The present study investigates the intersection between transgenerational epigenetics and the so-called “nutritional trauma” resulting from colonial processes. The scientific problem lies in understanding how forced hunger and the abrupt dietary changes imposed on traditional populations left lasting biological marks, contributing to current disparities in metabolic health. The central objective was to analyze, through an integrative literature review, the epigenetic mechanisms underlying the thrifty phenotype as a historical record of colonial oppression. The methodology consisted of an integrative review based on the selection of 25 high-impact scientific articles (Q1/Q2) published between 2001 and 2025. The results show that nutritional stress and historical trauma induce differential methylation in genes regulating metabolism (such as IGF2) and the HPA axis, predisposing descendants to obesity and type 2 diabetes. The final considerations emphasize that the biology of these populations functions as a living archive of history, calling for health policies that integrate historical reparations and food sovereignty.

ABSTRACT The metabolic rift concept highlights capitalism’s disruption of socioecological metabolism, extracting soil nutrients from rural areas for urban consumption and discarding them as waste. Partly in response, La Vía Campesina promotes food sovereignty, asserting communities’ rights to govern their food systems justly and sustainably. Its six pillars foster local production and resource circulation, offering a concrete path to repair the metabolic rift. Yet, the connection between metabolic rift, food sovereignty, and critical agrarian studies remains underdeveloped. This paper strengthens that nexus, arguing that each framework enriches the other, thereby fostering political practice. Through historical analysis of industrial agriculture, including its ties to Peru’s nineteenth-century guano (bird dung) trade, and its alternatives, we show how the metabolic rift disrupts food-soil cycles globally. In turn, we argue that food sovereignty praxis offers solutions to the metabolic rift. Integrating these frameworks within critical agrarian studies improves understanding of how food systems perpetuate or counter the rift, offering insights for the ecosocialist struggle within and beyond academia.

Global population growth necessitates sustainable food systems, positioning Circular Bioeconomy as a key transition framework. In Oaxaca, Mexico, semi-intensive tilapia aquaculture faces economic viability issues due to a critical reliance on expensive external commercial feeds. This study proposes a "Backyard Integrated System" specifically designed for rural contexts with limited capitalization, connecting traditional entomophagy with aquaculture to reduce operational costs and close nutrient cycles. Using a mixed-method approach, we first conducted a sociocultural diagnosis (n = 140), revealing a 97.14% acceptance of insect consumption. Subsequently, to validate technical viability, a long-term (280-day) feeding trial was conducted using standardized insect meals (Tenebrio molitor and Acheta domesticus) as total substitutes (100%) for commercial feed in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) diets. Results showed a Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) of 1.61-1.62, comparable to the commercial control (p > 0.05), while significantly enhancing fillet protein content. Crucially, microbiological analysis confirmed the absence of pathogens in the final product, empirically validating the safety of the waste-to-feed cycle. Consequently, this strategy ensures food sovereignty, decouples producers from volatile external markets, and offers a scalable solution for community resilience without compromising food safety.

This paper explores how the origins, ideologies and processes of colonisation have significantly disrupted and transformed Māori food systems in Aotearoa New Zealand. This paper builds on international Indigenous literature connecting colonisation, food insecurity and health outcomes, emphasising the need for policies and solutions grounded in historical context. Seventeen kai Māori experts were interviewed, sharing their perspectives on traditional food systems and the experience of food (in)security and sovereignty within their own lives, their whānau or hapū. Their narratives highlight how colonisation disrupted traditional Māori food systems and continues to perpetuate inequities between Māori and non‐Māori. Four key themes were identified from interview analysis: impacts on whenua, impacts on rangatiratanga, impacts on mātauranga and impacts on hauora. These findings align with broader national and international Indigenous literature, with examples of similar Indigenous experiences in Canada, the US and Australia. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the impacts of colonisation on Indigenous food systems and provides a foundation for understanding structural determinants of food insecurity, which could and should lead to the development of more effective and culturally relevant approaches to food insecurity inequities in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The cellular harvest: a symbiotic road map for food sovereignty.

