OVERVIEW

Our modern food system costs more, in damaged health and degraded environments, than the value it provides. It produces more than a third of global greenhouse gases and is projected to leave almost 600 million people chronically undernourished by 2030. Transforming the global food system could unlock some $10 trillion in value and deliver significant health and environmental benefits and cut emissions by a third by 2030. Meanwhile, the combination of changing values and technological innovation in food is powering new markets, from alternative proteins and regenerative agriculture, to upcycled goods and livestock tech that combats methane: an expansion of choice that could help to transform our consumption ethos and systems of production.

SIGNALS

The global food system is an area of extraordinary innovation, from reforestation to livestock methane mitigation and regenerative agriculture upstream to infra-red technology and biodegradable preservation stickers to extend food shelf-life downstream. Agricultural digital twins can enable customized treatment for plants, akin to personalized medicine for humans. Public investment in lab-grown meat, an opportunity to diversify protein sources, is growing rapidly. Such potentially disruptive products are proving controversial; US states Alabama and Florida recently banned lab-grown meat, even as others welcome their potential to reduce industrialised livestock farming and its environmental impacts. Alternative proteins, moreover, could address the threats of antibiotic resistance and new diseases and pandemics.

Interest is also growing in how we can use ancestral and indigenous knowledge to make food production and consumption more resilient. The concentration of agribusiness on a small number of crops weakens crop and diet diversity and damages the soil leaving farmers dependent on fertilisers and pesticides. Industrial agriculture has failed to eliminate food insecurity in Africa, and groups like the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa are advocating for agroecological and indigenous approaches that better sustain varied diets and community livelihoods. Forgotten plants can improve food security, maintain biodiversity and enhance human health. Indigenous Zenú farmers in Colombia are reviving ancestral seeds and agroecology for stronger climate resistance, while women in Indonesia are encouraging climate-resilient alternatives to rice. Meanwhile modern diets have changed so much that urban humans have lost much of their ability to digest plants271. 

SO WHAT FOR DEVELOPMENT?

The global food system no longer meets our food security and health needs. We live longer, but the length of a healthy life has shortened. Diet is the most important driver of health and changing the way people consume food is the key to a sustainable food system. New foods are being developed or rethought for new markets. Artworks about future foods are exploring what we will eat in the future.

Food security is likely to remain one of the world’s critical challenges in 2024, the World Bank says. Collective intelligence can help find scalable solutions. Blue DIGITAL by the UNDP Barbados Accelerator Lab uses digital solutions to improve segments of the blue economy ecosystem and value chains, like making fish catches more traceable. The Sarajevo Food Lab network designs solutions to reduce food waste.

Intergenerational equity requires each generation to leave behind a legacy (planet, society, and systems) at least as good or better than those they inherited. That means reducing the environmental impacts of food production. Some governments are recognizing this. Brazil’s ABC+ plan seeks to reduce carbon emissions in agriculture and ranching, while a new national development plan in Colombia includes a focus on farmer empowerment, land redistribution and sustainable production. The UK’s new Path to Sustainable Farming for England aims at sustainable agriculture, without subsidies, by 2028. Some corporations are offering farmers incentives to adopt regenerative farming practices.