Research & reports

Anderson Luis Ferreira · Revista fisio&terapia. · Brazil

A qualitative, exploratory-descriptive study based on bibliographic and documentary review examines urban agriculture as a socio-environmental alternative to the contradictions of the Green Revolution. Drawing on classic and contemporary national and international literature and reports from multilateral bodies such as the FAO and UN-Habitat, it characterizes the Green Revolution as having raised agricultural productivity while deepening social inequality, homogenizing crops, and causing serious environmental impacts. It positions urban agriculture as valuing production diversity, strengthening community autonomy, and fostering new forms of sociability, concluding that examples across different contexts converge in strengthening food sovereignty, social inclusion, and urban sustainability.

· 農林水産省・経済産業省 · Japan

Statistics on projects certified under the agriculture-commerce-industry collaboration scheme, tallied by region (Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Hokuriku, Tokai, Kinki, Chugoku-Shikoku, Kyushu, Okinawa) — showing where collaborations between small businesses and primary producers are actually forming.

消費者庁 · 消費者庁（農林水産省・環境省と連携） · Japan

Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency published its FY2023 food loss estimate on June 27, 2025. Total food loss was 4.64 million tonnes, down from 4.72 million tonnes the prior year, split between 2.31 million tonnes from businesses and 2.33 million tonnes from households.

Anne Lenormand · Banque des Territoires (Localtis) · France

Reporting that France's source-separation infrastructure for biowaste has tripled in three years since the January 2024 legal mandate, giving 32.1 million French residents (about 50%) access to sorting solutions (municipal collection, individual and shared composting). The rollout had a difficult start but is now accelerating, with 20 million more residents expected to gain access.

Jacob Wallace · Waste Dive · United States

NYC's Department of Sanitation began enforcing mandatory curbside organics separation on April 1, 2025, issuing nearly 2,000 summonses in the first week, but Mayor Adams paused broad enforcement through 2025 on April 18, limiting fines to persistent violators. The city had distributed about 190,000 free bins and sold 63,000 more, and organics diversion had risen 65% from FY2022 to FY2024.

FAO · FAO (FAOSTAT Analytical Brief) · Global

According to a FAOSTAT analytical brief, global agricultural use of inorganic fertilizers rose 34 percent, from 142 million tonnes in 2002 to 190 million tonnes in 2023. Per-hectare application rates of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium all increased over the period, and world production reached 208 million tonnes in 2023, up 40 percent since 2002.

US Environmental Protection Agency · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · United States

U.S. municipal solid waste (MSW) generation reached 292.4 million tons in 2018. The landfilling rate fell from 94 percent in 1960 to 50 percent in 2018, while the combined recycling and composting rate rose from just over 6 percent in 1960 to 32.1 percent in 2018, including 25 million tons composted and 69 million tons recycled.

国税庁 · 国税庁 · Japan

According to Japan's National Tax Agency, when a qualifying heir inherits farmland from a deceased person who had been farming it and continues farming (or leases it under a designated arrangement), payment of the portion of inheritance tax corresponding to the value of the land above its agricultural investment value is deferred. This deferred tax is forgiven if the farming heir dies while still farming, among other conditions. Designated leasing arrangements include those under the Act on Facilitation of Leasing Urban Agricultural Land.

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, HM Treasury, Department for Business and Trade · GOV.UK · United Kingdom

On 23 December 2025 the UK government announced it would raise the 100% Agricultural and Business Property Reliefs threshold from £1m to £2.5m, effective 6 April 2026. Married couples or civil partners will be able to pass on assets worth up to £5m tax free, and up to £5.65m when combined with existing nil-rate bands. The government projects that the number of estates claiming agricultural property relief affected by the 2026-27 reforms will roughly halve, from 375 to 185.

USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) · USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service · United States

USDA NASS's 2025 survey found the average value of U.S. cropland was $5,830 per acre, up 4.7% from 2024 and up 96% since 2011. Pastureland averaged $1,920 per acre, up $90 from 2024 and 79% since 2011. Overall farm real estate value averaged $4,350 per acre, up $180 from 2024. The average cropland cash rent was $161 per acre nationally (up $1), with irrigated cropland at $244 and non-irrigated at $147; pastureland rent was unchanged at $15.50 per acre.

国土交通省 · 国土交通省 · Japan

This press release, published by Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on March 18, 2025, reports the results of the 2025 official land price survey covering 26,000 points nationwide. The national average for all uses, residential land, and commercial land rose for the fourth consecutive year, with the rate of increase widening. Among the three major metropolitan areas, Tokyo and Osaka saw continued acceleration while Nagoya's increase slightly narrowed; regional areas rose for a fourth straight year, though the rate slightly narrowed in the four major regional cities (Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima, Fukuoka).

石井健太朗 · 大和不動産鑑定株式会社（DREA REPORT） · Japan

Published in April 2025 by Kentaro Ishii of Daiwa Real Estate Appraisal Co.'s Research & Marketing Department, this report analyzes Japan's 2025 official land price survey (as of January 1, 2025), based on MLIT data. It shows the national all-use average rose for a fourth consecutive year with an accelerating rate (+2.1% in 2025), driven by steady housing demand and strong retail/hotel demand in commercial areas. The residential land price increase was highest in Furano, Hokkaido, and the commercial increase was highest in Chitose, Hokkaido (site of semiconductor plant investment); among prefectural capitals, Naha posted the largest residential gain (+5.9%) and Saga the largest commercial gain (+9.0%).