The role of traditional Indigenous agriculture in preserving native maize in Mexico has been widely researched, as well as its cultural and environmental benefits. Nevertheless, the extensive and interdisciplinary literature on landrace maize production has paid less attention to the role of women’s knowledge in transforming maize into handmade tortillas, work that contributes directly to the conservation of maize agrobiodiversity, food culture, and identity. In rural Mexico, maize provides the basis of local food systems, and the transformation of this grain into handmade tortillas is intricately related to fuelwood use as the primary source of cooking energy. The notion of food sovereignty in rural Mexico must consider energetic needs and address the health and environmental implications of women’s work in maize processing. This review examines the intersection of energy use and women’s role in native maize processing activities and conservation. We explore fuelwood use in handmade tortilla making and draw a parallel between the conservation of landrace maize agro-food systems and energetic justice. Drawing on the experiences of Indigenous women dedicated to making and selling tortillas in Purepecha, Zapotec, and Mixtec communities, we illustrate their role as key articulators of native maize conservation while discussing the environmental and health implications of this livelihood. Ultimately, we argue for the need to seriously consider the tensions between native maize conservation and energy justice as essential for constructing sustainable and sovereign livelihoods in Mexico’s rural communities. Please refer to Supplementary Materials for a full text Spanish version of this article.

This study examines the impacts of the expansion of Mount Rinjani National Park (TNGR) on land conflicts and local food self-sufficiency among communities living in surrounding buffer zones in Lombok Island, Indonesia. The expansion of conservation areas and the redefinition of zoning regulations have altered local land tenure systems, restricted access to productive and subsistence land, and intensified conflicts between conservation authorities and local communities, particularly smallholder farmers and indigenous groups. This research employs a qualitative case study approach, using in-depth interviews, field observations, and document analysis involving community members, customary leaders, TNGR officials, local government representatives, and civil society organizations. The findings reveal that land conflicts manifest in multiple forms, including tenurial disputes, horizontal social conflicts, ecological access conflicts, and economic competition related to tourism development. These conflicts have significantly reduced household food production capacity, weakened food diversification, and increased dependence on market-based food systems, thereby undermining local food self-sufficiency. From a political ecology perspective, the study shows that conservation expansion operates as a form of spatial control that reinforces power asymmetries and marginalizes customary land-use systems. The study concludes that effective conflict resolution requires an integrated governance approach that combines formal legal mechanisms with recognition of customary tenure through participatory and collaborative management. Strengthening conservation partnerships, inclusive dialogue, and equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms is essential to reconcile ecological conservation objectives with sustainable livelihoods and long-term food sovereignty of local communities.

ABSTRACT Despite the intrinsic connection between food and health, industrialised global food systems produce hunger, malnutrition, and chronic diseases. The Food Sovereignty (FS) movement offers a political-ecological alternative, centring local control and community rights; yet, health remains under-theorised in FS agendas. Drawing on literature and dialogue between the People’s Health and the FS movements around the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum, this paper advances critical debates on the politics of food-related ill-health and structural inequalities. We examine pathways to strengthen and deepen linkages between FS, collective health approaches, and critical agrarian studies, thereby informing dialogues for equitable and sustainable systemic transformation.

Abstract In alignment with the vision for the future of the European Union (EU) put forth by the European Green Deal in 2020, and EU efforts to tackle global deforestation and forest degradation, the EU Deforestation-Free Products Regulation (EUDR) was adopted in June 2023. The EUDR is designed specifically as a unilateral, yet transnational, intervention to limit access to the EU market or the exports from the EU of seven key forest-risk commodities whenever they are linked with deforestation, forest degradation, or illegality. Drawing on decolonial and critical food systems scholarship, this article critically examines the EU’s position in combating global deforestation and forest degradation by positioning the EUDR in historically shaped and unequally constructed agri-food chains. Whereas the EU’s plan to decrease deforestation and forest degradation linked with its substantive consumption of products from the global south is an innovative step from the point of view of transnational governance of environmental degradation, we find that the historical amnesia, the emphasis on global trade, and the push for ‘green value chains’ fail to address the root causes of deforestation. Moreover, we contend that the EU legislator overlooked the potential of using transnational governance to rethink agri-food systems, including by promoting re-regionalization in the name of food sovereignty and the right to food.

