Building a world without hunger requires graduates who understand how food is produced, distributed and consumed, and how these systems are being reshaped by climate change, biodiversity loss, inequality and changing technologies.
At ARU, students explore these challenges across disciplines including agriculture, horticulture, nutrition, health and sustainability, combining scientific knowledge with practical and applied learning.
From developing more resilient approaches to farming and food production at ARU in Writtle to examining food security, nutrition and sustainable consumption across the wider curriculum, our teaching equips students with the skills to contribute to healthier, fairer and more sustainable food systems.
Pioneering education in regenerative agriculture
ARU in Writtle has a strong track record of innovation in agricultural education. Its BSc (Hons) Agriculture (Regenerative Systems) and Agriculture (Regenerative Systems and Livestock) were the first undergraduate degrees of their kind in the UK. These programmes placed regenerative agriculture, soil health and more resilient food production at the centre of agricultural education, reflecting a growing need to produce food while restoring rather than degrading the natural systems on which agriculture depends.
Preparing graduates for the future of food and farming
Our current BSc (Hons) Agriculture builds on this expertise, taking a future-focused approach to food production and agricultural resilience. Students examine how farming must respond to climate change, changing policy and global food demand, exploring sustainable practices, innovation, technology and systems thinking. Learning is grounded in ARU Writtle's 150-hectare estate and working mixed farm, where students can investigate agricultural systems in practice. The course also examines the wider agri-food supply chain and how technology, data and innovation can contribute to sustainable farming while maintaining food security.
Tackling food insecurity through sustainable crop production
At postgraduate level, our MSc Crop Production explicitly connects higher education with two of the defining challenges within SDG 2: food insecurity and climate change. Students develop advanced knowledge across field, protected and controlled-environment crop-production systems, with practical learning supported by research glasshouses, the working farm, commercial grower visits and industry speakers. Modules examine sustainable crop production, resource-use efficiency, environmental impacts and innovations capable of improving crop yields and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Students also investigate the food system from production and post-harvest management through to market, helping them understand food security as a whole-system challenge.
Reducing food loss and strengthening food systems
The MBA Agribusiness in Writtle broadens this perspective from agricultural production to the economic and organisational systems through which food reaches people. Students explore how climate change, resource scarcity and food insecurity are challenging existing systems and develop knowledge of resilient and sustainable food systems, regenerative business models and circular-economy approaches. A dedicated Postharvest Systems Management module addresses the preservation of fresh produce across the supply chain, explicitly connecting reductions in food loss and waste with food security and hunger.
Building more sustainable food and supply chains
Food security also depends on resilient systems for sourcing, transporting and distributing goods. At ARU Peterborough, the MSc Sustainable Supply Chain Management develops students' understanding of sustainability throughout the supply chain. Its teaching covers responsible procurement, lifecycle management, production, logistics, packaging, warehousing, distribution, carbon management and circular approaches such as reuse, remanufacturing and reverse logistics. Students consider the financial, social and environmental consequences of supply-chain decisions, providing an important systems perspective on how increasingly complex global supply networks can become more sustainable.
Together, these programmes allow students to engage with food security at different points in the system: how food is grown, how agricultural landscapes are managed, how crops can be produced more sustainably, how post-harvest losses can be reduced, and how food and other goods move through increasingly complex supply chains. This breadth helps us prepare graduates not simply to increase food production, but to contribute to the more resilient, resource-efficient and sustainable food systems needed to achieve SDG 2.
Last updated: October 2026
To request additions, corrections or changes to the information in these pages, please contact: Dr Zareen Bharucha: [email protected]. Please use the subject line ‘ARU SDG’.