Covid-19 has highlighted the fragility of our current food systems and as we seek to rebuild them, we must simultaneously address their impact on human and environmental health. At the Forum for the Future of Agriculture annual event, I attended a panel discussing the urgent need for the delivery of healthy food for all at scale. The participants argued that our food systems need dramatic reorganisation — they have largely failed to end world hunger, the task for which they were originally designed, and they are understood to cause 1/3 of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Aside from this, populations across the globe have seen a significant increase in diet-related health issues such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.
The panel featured: Shenggen Fan, Chair Professor and Dean for the Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy at the China Agricultural University; Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director at GAIN; Brent Loke, Global Food Lead Scientist at WWF; and Berry J Marttin, Member of the Managing Board at Rabobank. The panel unanimously agreed that food security must be achieved within environmental limits and without undermining ecosystem health. Current food systems are focused on economic gain and they suggested that sustainable transitions require balancing economic concerns with environmental and societal ones.
Within our current globalised food system, it would be almost impossible to prevent consumers from purchasing products that come with a detrimental environmental impact. Yet, as panel members suggested, if our transport systems are decarbonised and environmentally centred policies are enacted by governments around the world, the total impact of individual products would be minimised. As we continue to trade food globally, it seems that strategic decisions based on where food can be grown most effectively will also need to occur.
One of the potential solutions highlighted by the panel was the concept of true pricing, whereby the price of food reflects both the environmental cost and its nutritional value. Foods with a detrimental environmental and health impact would be priced higher than those to the contrary. This is an intriguing idea, and one that would certainly encourage consumers to make more sustainable purchasing decisions. As with many potential solutions to our food system problems, however, it would likely face heavy opposition from food producers who would bear the economic brunt of such changes; the panel highlighted that any attempted changes to the way we produce, buy, and eat food will require a careful balancing act of interests to ensure that such changes are embraced by the majority.
If we are to feed 10 billion people by 2050, our global food systems need to be reassessed and redesigned to meet both the problems of today, and those of the future. World leaders, scientists, entrepreneurs, and investors must consider all options that facilitate the production of sustainable, nutritious food for all at scale.