The impacts of colonization have resulted in disruptions to food systems, land, language, and the overall health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples across Turtle Island. Food insecurity affects Indigenous People's health disproportionately due primarily to poverty and inequity, anti-Indigenous racism, and the ongoing effects of settler colonialism. Despite these challenges, Indigenous communities have used food as a tool for the resurgence of their cultures, identities, and self-determination. Understanding Our Food Systems (UOFS) is a participatory, community-engaged action project led by the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, a team of researchers and community development professionals, and a circle of Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers working to build a deeper understanding of food security, Indigenous food sovereignty, and self-determination in Northwestern Ontario. The project takes leadership from and supports fourteen First Nations within the Thunder Bay District (Robinson Superior Treaty of 1850 and Treaty 9 areas) in their efforts to reclaim their traditional food systems. Since 2018, the UOFS project has helped to establish and implement food sovereignty visions, priorities, and action plans for each of the First Nations communities; provided ongoing funding, workshops, training, and general assistance; hosted regular gatherings to learn, share, and plan collaboratively; and developed resources to support Indigenous food sovereignty across the region. The UOFS project has contributed to enhancing Indigenous food sovereignty and self-determination across Northwestern Ontario. The project has also resulted in building a network of First Nations communities and reflective learning among the TBDHU and non-Indigenous participants about how to work in partnership and support First Nations to achieve their food sovereignty priorities.

The ongoing consequences of settler colonialism produce adverse structural drivers, particularly nutrition insecurity, that contribute to cardiovascular health disparities among Indigenous populations. There is increased focus in Native communities to reclaim traditional precontact foods to improve health. Therefore, a locally sourced, Indigenous, medically tailored meal delivery program-MUTTON-HF (Medically Utilized Tailored Traditional Foods to Optimize Nutrition in Heart Failure)-was developed to improve health outcomes. To determine implementation outcomes, including feasibility and acceptability, as well as to explore preintervention vs postintervention health measures of a medically tailored meal program incorporating traditional foods and recipes for patients with heart failure in rural Navajo Nation. The single-arm pilot nonrandomized clinical trial was conducted from October 7, 2024, to February 3, 2025, to evaluate implementation and health outcomes of the MUTTON-HF program. Participants included adults (≥18 years) with a diagnosis of heart failure who were receiving care at one of 2 Indian Health Service sites in rural Navajo Nation. Patients received 14 culturally and medically tailored meals weekly (2 meals daily) for 4 weeks. The primary outcomes were intervention feasibility and acceptability, assessed with surveys, qualitative interviews, and programmatic data at 30 days. Intervention feasibility was determined by evaluating the number and percentage of meal boxes successfully received by each patient. Acceptability was assessed using the Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM) (score range, 4-20), patient program ratings (range, 1-10), and the Net Promoter Score. Secondary outcomes, which were assessed via surveys and medical record review, included intervention adoption and fidelity, feasibility for community partners (including farmers and ranchers, using the Feasibility of Intervention Measure [score range, 4-20]), and preintervention vs postintervention health measures (eg, clinical biomarkers, food insecurity [based on the US Department of Agriculture 6-item Short-Form Food Security Survey Module], 12-item Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire [KCCQ] scores, and Cultural Connectedness Scale [CCS] scores). This study enrolled 20 American Indian patients (mean [SD] age, 58.2 [11.7] years; 13 were male [65.0%]) residing in communities exceeding a 136-km radius in Arizona and New Mexico. Patients had a mean (SD) left ventricular ejection fraction of 40.0% (16.0%). Of the 80 weekly meal boxes, 72 (90.0%) were successfully received by patients. The mean (SD) AIM score was 16.9 (3.1), the mean (SD) patient program rating was 8.6 (1.6), and the Net Promoter Score was 45.0%. Most patients (17 [85.0%]) reported they were likely to change their diet to be healthier moving forward. Mean (SD) Feasibility of Intervention Measure scores were 19.8 (0.5) for community farmers and ranchers and 20 (0) for community partners. Significant preintervention to postintervention improvements were observed for food security (the number of patients who were food secure increased from 8 [40.0%] to 17 [85.0%]), KCCQ physical limitation (mean [SD], from 59.6 [31.3] to 82.7 [21.9]) and social limitation (mean [SD], from 74.6 [24.1] to 83.8 [25.0]) scores, CCS Traditions subscore (mean [SD], from 7.2 [2.9] to 7.9 [3.0]), and weight change among patients with obesity (mean [SD], -2.3 [3.3] kg). In this nonrandomized clinical trial, the MUTTON-HF intervention incorporating Indigenous recipes and locally sourced Native food was feasible and acceptable for patients with heart failure in rural Navajo Nation. These findings will inform a future randomized clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention to advance Indigenous cardiovascular health and food sovereignty. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT06675331.

