The CEO of a global fertilizer company reportedly accused the Russian president of "weaponising food" as many countries rely on Russian fertilizer for food production. The World Bank noted that while fertilizer prices have recently calmed compared to early 2022, they remain at historically high levels and availability remains a challenge.

The United States has been plagued by drought and wildfires due to low rainfall over the past few years, and it has been reported that California has been experiencing heavy rains since the end of the year, causing significant damage. Under climate change, the probability of drought and flood extremes is said to be increasing. Under climate change, "rough and brutal" weather changes could become "the new normal.

The United Nations has designated 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYM2023). Millet is a crop that grows better in arid lands and is more tolerant of climatic changes than other cereals. Furthermore, millet is also called "nutri-cereal" due to its high nutritional value, and is attracting attention.

On January 6, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released its latest World Food Price Index, showing that December 2022 was the ninth consecutive month of decline and 1.0% lower than a year ago. However, for the year 2022 as a whole, the food price index is 14.3% higher than in 2021.

Rebuilding the food system into a resilient and sustainable system is constrained by limited information on the amount of investment needed globally. A paper recently published in Global Food Security attempted to estimate the costs required to rebuild the food system. The paper estimated the total cost of food system transformation at USD 1.3 ± 0.1 trillion per year, showing that the seemingly enormous cost is only equivalent to 7% of the negative environmental and health externalities that the current food system causes each year, and that the benefits from action are significant.

The Nature journal listed the invasion of Ukraine by Russia as the biggest news story of 2022, as well as other topics in the climate and environment field, including the agreement to create a "loss and damage" fund at the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Egypt in November, the agreement to create a "loss and damage" fund at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Canada in December, and the The Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was concluded at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) held in Canada in December.
 

Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas, yet atmospheric methane concentrations today are nearly three times higher than pre-industrial levels. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic brought the economy to a standstill, atmospheric methane concentrations reached record levels. The paper, now published in Nature, pointed to the possibility that warm, wet weather in the Northern Hemisphere and, ironically, a lockdown to contain the pandemic, slowed the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere that break down methane, as the background.

It is recognized that today's food system is far from providing food that is environmentally sustainable and conducive to health in a fair manner for all people, and the global trend is to seek solutions through innovation. At the same time, the state of the world's agriculture is extremely diverse, and there is no one-size-fits-all technology or solution, so it is necessary to constantly update information on the diverse state of the world's agriculture in order to formulate strategies. Today’s Pick up highlight some statistics on global food and agriculture from the introductory page of the FAO Statistical Pocketbook World Food and Agriculture 2022.

The hybrid seminar "The application of science and traditional knowledge to foster the utilization of foods obtained from local landscapes for improved nutrition and livelihoods" was successfully held last December 12. The seminar featured presentations by experts in the field of traditional and local food use promotion, genetic resource conservation, and utilization in Africa and Asia that contribute to improved nutrition and incomes. A lively discussion ensued with participants on how to maximize the potential of local food diversity in meeting the nutritional, environmental, and economic needs of the target communities while conserving the diversity of genetic resources and cultural values.