This article develops a methodological framework to assess and spatially target agri-environmental schemes (AES) in permanent grasslands so as to optimize multiple ecosystem services at the regional level. By integrating environmental data, biodiversity indicators, and provisioning services, the study compares existing “action-oriented” AES with “hybrid” schemes in a case study from the Swiss canton of Solothurn. Results suggest that many pastures under AES align with hotspots of regulating services (e.g., climate regulation, pollination), while a substantial share of meadows overlap with yield hotspots — revealing trade-offs between biodiversity/ecosystem services and forage production. The proposed three-step framework helps planners reallocate AES to maximize synergies and minimize trade-offs — enabling spatial planning that supports both biodiversity conservation and agricultural productivity.

This study combines survey data and social media analysis to examine how people perceive Swiss agricultural grasslands. Results show a clear preference for colourful, species-rich, extensively managed grasslands over fertilised, grass-dominated swards. Social media imagery similarly centres on flowers, followed by livestock and wildlife, with patterns varying across platforms and user groups. Conservationists and agricultural professionals differed in their aesthetic judgements, as did casual visitors and naturalists in their posting behaviour. Overall, public appreciation is strongly linked to biodiversity and management intensity, suggesting that extensive management and ecological restoration can significantly enhance cultural ecosystem services such as recreation, wellbeing, agrotourism, and landscape heritage.

The World Food System Center’s 2025 Research Symposium brought together researchers, practitioners, and students to discuss cutting-edge work on global food system challenges. The event showcased interdisciplinary research on nutrition, sustainability transitions, resilience, and agricultural innovation, highlighting how diverse perspectives can jointly inform more sustainable and equitable food systems.

Improving farmer wellbeing is central to sustainable cocoa value chains, yet little is known about the mechanisms through which private sustainability strategies generate such effects. Drawing on justice theory, this study analyses how distributive, procedural, and recognition justice shape farmer wellbeing within cooperatives, corporate sustainability programmes, and social enterprises. Using process tracing and mixed data from three cases in the Peruvian Amazon, the results show that governance practices perceived as fair across these justice dimensions enhance farmers’ wellbeing, satisfaction, and commitment. Distributive justice emerges as particularly important, and farmers tend to hold cooperatives to higher fairness expectations than private companies.

Decommodification through fine flavour cacao (FFC) offers opportunities for more sustainable and differentiated cacao markets but also risks excluding smallholder producers who cannot meet stricter quality, environmental, and social standards. Based on interviews with 76 buyers and surveys of 337 farmers in Cusco and Piura, the study maps producer and buyer types and evaluates how well their requirements align. While some farmers are well positioned for FFC markets, many face significant gaps—particularly in bean quality, zero-deforestation and agroforestry practices, and women’s participation. Supporting institutions and trading arrangements are essential to help vulnerable producers benefit from an increasingly diversified, high-quality cacao sector.