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) · Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) · Global

According to FAO, disasters have recently affected 4.03 billion people, up 124% compared to the previous two decades, with direct economic losses reaching nearly USD 3 trillion, an increase of 182% since 1980–1999. Climate-related disasters accounted for 91% of direct economic losses globally and affected 3.6 billion people. Between 2008 and 2018, agriculture absorbed 26% of the overall impact of medium- to large-scale disasters in least developed and low- and middle-income countries. Some 2.5 billion people worldwide depend on agriculture for their livelihoods; FAO promotes disaster risk reduction through coherent implementation of the Sendai Framework, the Paris Agreement, and the SDGs.

European Environment Agency · European Environment Agency (EEA) · Europe

According to this EEA indicator, 2020-2023 EU water abstraction breaks down into power cooling (33%), agriculture/irrigation (31%), public water supply (21%), and manufacturing (14%), with total EU27 freshwater abstraction falling 14% from 224 billion m3 in the 2000s to 192.6 billion m3 in 2020-2023. However, groundwater abstraction by the agricultural sector rose 52%, from 11 to 16.5 billion m3.

European Environment Agency · European Environment Agency (EEA) · Europe

This EEA briefing from the 2025 Europe's environment report states that water stress affects roughly 30% of Europe's land area and 34% of its population every year, and that EU water abstraction fell 19% between 2000 and 2022. It also reports that flooding caused average annual economic losses of EUR 6.5 billion between 1980 and 2023, and 5,582 direct deaths between 1980 and 2022.

Eurostat · Eurostat · Europe

Published around World Water Day, this Eurostat article reports the EU's overall water exploitation index plus (WEI+) reached 5.8% in 2022, the highest since data collection began and up 0.9 percentage points from 2000. Cyprus stood at an unsustainable 71.0% and Malta at 34.1%, with values above 20% generally considered a sign of water scarcity and above 40% severe water scarcity.

Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, Singapore · Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, Singapore · Singapore

On 26 September 2025, Minister Grace Fu replied to a parliamentary question on progress toward the "30 by 30" goal, stating that less than 10% of Singapore's food consumption is currently produced domestically. She called the goal "aspirational," set before COVID-19 under more favourable conditions, while noting locally produced hen eggs exceed 30% and beansprouts exceed 50% of local consumption, and that the alternative protein industry faces high energy costs and insufficient consumer acceptance.

TechCrunch · TechCrunch · United States

TechCrunch reported that vertical farming company Plenty filed for bankruptcy on March 24, 2025. Founded in 2014, it had raised about $1 billion and was valued at $1.9 billion in its January 2022 Series E round, with backers including SoftBank, Walmart, and Bezos Expeditions, before collapsing. It secured $20.7 million in debtor-in-possession financing and plans to continue operating its Virginia strawberry farm and Wyoming plant science R&D center.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) · U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) · Global

This is the Phosphate Rock entry of USGS's annual Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025. U.S. 2024 marketable production was 20,000 thousand metric tons (about 20 million tons, valued at $2 billion), with net import reliance at 13% of apparent consumption and import sources (2020-23) at Peru 98%, Morocco 2%. World mine production was estimated at 240,000 thousand metric tons in 2024 (China, Morocco, the U.S., and Russia leading), world reserves at 74,000,000 thousand metric tons, with Morocco alone holding 50,000,000 thousand metric tons. World P2O5 consumption in fertilizers was 47.5 million tons in 2024, projected to rise to 51.8 million tons by 2028.

NCVO · National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) · United Kingdom

Recommendations published on 30 April 2025 by NCVO as part of its Power of Small project on small charities. It asks funders to increase multi-year core funding, simplify application processes in line with IVAR's principles, support capacity-building, ensure equitable distribution of funding, and foster sector-wide collaboration, with transparency through published data. On grant length, it proposes moving from twelve-month terms to at least twenty-four or thirty-six months, and ideally five years or more.

Heidi Tamayo Ortiz · El Colombiano · Colombia

An article on rooftop terrace gardens in Medellín's Comuna 13, where 37 terraces grow lettuce, basil, chard, kale and European cogollo. The pilot began with five terraces in 2021 and has grown to 25 participating households, mostly women heads of household, including 12 terraces in the San Javier area supported by Fundación Éxito. Produce is sold to restaurants and an Éxito store in Laureles, with workdays capped at 4 hours; the model has been replicated in Bogotá (Ciudad Bolívar) and Cali (Siloé).

Agência Senado · Agência Senado (Senado Federal) · Brazil

An Agência Senado article reporting that Law 15,226/2025, sanctioned September 30, 2025 and published October 1, 2025, raised the minimum share of school-meal food purchases that must come directly from family farming from 30% to at least 45%. Priority buyers include agrarian-reform settlements, Indigenous and quilombola communities, and formal/informal women's groups; the law also requires purchased food (except family-farming products) to have at least half its shelf life remaining. It originated from PL 2.205/2022 by deputy Luizianne Lins (PT-CE) and was reported in the Senate by Daniella Ribeiro (PP-PB).

Shigetomi Y., Ishigami A., Long Y., Chapman A. · Nature Communications, 15:8987 · Japan

Demonstrates that per-capita household food waste in Japan rises with the age of the household head, reaching roughly three times higher for those 70+ than for those under 30, with correspondingly large differences in food-waste-related greenhouse gas emissions. It highlights the need for age-targeted food-loss reduction strategies in an ageing society.

· 農福連携等推進会議（内閣官房） · Japan

Government vision (2019, revised 2024) promoting noufuku—agriculture-welfare collaboration enabling people with disabilities to participate in society through farming—as national policy, covering awareness, training, facility support, and market expansion via certification.

· 都市計画報告集 23巻3号 pp.429- · Japan

A report analyzing the potential and operational challenges of community gardens run or entered by private companies, discussing sustainable management models for company-partnered citizen gardens in housing complexes and neighborhoods and their contribution to community formation.