North of France is currently characterised by a high degree of territorial openness, specialisation and disconnection between crop and livestock farming, food consumption and production. This situation is the result of a historical trajectory starting in the middle of the nineteenth century, when agricultural systems based on mixed crop and livestock farming with a high level of autonomy were dominant. The major transition occurred only after World War II and the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy and led, within only a few decades, to a situation where industrial fertilisers largely replaced manure and where livestock farming activities were concentrated either in the Eastern margins of the watershed in residual mixed farming areas or in specialised animal production zones of the Great West. A second turning point occurred around the 1990s when regulatory measures were taken to partly correct the environmental damage caused by the preceding regime, yet without in-depth change of its logic of specialisation and intensification. Agricultural soil biogeochemistry (C sequestration, nitrate losses, P accumulation, etc.) responds, with a long delay, to these long-term structural changes. The same is true for the hydrosystem and most of its different compartments (vadose zone, aquifers, riparian zones), so that the relationship between the diffuse sources of nutrients (or pesticides) and the agricultural practices is not immediate and is strongly influenced by legacies from the past structure and practices of the agricultural system. This has strong implications regarding the possible futures of the Seine basin agriculture.

Based on the GRAFS method of biogeochemical accounting for nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and carbon (C) fluxes through crop, grassland, livestock and human consumption, a full description of the structure and main functioning features of the French agro-food system was obtained from 1850 to the present at the scale of 33 agricultural regions. For the period since 1970, this description was compared with the results of an agronomic reconstitution of the cropping systems of the Seine watershed based on agricultural census and detailed enquiries about farming practices at the scale of small agricultural regions (the ARSeine database), which were then used as input to an agronomical model (STICS) calculating yields, and the dynamics of N and C. STICS was then coupled with a hydrogeological model (MODCOU), so that the entire modelling chain can thus highlight the high temporal inertia of both soil organic matter pool and aquifers. GRAFS and ARSeine revealed that the agriculture of the North of France is currently characterised by a high degree of territorial openness, specialisation and disconnection between crop and livestock farming, food consumption and production. This situation is the result of a historical trajectory starting in the middle of the nineteenth century, when agricultural systems based on mixed crop and livestock farming with a high level of autonomy were dominant. The major transition occurred only after World War II and the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy and led, within only a few decades, to a situation where industrial fertilisers largely replaced manure and where livestock farming activities were concentrated either in the Eastern margins of the watershed in residual mixed farming areas or in specialised animal production zones of the Great West. A second turning point occurred around the 1990s when regulatory measures were taken to partly correct the environmental damage caused by the preceding regime, yet without in-depth change of its logic of specialisation and intensification. Agricultural soil biogeochemistry (C sequestration, nitrate losses, P accumulation, etc.) responds, with a long delay, to these long-term structural changes. The same is true for the hydrosystem and most of its different compartments (vadose zone, aquifers, riparian zones), so that the relationship between the diffuse sources of nutrients (or pesticides) and the agricultural practices is not immediate and is strongly influenced by legacies from the past structure and practices of the agricultural system. This has strong implications regarding the possible futures of the Seine basin agriculture.