Solutions underpinned by science, technology, and innovation can transform food systems
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash
By Kyriacos Koupparis
It has taken decades to shape our food system into the one it is today: it overproduces calories and under-delivers nutrients; it perpetuates global health crises and accelerates global warming; it destroys ecosystems and harms our oceans.[1] For the past hundred years, the world has prioritized quantity over quality, resulting in a food system that is outstripping the planet’s resources while depriving millions of a decent livelihood.
As the world grapples with these enormous challenges, food systems took center stage for the first time in the global negotiations during this year’s United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Egypt (COP27).[2] This COP was a breakthrough moment for food systems, featuring five pavilions and an entire negotiation day focusing entirely on food and agriculture. The issues addressed spanned the entire food value chain and solutions were showcased that have the potential to make food systems healthier, more resilient, and more equitable. Science, technology, and innovation are essential to accelerate this vision of transformation.
Innovation has been a major engine for agricultural transformation in the last century. From the invention of the plow to the development of satellite-guided machinery, we have developed new ways to make farming more efficient and grow more food. And yet, our food systems are failing on many dimensions.[3] Innovation must now address these failures to eliminate the negative impacts on our ecosystem and health, while simultaneously enabling equitable livelihoods and resilient communities.[4] These changes will require collaboration across different stakeholders, including those most impacted by the failings of our current system. A change in how businesses and governments operate and with whom they engage is also needed. And we need to look closely at how we can use existing knowledge and technologies, be they scientific or indigenous.
To enable the full inclusion of poor and marginalized populations—including, and especially, smallholder farmers and indigenous communities—in the process of and benefit from food systems transformation, institutional innovations in social, business, and policy systems must accompany investments in technology-based innovations.[5] Some solutions will be novel. Others will come from scaling and adapting existing technologies, knowledge solutions, business models, and societal inclusion practices into different contexts. Innovation must be inclusive to all who are impacted to ensure that food systems transform in ways that are resilient and equitable.
What follows is an overview of several areas of innovation that will help achieve a food system that provides affordable nutrients for ten billion people by 2050, preserves and regenerates natural resources, actively contributes to decarbonization, and protects land and ocean biodiversity while supporting equitable livelihoods for all.
Equitable Livelihoods for All
Central to advancing equitable livelihoods in food systems are the nearly five hundred million smallholder farmers who often work in fragile and vulnerable terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.[6] Their production choices, technologies, access to finance and services, and market links determine the sustainability and resilience of their livelihoods and their capacity to overcome poverty and food insecurity. Equally, the choices made by consumers and the processors, wholesalers, and retailers who supply them with food affect the opportunities available for small-scale producers. Solutions that enable food traceability, transparency, and fair labor and supply chain practices will restore trust, decrease risk, and strengthen communities engaged in food production by enabling them to receive fair pay for their products. Innovations are needed that can make precision agriculture technologies affordable, accessible across the digital divide, and context-specific, and thus widely available to smallholder farmers. This will help them make optimal growing and harvesting decisions, while reducing inputs, thus leading to increased productivity and incomes.[7]
Boost Nature-Positive Production
Agriculture, forestry, and related land-use change are major drivers of environmental pressures and contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. But perhaps our biggest problems can also be our most meaningful solutions.[8] We require solutions that enable the production of new sources of food to end our overreliance on a few species, monoculture systems, and climate-destructive diets. This includes recent advances in plant-based and cell-based protein products. Alternative or novel protein products have the potential to disrupt a major economic sector and transform our understanding of meat and other protein products including dairy, fish, eggs, and others. These products also require significantly less amount of water, land, and inputs compared with conventional animal products.[9] Health for people and the planet starts with and is sustained by fertile soil and healthy oceans. We need solutions—such as bioplastic products, biologic pesticides and herbicides, and fertilizer alternatives—that promote soil and ocean rehabilitation and resilience. Minimizing waste by supporting innovations that enable greater care and more efficient use of natural capital, alongside new methods to repurpose waste, are needed to repair the planet.
