Our food systems are under tremendous pressure. The world population growth is
predicted from 7.2 billion in 2010 to over 9 billion in 2050, with the corresponding food
demand to increase by 60 per cent. Which means our finite and reducing supply of
natural resources needs to be safeguarded.
Unsustainable food systems endanger our planet and the health of the global population.
Hence, a sustainable approach is required to solve the threats against people on the
planet. A sustainable food system delivers food and nutrition security for the economic,
social, and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future
generations. It is paramount to ensure planetary health and end malnutrition in all its
forms without any compromises.
Few critical resolving issues are food security, poverty alleviation, and adequate
nutrition. They play a vital role in building resilience in communities responding to a
changing global environment. They are interconnected and represent the agri-value
chain, right from pre-production and production to supply chains and consumption.
The unprecedented challenges at hand are:
● The increasing demand for more quantity, quality, and diversity of food
● Food loss and waste
● Chronic hunger worldwide
● Obesity-related health conditions
● Food price impacts food security and well-being.
● Climate change: Food systems rely on natural resources vulnerable to changing
climatic conditions.
● Wide-scale ecosystem change: Food production has caused wide-scale changes in
ecosystems. It is responsible for 70 percent of water withdrawals and is also a
significant driver of deforestation and loss of biodiversity.
Making our food systems more sustainable depends on innovative tools and approaches
developed and deployed around the world. And the definition of ‘sustainability’ here
includes –
- Economically sustainable: The innovations must provide incomes and create jobs.
Socially sustainable: Include poor and vulnerable communities and reduce levels of hunger
and malnutrition.
- Environmentally sustainable: Help in safeguarding water, soil, and air quality while
minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and food loss and waste.
Culturally sustainable: The world is becoming an unfriendly and divided place.
We cannot consider a food system to be sustainable if it does not ensure racial equity,
economic justice, and human rights for everybody.
Some Major Problems with Our Food Systems
The farmers have little say in what and how to produce and sell. Government trade
policies dictate what can and cannot cross borders. And this has a profound influence on
how people farm and eat.
Small farmers give up eco-conscious agricultural practices for profitable gains in a large
global market. Meanwhile, the farmers who engage in sustainable farming practices have
imperative short-term economic returns.
Furthermore, overproducing industrial agriculture leads to wasted environmental
resources and contributes to the global carbon footprint. The majority of food produced
is lost through spoilage before it reaches consumers. It wastes land resources, water
resources, and soil resources, which are declining in our era of climate change.
Characteristics of a Sustainable Food System.
A sustainable food system should be a dynamic process. Achieving food and nutrition
security today contributes to food and nutrition security for future generations. It is
health-promoting and environmentally friendly.
A sustainable food system:
Is secure, reliable, and resilient to changes, is accessible and affordable to all, is energy efficient, is an economic generator for society as a whole, is healthy and safe, is environmentally beneficial or benign, uses water reclamation and conservation strategies for agricultural irrigation, balances food imports with local capacity, adopts regionally-appropriate agricultural practices and crop choices, works towards organic farming, contributes to both community and ecological health, improves soil quality and farmland by recycling organic waste, supports urban and rural food production, ensures food processing facilities to farmers and processors, is relished in community events, markets, restaurants, etc, preserves biodiversity in the crop selection, creates educational awareness of food and agricultural issues and provides a fair traded wage to producers and processors.
Transition to Sustainable Food Systems requires many changes. The harnessing of internet technology, in the form of an ‘Internet of Food,’ offers the chance to use global resources efficiently. It will stimulate rural livelihoods, develop systems for resilience and facilitate responsible governance utilizing computation, communication, education, and trade without limits on knowledge and access. Developing an Internet of Food as a pre-competitive platform for business models, like the internet we know, will require agreed vocabularies and ontologies to reason and compute across the vast amounts of data available. The ability to change the way the food system is analyzed and understood will permit a transition to sustainable food systems.
- Resilient food supply Chains: Efficient and effective food supply chains are essential
to lower the risks of food insecurity, malnutrition, and food price fluctuations and
create new jobs. A rural transformation needs to be empowered. - Healthy Diets: Curbing the overconsumption of animal and highly processed food
and improving access to good nutrition can improve well-being and land use
efficiency. It will, in turn, make healthy food more affordable globally and slash
carbon emissions. - Revamping agricultural subsidies to encourage healthy foods and taxing unhealthy
foods will align procurement practices, education programs, and healthcare
systems toward better diets. This can reduce healthcare costs globally, reduce
inequality, and help us face an unexpected pandemic with healthier individuals. - Regenerative Farming: Sustainable and regenerative land and ocean farming can
heal our soils, air, and water, boosting economic resilience and local jobs. It creates
a strong local and regional food system. It can be attained by promoting
sustainable farming and facilitating market access. It is necessary to level the
financial and regulatory playing field for smaller, sustainable farmers relative to
large intensive farmers. - Conservation: A shift toward more plant-based diets is the key to saving ecosystems.
Keeping in mind the sustainable food system, several brands and start-ups are now
developing plant-based food that is not just palate-friendly but also planet-friendly. For
instance, Mumbai-based EVO Foods, founded in 2019 by Kartik Dixit and Shraddha
Bhansali, created a 100% plant-based boiled egg that is cruelty-free, has zero cholesterol and is antibiotic-free. This plant-based boiled egg contains amino acids and micronutrients,
including vitamin D, A, and B12. Furthermore, EVO releases 91% less Co2, uses 90% less
water, and requires 60% less land in its making process. Not just that, but ZERO animals
are harmed while processing.
“Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.”
– Winston Churchill
EVO believes that comfort food can never be born of guilt and judgment. What’s
comfortable to eat should also be comfortable to grow, sell, prepare and serve. Its mission
is to empower those on the imperfect journey of eating better to make more conscious
decisions without compromising their cravings.
Food systems are the crossroads of human, animal, economic and environmental health.
Ignorance can expose the world economy to health and financial shocks as climate
changes and the global population grows. We need to prioritize and forward food system
reforms on our agendas to make concrete inroads toward the Sustainable Development
Goals.
