Viewpoint: One-third of greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture. Here’s why that needs to change, and how we do it
Viewpoint: One-third of greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture. Here’s why that needs to change, and how we do it
Our global food system is in urgent need of transition. At present, one-third of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions come from food production. At the same time, the global population is projected to reach nearly 10 billion people by 2050, which could increase the demand for food by 60%. Many of the ways we grow, manufacture and consume food are causing a dual crisis of human and environmental health, and the complexity will only intensify.
The food transition aims to reshape the way society produces, distributes, consumes and discards food – a transformation that will impact the mutual advancement of human and environmental health. The scale of change is akin to the energy transition. Reorienting to a low-carbon economy requires intervention at every level of strategy. For example, industries must adopt new sources of power such as solar and wind; companies must develop new technologies like batteries and storage; and consumers must shift modes of consumption through energy cooperatives and electric vehicle use.
The food transition involves a similarly comprehensive transformation, with two different stages of change: Renovation and Reinvention. While Renovation makes incremental improvements across the food value chain, Reinvention aims for systemic change: the fully scaled reorientation of food production in a way that alters the underlying structures within the modern food industry.
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Despite the incremental benefits of Renovation, reformulation cannot address the scale of challenges facing the food industry. Reinvention calls for a radical overhaul across product categories and technologies, reimagining how food is produced, distributed and consumed to emphasize availability, nutrition and sustainability.
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