Nutritious Food for All
More than 3 billion people cannot afford healthy diets, and more than 1.5 billion people cannot even afford a diet that only meets the required levels of essential nutrients.[10] We need solutions that enable new ways of food distribution and packaging that preserve food, reduce pollution, enhance nutrition, and reduce cost. This can include novel, affordable, and accessible methods to dramatically extend the life of fresh food, reduce spoilage along the value chain, and educate consumers on usage options. Furthermore, food as medicine can be supported by innovations that enable a comprehensive shift in our understanding and use of food as a cornerstone of human health. We can utilize technological advances in personalized nutrition, human genetics, and our renewed understanding of the gut microbiome to optimize food consumption choices to improve health outcomes.[11]
A Better Future for Food
The challenges confronting us are enormous, but there are many opportunities to transform the way we produce and consume food. Solutions underpinned by science, technology, and innovation can transform food systems. These solutions need to be contextualized and developed in an equitable manner that promotes the prosperity and resilience of local communities. Humanity has made enormous strides since the adoption of agriculture ten thousand years ago, although it has come at a cost. Now that the world has acknowledged a change is necessary, human ingenuity can deliver food systems that nourish people and the planet.
About the Author
Kyriacos Koupparis is currently a Yale World Fellow, an international leadership program for rising global leaders, where he is exploring innovative approaches to address global challenges at the intersection of food systems, planetary health, and human prosperity. He is on sabbatical from his current role as Head of Frontier Innovations at the United Nations World Food Programme's Innovation Accelerator. In this role, he leads a team that explores how emerging technologies - such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and robotics - can be applied to catalyze impact within the context of humanitarian assistance and food security.
Endnotes
Clark, Michael A., Marco Springmann, Jason Hill, and David Tilman, "Multiple health and environmental impacts of foods," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116, no. 46 (2019): 23357-23362.
“Food Systems Pavilion at COP27,” Food Systems Pavilion, accessed November 22, 2022, https://foodsystemspavilion.com/.
"9 ways food systems are failing humanity," UN Environment Programme, September 13, 2021, https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/9-ways-food-systems-are-failing-humanity.
"Food Systems Innovation," World Economic Forum, accessed November 22, 2022, https://www.weforum.org/communities/food-systems-innovation.
UN Food System Summit: Innovation Lever of Change, Policy Brief," UN Food Systems Summit 2021, accessed November 22, 2022, https://foodsystems.community/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/UNFSS_-Innovation-Lever-Policy-Brief-364678a7decb452a81fa37d1afe6e81e.pdf.
“Potential game-changing systemic solutions for the UN Food Systems Summit: Advancing equitable livelihoods,” IFAD, April 21, 2021, https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/potential-game-changing-systemic-solutions-for-the-un-food-systems-summit-advancing-equitable-livelihoods.
UNDP, "Precision Agriculture for Smallholder Farmers," UNDP Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development, 2021, https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2021-10/UNDP-Precision-Agriculture-for-Smallholder-Farmers.pdf.
“Regenerative Food Systems," The Nature Conservancy, accessed November 22, 2022, https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-priorities/provide-food-and-water-sustainably/food-and-water-stories/regenerative-food-systems/.
Madeline Cohen, Sheila Voss, and Shira Fischer, “Agriculture is at a climate crossroads. Alternative proteins are a global solution,” Good Food Institute, April 22, 2022, https://gfi.org/blog/agriculture-is-at-a-climate-crossroads-alternative-proteins-are-a-global-solution/#:~:text=Compared%20to%20conventional%20animal%20products,requires%2046%20percent%20less%20energy.
William A. Masters and Anna Herforth, "3 Billion People Cannot Afford a Healthy Diet,” The Conversation, July 9, 2021, https://theconversation.com/3-billion-people-cannot-afford-a-healthy-diet-160139.
“The Nutrition Source,” Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, accessed November 22, 2022, https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/precision-nutrition/.