This piece is part of the weekly series “Growing Forward: Insights for Building Better Food and Agriculture Systems,” presented by the Global Food Institute at the George Washington University and the nonprofit organization Food Tank. Each installment highlights forward-thinking strategies to address today’s food and agriculture related challenges with innovative solutions.
The more I learn about our food and agriculture system—an interconnected, often uncoordinated, web of activities across the globe—the more I am amazed.
Millions of people are involved in bringing food to our tables. The food you purchase in the grocery store to put on your plate has passed through many hands: from farmers, foragers, fishers, and ranchers to food processors and companies that create the products we buy to drivers and distributors who ensure food products reach their destinations–and finally to the workers that prepare food in restaurants and cafeterias. Through this highly decentralized system—which also includes scientists who research and continually innovate the food and agriculture industries—we have revolutionized food production so that we’re achieving output never seen before.
These activities are happening all across the globe, all the time. And, most amazing of all—it works.
Still, there’s an urgent need for our food and agriculture systems to do and deliver more. We’re facing pressing challenges—continued hunger, a growing population, worsening public health, and the climate crisis—that create problems for us all but disproportionately harm the most disadvantaged.
Meeting these challenges will require our food system to generate even greater value with new constraints. It also demands that we rethink our goals and expectations. At the very least, a food system that supports a thriving future requires us to:
Eradicate persistent, widespread hunger through significantly increasing food production: We’re producing more food than ever, yet more than 730 million people around the world face hunger. This problem will likely only worsen over time: with the global population expected to reach more than 9 billion people by 2050, we will need to increase our food production by a whopping 70 percent. Yet even if we meet that demand, millions may still lack reliable access to healthy, affordable food—unless we make equity a strategic priority.
Innovate to reduce the climate footprint of food production: Growing, producing, and transporting food are responsible for a significant share, roughly 30 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, second only to the energy sector in driving climate change. Not only do we need food and agriculture producers to grow and produce more food, but we need them to do so in a climate-friendly way. That can be a big ask when they bear the risks of adaptation. It’s also not clear that we have developed the means to grow the food we need and also meet zero net emissions goals by 2050. Our old ways, as impressive as they have been, won’t be enough. Innovation will be key and could be sparked with a collective commitment to reduce food- and agriculture-generated emissions.
Make healthy food more accessible and affordable: Our diets are a key driver of chronic diseases like obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. These conditions are not only among the leading causes of death but also place a heavy burden on healthcare systems and society at large. We need to promote the production and consumption of foods that support better health. That includes making nutritious foods more accessible and affordable and using every opportunity to promote and support healthy eating.
Food sits at the heart of the solutions we need: it can foster connection, reduce inequities, improve health, improve the climate, and strengthen global security. And we can build food and agriculture systems that work for everyone, but there’s no single lever, bill, or technology that will get us there.
Real progress will take all of us—growers, producers, distributors, and eaters—working together. We need smart, research-backed innovations, grounded in humanity and driven by collective action. That action must start with a shift in how we engage with this decentralized system, especially by policy officials and leaders who can accelerate change and drive action at scale.
The Global Food Institute at the George Washington University aspires to be a champion, partner, and convener of communities, non-profits, companies, policy makers, students, and others who do this work. That’s why we are partnering with Food Tank to publish this series, Growing Forward: Insights for Building Better Food and Agriculture Systems, to provide expert perspectives about the challenges we face, the changes we need, and the most promising paths forward.
This series will explore the food and agriculture system in all its complexity. Each week, you’ll hear from thought leaders across multiple sectors: from farmers and farmworkers to academics, advocates, industry leaders, program operators, healthcare professionals, artists, and philanthropists.
These contributors bring unique perspectives and firsthand experience to the table, offering insights into the ways they are actively reimagining and improving different parts of the food system. Whether focused on sustainability, hunger, nutrition, global health, or community resilience, each essay will illuminate a different facet of this vital, interconnected system—and invite you to think more deeply about the role food plays in our lives and in our future.
We hope these perspectives will inspire debate and spirited conversations that will inform our efforts toward collective action. GFI’s co-founder, José Andrés, a chef and humanitarian, often says that we need to build longer tables, not higher walls. Following his vision, this series convenes different voices and perspectives to build a better food system that serves us all and meets the future head-on.
Photo courtesy of Markus Spiske, Unsplash