The aim of this review is to examine why cultural food security and cultural food sovereignty should be prioritised and embedded within conventional food security frameworks. It demonstrates how culturally grounded, community-driven approaches foster more just, sustainable and empowering food systems for ethnically diverse, Indigenous and local communities, while highlighting the limitations of conventional metrics that overlook socio-cultural, political and ecological dimensions essential to resilience. Conventional food security focuses on access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food, often sidelining access to culturally appropriate and spiritually meaningful foods that are integral to cultural identity and tradition (cultural food security) and the authority and decision-making power held by local people over their foodways (cultural food sovereignty). Its market-based, individualistic measurement paradigms further neglect collectivist, traditional and spiritual food values, resulting in assessments that may conform to global standards yet produce flawed outcomes, misaligned interventions and continued marginalisation of ethnically diverse, Indigenous and local communities. Drawing on socio-cultural, political, economic and environmental frameworks, the review demonstrates how food sovereignty and cultural food security provide more sustainable, equitable and empowering pathways for communities. It underscores the need for community-driven, culturally grounded food policies.

Repercussions of racial, gender, and class inequities on food and nutrition conditions: Implications for public health.

Leuit is a traditional Sundanese rice barn that plays a crucial role in maintaining local food security while preserving cultural values. This study aims to analyze the role of leuit in Nyompok Village, Suwakan, Lebak Regency, in supporting sustainable food self-sufficiency. The research employed a descriptive qualitative method through observation, interviews, and documentation. The findings reveal that leuit functions not only as a storage facility to secure rice during famine, natural disasters, or crop failure, but also as a symbol of social solidarity, local wisdom, and community food sovereignty. This tradition reflects the community’s strong attachment to agrarian practices inherited from their ancestors, where rice is regarded as a symbol of life and prosperity. Moreover, leuit is capable of preserving rice quality over long periods due to its eco-friendly traditional construction. However, modernization and the younger generation’s reliance on market-based systems have gradually diminished its role. Therefore, preserving leuit should be considered as an integrative strategy that ensures food security while maintaining the social, cultural, and spiritual values of the community.

Background: Indonesia exhibits a critical dependency on garlic imports, satisfying 96.8% of national demand (575,000 tons) and positioning the nation as the world's largest importer in the first half of 2024. This reliance undermines local competitiveness, necessitating urgent improvements in domestic productivity. However, cultivation is hindered by two primary constraints: limited arable land and the crop's high sensitivity to heat during vernalization. Vernalization, a cold-induced process (5°C–13°C) essential for transitioning vegetative buds to reproductive stages, presents a significant challenge in tropical climates. Methods: This study proposes a novel device integrating a pipe-based vertical cultivation system with a passive vernalization chamber. Utilizing evaporative cooling and locally sourced materials like clay and coconut fiber, it provides low-cost, energy-efficient operation. The device’s performance and feasibility in tropical regions were evaluated through literature review of heat transfer and material properties. Findings: The Tropiverna system, integrating vertical cultivation with passive and active cooling mechanisms, effectively maintains stable low temperatures for garlic vernalization in tropical conditions. The combination of evaporative cooling via clay-coconut fiber pots and Peltier thermoelectric modules reduces heat stress, enhances temperature uniformity, and improves energy efficiency. This design optimizes land use and is projected to increase garlic productivity by up to 307.79% per hectare. Conclusion: Integrates verticulture with a hybrid cooling system utilizing zeer pot principles and Peltier modules, theoretically resolves Indonesia’s land and climatic constraints by optimizing vernalization conditions, thereby serving as a sustainable, scalable strategy to reduce import dependency and strengthen national food sovereignty. Novelty/Originality of this article: The novelty of this research lies in the specific application of a cost-effective vernalization system within a vertical farming architecture designed for the tropics, offering an adaptive solution for sustainable national food sovereignty.

