Open research questions in Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact

What the literature leaves open

• The study faces challenges in collecting data on GHG emissions from beef cattle breeding. The study must address the complexity of spatial effects on carbon emissions. The study needs to consider the impact of different farming scales on carbon intensity.

  Exploring the carbon footprint of Chinese beef systems – a life‑cycle assessment, decoupling analysis and spatial effects · 2026 · DOI

• Investigating the decoupling relationship between GHG emissions from beef cattle breeding and economic activities, - Analyzing the impact of beef cattle breeding scale on carbon intensity, - Identifying the core driving factors underlying the relationships between beef cattle breeding and carbon emissions

  Exploring the carbon footprint of Chinese beef systems – a life‑cycle assessment, decoupling analysis and spatial effects · 2026 · DOI

• Designing dietary guidelines that adopt a systems-oriented, holistic approach to nutrition. Integrating sustainability and regenerative agricultural practices into dietary guidelines. Managing conflicts of interest in the development of dietary guidelines. Balancing the need for quantitative recommendations with the importance of qualitative guidance.

  Shortcomings of food-based dietary guidelines worldwide: a focus on sustainability and food processing issues · 2026 · DOI

• Lack of consideration of sustainability issues in current food-based dietary guidelines. Insufficient consideration of food processing issues in current guidelines. Need for a more holistic approach to nutrition that considers the interconnectedness of human, environmental, and societal wellbeing.

  Shortcomings of food-based dietary guidelines worldwide: a focus on sustainability and food processing issues · 2026 · DOI

• aligned surveys with larger, representative samples are needed to test whether these apparent correspondences translate into purchasing or farm-management outcomes

  Consumer Priorities and Producer Practices in Tasmania’s Red Meat Sector: An Exploratory Analysis of Two Independent Surveys · 2026 · DOI

• Regional evidence considering both consumer and producer perspectives in the red meat sector remains limited. The paper identifies a gap in understanding the relationship between consumer priorities and producer practices in Tasmania's red meat sector.

  Consumer Priorities and Producer Practices in Tasmania’s Red Meat Sector: An Exploratory Analysis of Two Independent Surveys · 2026 · DOI

• The paper identifies the challenge of balancing mitigation and health effects of GHG taxation in food systems. The study acknowledges the challenge of leakage risks and the need to consider the social cost of carbon. The paper recognizes the challenge of predicting food demand elasticities and the need for accurate data.

  Food emissions taxes can deliver health and environmental benefits with limited leakage · 2026 · DOI

• Investigating the effects of partial pass-through on the consumption response and subsequent mitigation and health effects, - Examining the impact of different tax designs on mitigation and health outcomes

  Food emissions taxes can deliver health and environmental benefits with limited leakage · 2026 · DOI

• The high moisture content, complex compositions, and potential presence of pathogens and other harmful substances in livestock manure. The uneven distribution of manure production across regions and the high transportation costs. The need to balance manure-derived nutrient supply with crop demand and local land carrying capacity.

  Turning Livestock Waste into Nutrient Resources: Advances in Crop–Livestock Circular Agriculture for Sustainable Farming Systems · 2026 · DOI

• The lack of effective nutrient cycling in agricultural systems due to the increasing specialization of crop and livestock production. The need for a comprehensive approach to address the dual challenge of excessive dependence on synthetic fertilizers and inefficient utilization of livestock manure. The requirement for regionally adapted implementation models for crop-livestock circular agriculture.

  Turning Livestock Waste into Nutrient Resources: Advances in Crop–Livestock Circular Agriculture for Sustainable Farming Systems · 2026 · DOI

• lack of methodological harmonization in European FBDGs. limited integration of environmental sustainability in FBDGs. inconsistencies in food group classifications and portion size definitions.

  European food-based dietary guidelines: mapping methodological heterogeneity, sustainability integration gaps and implementation barriers · 2026 · DOI

• The paper identifies challenges in retrieving relevant studies due to inconsistent terminology and the need for citation checking. It also notes the challenge of synthesizing studies with heterogeneous populations, settings, and interventions. The paper highlights the limitation of having only three included studies, which were small single-arm evaluations without control groups, limiting causal and population inference.

  Connecting digital food literacy and sustainable eating in children and adolescents: a focused mini review of evidence gaps and educational priorities · 2026 · DOI

• Limited to English-language indexed publications, - Narrow conceptual intersection, - Terminology remains inconsistent, - Only three heterogeneous studies met all criteria, - Participants were approximately 9-16 years old and located in Australia or Canada

  Connecting digital food literacy and sustainable eating in children and adolescents: a focused mini review of evidence gaps and educational priorities · 2026 · DOI

• Agricultural land management is the most detrimental to the environment, impacting the largest proportion of global ecosystem functions. Current practices associated with industrial agriculture are detrimental to several ecosystem services. There is a lack of standardized certification for regenerative agriculture.

  From soil to health: advancing regenerative agriculture for improved food quality and nutrition security · 2025 · DOI

• quantitative studies measuring regenerative practices' long-term impacts on soil health and human nutrition, - sociocultural analyses exploring consumer behavior changes and adoption patterns, - incentive programs for conventional industrial farmers to transition to regenerative agriculture

  From soil to health: advancing regenerative agriculture for improved food quality and nutrition security · 2025 · DOI

• Evidence that printed foods improve dietary intake, nutritional status, clinical outcomes or quality of life remains sparse and largely limited to feasibility, acceptability and animal studies.

