Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems
- 3rd Edition - November 7, 2025
- Latest edition
- Editor: Peter Alexander
- Language: English
Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems 3rd Edition, Six-volume set addresses important issues by examining topics of global agriculture and food systems that are key to un… Read more
Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems 3rd Edition, Six-volume set addresses important issues by examining topics of global agriculture and food systems that are key to understanding the challenges we face. Questions it addresses include:
- Will we be able to produce enough food to meet the increasing dietary needs and wants of the additional two billion people expected to inhabit our planet by 2050?
- Will we be able to meet the need for so much more food while simultaneously reducing adverse environmental effects of today’s agriculture practices?
- Will we be able to produce the additional food using less land and water than we use now?
- Climate change mitigation and adaptation
- Biodiversity
- Societal aspects
- Technology/innovation
- Diversity/local versus global
- Resilience
These are among the most important challenges that face our planet in the coming decades. The broad themes of food systems and people, agriculture and the environment, the science of agriculture, agricultural products, and agricultural production systems are covered in more than 150 separate chapters of this work. The book provides information that serves as the foundation for discussion of the food and environment challenges of the world. An international group of highly respected authors addresses these issues from a global perspective and provides the background, references, and linkages for further exploration of each of topics of this comprehensive work.
- Provides a comprehensive overview of global challenges facing the food system
- Presents detailed information on concepts and issues relevant to global agriculture and today's food industry
- Addresses important challenges of sustainability and efficiency from a global perspective
- Contains information from multiple disciplinary perspectives
University students who are studying at undergraduate to postgraduate level, through to early-stage PhD students. Those teaching or studying agricultural science, plant science, ecology, environmental science, genetics, molecular biology and soil science. It will also be of interest to a wider audience who wish to have an up-to-date overview of different aspects of food systems, e.g., policymakers, journalists and NGOs
The section structure is to substantially revised from the previous edition. The new structure consists of the following 6 sections.
1. Planetary boundaries and sustainability of the food system
2. Agricultural production practices and challenges
3. Food consumption choices and outcomes
4. Food industry, policy, markets and trade
5. Food, agriculture and society
6. Transformation and innovation in food systems
1. Planetary boundaries and sustainability of the food system
2. Agricultural production practices and challenges
3. Food consumption choices and outcomes
4. Food industry, policy, markets and trade
5. Food, agriculture and society
6. Transformation and innovation in food systems
- Edition: 3
- Latest edition
- Published: November 7, 2025
- Language: English
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Peter Alexander
Prof. Peter Alexander is Chair of Global Food Systems jointly at the School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh and the Global Academy of Agriculture & Food Systems, University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on the social, economic, and environmental interactions within the food and land use systems, typically applying data and computationally intensive techniques, such as agent-based modeling. Prof. Alexander was a lead author for the 2022 IPCC Working Group II report and is a coordinating lead author on UNEP’s 7th Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-7). He leads the Land Use Lab research group that has considered the interactions between climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as how the globalisation of the food system creates teleconnections between actions in one location having consequences in others. The role of international trade in reducing or exacerbating vulnerabilities to shocks, including geopolitical shocks, is of particular interest. How land use and food system changes interact with dietary choices and human health, for example, patterns of food consumption influencing environmental outcomes and environmental changes impacting nutrition and health, are also central to the research. As part of this, in collaboration with others, he leads the development of the Land System Modular Model. This model has been used to quantify the impacts of the changes on ecosystem service indicators such as the land carbon balance, runoff, and nitrogen pollution and explore the impact of future changes in diet on habitat availability in biodiversity hotspots, as well as the reverse—looking at the food security implications of different land conservation scenarios.
Affiliations and expertise
Senior Lecturer, University of Edinburgh, UKRead Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems on ScienceDirect