On June 3, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released its World Food Price Index for May 2023, down 2.6% from the previous month and 22% lower than the all-time high reached a year ago in March 2022 The May decline reflects significant falls in vegetable oil, cereal, and dairy price indexes, but was partially offset by increases in sugar and meat prices.

The human cost of global warming is often estimated in monetary terms, but to promote climate justice we need to look at the inequalities and disparities that tend to disproportionately affect the health and human costs of vulnerable populations. A paper published in Nature Sustainability estimates that climate change has already pushed 9% of people out of their climatic niche, and that under a 2.7°C warming scenario, one-third of people could be affected by the end of the 21st century. 

Iron toxicity occurs in many rice-growing regions in Asia and Africa and significantly reduces rice yields, so there is a need to improve tolerance to this stress. However, the key genes and physiological factors for tolerance have not yet been identified, and a search for key factors is needed. Based on a two-year study using genetically diverse rice lines in iron toxic fields in Madagascar, JIRCAS has shown that iron toxicity tolerant lines have different mechanisms depending on the growth stage and that iron toxicity tolerance is supported by more complex mechanisms than previously recognized. The study also demonstrated that evaluation of iron toxicity tolerance should be carried out at all stages in the field, and suggests that iron toxicity tolerance can be improved by breeding using parental lines with superior specific physiological functions.

Tocopherol is a fat-soluble antioxidant known as vitamin E. It has physiological functions in the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases such as cancer and atherosclerosis, as well as cardiovascular disease. Among the tocopherols, α-tocopherol has the highest vitamin E activity. However, the α-tocopherol content in soy is low, which limits the exploitation of the functional properties of soy. JIRCAS was able to identify the DNA regions and candidate genes that regulate the tocopherol biosynthetic pathway in soy. Modification of the tocopherol biosynthetic pathway may lead to the development of soybean with higher α-tocopherol content.

Extreme weather events have been observed in all regions of the world. The impact on crop yields when these extreme events occur simultaneously is still unknown. An international team led by researchers at Aalto University used global weather data and yield data for major crops to estimate the impact of simultaneous extreme weather events and published their findings in Scientific Reports.

On May 17, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that the average temperature is likely to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in at least one year during the five-year period 2023-2027. The increasing likelihood of exceeding 1.5°C, even temporarily, is feared to have enormous impacts on human health, food security, water and the environment.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine last February raised fears of supply chain disruptions from major grain producers and exporters, which could lead to a spike in food prices in 2022. The Black Sea Grain Initiative, signed last July to guarantee Ukrainian grain exports, was extended for 120 days in November to address the situation, but the Russian side refused to budge when the initiative was extended again in March, making it valid for only 60 days. On May 17, the day before the deadline, Russia reportedly agreed to a 60-day extension.

In a sustainable food system transformation, what we eat and how we cook should be part of the solution, but we also need insight into culturally and economically realistic diets in different parts of the world. A recent paper in Nature Food analyzed 600 dinner recipes from online and popular cookbooks for Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and showed that this approach could be an entry point for understanding food-related habits.

According to the World Bank's Global Commodity Market Outlook released in April, overall commodity prices in 2023 are projected to be 21% lower than in 2022, with energy prices, agricultural commodity prices, food prices, and fertilizer prices, among others, expected to decline by 26%, 7%, 8%, and 37%, respectively. Despite the general decline in these commodity prices, the fertilizer and food price indices remain above pre-pandemic levels.