  Three-dimensional Food Printing within Emerging Technologies for Personalised Nutrition and Sustainable Food Systems: A Critical Narrative Review · 2026 · DOI

• China's grain production and consumption are spatially mismatched, but the joint carbon–nitrogen consequences of interprovincial trade bridging this mismatch remain unclear.

  Aggregate gains and crop-driven trade-offs in the carbon and nitrogen footprints of China's interprovincial trade in rice, wheat and maize · 2026 · DOI

• However, a simultaneous water, land, energy and carbon footprints evaluation is insufficient.

  Spatiotemporal investigation into water, land, energy, and carbon footprints of broiler and correlations among them in China · 2025 · DOI

• Abstract Despite growing demand for edible flowers as nutritious and sustainable food sources, limited data exist on the nutritional potential and consumer acceptance of Chrysanthemum morifolium genotypes.

  Sustainable nutrition from edible chrysanthemums: evaluating genotypes for nutritional, antioxidant, and consumer preference attributes · 2025 · DOI

• These results underscore the potential of chrysanthemums as a sustainable source for nutrition and health; however, challenges such as limited consumer acceptance, post-harvest processing issues, market constraints, genotype diversity, and the necessity for appropriate packaging warrant further investigation.

  Sustainable nutrition from edible chrysanthemums: evaluating genotypes for nutritional, antioxidant, and consumer preference attributes · 2025 · DOI

• Future research should explore the underlying resistance mechanisms from field to storage to better ensure crop safety.

  Evaluation of aflatoxin contamination in protein-rich pulses using a GFP-expressing Aspergillus flavus strain · 2025 · DOI

• BACKGROUND: Plant-based diets (PBD) are gaining global popularity, yet there is limited research on the experiences of pregnant women adhering to these diets.

  PregNut survey: knowledge, attitude, and practices of midwives regarding plant-based diets during pregnancy · 2025 · DOI

• While inference plays a critical role in facilitating behavioural change, evidence remains sparse regarding how specific characteristics of carbon labels affect consumers' ability to accurately identify low-carbon products.

  Impact of different carbon labels on consumer inference · 2025 · DOI

• In temperate climates, faba beans offer a promising, locally sourced option, though their wider adoption is limited by amino acid imbalances and anti-nutritional factors.

  Optimising Nutrition for Sustainable Pig Production: Strategies to Quantify and Mitigate Environmental Impact · 2025 · DOI

• Pricing trends indicate that plant-based dog foods are generally more expensive than hybrid and animal-based options, although the cost varies widely across all categories.

  Nutritional Profiling and Labeling Practices of Plant-Based, Hybrid, and Animal-Based Dog Foods: A Study of European Pack Labels (2020–2024) · 2025 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact

• Food Security: The Challenge of Feeding 9 Billion People · Science · 2010 · 9,469 citations
• Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers · Science · 2018 · 5,272 citations
• Global diets link environmental sustainability and human health · Nature · 2014 · 2,930 citations
• Options for keeping the food system within environmental limits · Nature · 2018 · 2,899 citations
• Climate Change and Global Food Systems: Potential Impacts on Food Security and Undernutrition · Annual Review of Public Health · 2017 · 901 citations
• Where are the best opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the food system (including the food chain)? · Food Policy · 2011 · 823 citations
• How sustainable agriculture can address the environmental and human health harms of industrial agriculture. · Environmental Health Perspectives · 2002 · 816 citations
• Position of the American Dietetic Association: Vegetarian Diets · Journal of the American Dietetic Association · 2009 · 726 citations
• Sources of data for developing and maintaining a nutrient database · Journal of the American Dietetic Association · 1988 · 639 citations
• The price of protein: Review of land use and carbon footprints from life cycle assessments of animal food products and their substitutes · Food Policy · 2012 · 621 citations

Most recent work

• Strategies for achieving healthy, sustainable, and equitable dietary transitions · Science · 2026
• Cell sources and engineering strategies for cultured meat production: a critical comparative review · Frontiers in Nutrition · 2026
• Consumer perceptions of plant-based meat innovation: a focus group study on food technology · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · 2026
• Cultivated Meat and the Future of Food Systems: Promise, Progress, and Challenges · Food Science & Nutrition · 2026
• Recent Advances in Plant‐Based Dairy Alternatives: Technological Innovations, Nutritional Enhancement, Sustainability, and Consumer Perspectives · Food Science & Nutrition · 2026
• Plant-based foods in healthcare sustainability policy: A scoping review of policy tools, gaps, and implementation challenges · Health Policy · 2026
• How does the high-standard farmland construction policy drive the transformation of green grain production? · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · 2026
• UK land use implications of replacing dairy farming with precision fermentation · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · 2026
• The connections among interactions with nature, diet quality, and sustainable eating: Insights from a mixed methods study · Social Science & Medicine · 2026
• The Rise of Plant‐Based Proteins: Consumer Perception and Challenges · Food Science & Nutrition · 2026

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