ABSTRACT The global food system remains critically vulnerable due to an over-dependency on a narrow range of 12 staple crops and 5 livestock breeds. This limited diversity increases exposure to climate shocks, biodiversity loss, and dietary restrictions. Moving beyond paradigms of sustainable intensification, this study explores the potential of neglected and underutilized species (NUS) to foster diversification and resilience. Utilizing a qualitative case study approach in Dorset, UK, data were collected through semi-structured interviews and a photographic inventory exercise with 11 food system actors. Findings reveal strong intrinsic motivations among actors driven by wellbeing and ecological stewardship; however, NUS integration is significantly hindered by regulatory barriers, risk perception, and rigid definitions of “legitimate” food. Wild venison is highlighted as an exemplar capable of supporting nutritional security, ecosystem services, and local livelihoods, aligning with UN SDGs 1, 2, 13, and 15. The findings highlight that unlocking the potential of NUS requires systemic interventions in policy, infrastructure, and knowledge systems rather than individual behavior change alone, offering a vital pathway for food sovereignty and biodiversity conservation.

Evaluating efforts to promote food sovereignty among farmers and food access organizations in the Hudson Valley

Abstract Persistent hunger amid abundance reflects systemic governance failure, not resource scarcity. Scholarship is fractured by a paradigmatic divide: managerialism prioritizes efficiency and market solutions, while food sovereignty movements demand democratic control and ecological integrity. To address this divide and unblock transformative action, this study proposes a Managerial Architecture of Food Justice, a framework integrating managerial tools with justice principles. Based on a systematic review literature, this study demonstrates that supply chain optimization, risk assessment, and stakeholder platforms become instruments of justice when guided by an expanded six-pillar food security model, adding agency (community self-determination) and sustainability to availability, access, utilization, and stability. The architecture offers three innovations: (1) repurposing management tools to redistribute value and democratize knowledge; (2) power-differentiated governance that privileges marginalized communities over neutral multi-stakeholder models; and (3) concrete mechanisms, strategic public procurement, short transparent supply chains, and reserved decision-making authority for social movements. For policymakers, this provides a diagnostic benchmark to evaluate programs against all six pillars. For practitioners, it translates justice into operational standards: best-value procurement, circular supply chains, and dual-track strategies that engage governance forums while maintaining autonomous organizing spaces. For researchers, it reveals gaps in longitudinal design and epistemic justice—how to institutionalize Indigenous knowledge equally with expert evidence. The evidence confirms this architecture is emerging globally, yet transformative potential remains constrained by policy inertia from corporate power and neoliberal ideology. Overcoming this requires political courage, investment in civil society capacity, and rigorous measurement of distributive outcomes. The tools exist; the question is whether societies have the will to restructure power, resources, and knowledge for a just, sustainable food future.

This article was delivered as a keynote address at the “International Conference on Development, War, and Agriculture in the Arab–Iranian Region: Rethinking the Agrarian Question,” organized by the Observatory of Food Sovereignty and Environment, in Tunis, on 6–8 November 2025. The author argues that the perspective on class contradictions and alliances that prevailed in the early postcolonial period was based on a reading of the agrarian question, which understood imperialism to be in retreat and deemed it necessary to unite poor peasants and agricultural laborers against absentee and large landlords in favors of tenancy and land reforms. This perspective, the author argues, has been overcome by the reascendancy of imperialism under neoliberalism and the evolution of capitalism. The neoliberal regime has subjected whole nations and countrysides to the dictates of international finance capital and agribusiness, to the effect of rolling back the major gains of independence and impoverishing the peasantry and agricultural laborers. At the same time, it has also created conditions for an alliance among classes of peasants, all of which have been affected adversely by imperialism, such that this alliance is now necessary for the anti-imperialist struggle, its advancement and endurance over the long run.

The article presents a comprehensive economic and statistical analysis of the development of foreign economic activity (FEA) of the agro-industrial complex of the Russian Federation in the period from 2000 to 2025. Based on the comparison of retrospective data from Rosstat and operational information from industry departments for 2025, the key stages of the transformation of the national AIC model are identified: from critical import dependence to achieving food sovereignty and leadership in global markets. Current trends of 2025 are considered: a 3.3% increase in the agricultural production index, an increase in the physical volumes of meat exports against the backdrop of opening new Asian markets (Philippines, China), and the expansion of the geography of leguminous crops supplies (Jordan). Particular attention is paid to the problem of high volatility of world wheat prices and the impact of tariff regulation (export duties) on the profitability of producers.