Transforming the food system to deliver beneficial long-term outcomes

Overview of change

Global indicators tracking the UN FAO Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to end hunger and achieve food security by 2030 are deteriorating, with the goal unlikely to be achieved.¹ The UN defines food security as “a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. It identifies four dimensions of food security: food availability, economic and physical access to food, food utilisation, and stability over time.² A food system has been described as the interconnected system of everything and everybody that influences, and is influenced by, the activities involved in bringing food from farm to fork and beyond.³ Sustainability is usually described as encompassing three dimensions of human-natural systems—social, environmental and economic.⁴ Transforming the food system, to achieve all the UN SDG long-term goals, is challenging as the system comprises multiple smaller complex systems that feed back into the whole system, and requires a comprehensive, longer term approach to outcomes.^{5,6,7,8,9,10,11} The English National Food Strategy (Part Two) will be published in 2021 setting out a future vision for the food system and analysing the system’s potential benefits and harms across interwoven themes. These include health, climate change, biodiversity, pollution, antimicrobial resistance, zoonotic diseases and sustainable use of resources.¹²

Challenges and opportunities

The UK Health Expert Advisory Group convened by the Climate Change Committee has recommended that building a sustainable, resilient and healthy food system is a key lever for delivering health and climate change outcomes.¹² Research has suggested that adopting more stringent UK guidelines could reduce food-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.^13,14 The global food system is responsible for about 21–37% of total emissions; arising from agriculture and land use, storage, transport, packaging, processing, retail, and consumption.¹⁵ The majority (71%) come from agriculture and land use or land use change activities.¹⁶ Technological innovation in crop production, livestock rearing, food processing, packaging and distribution, and waste elimination could reduce emissions and contribute to a more productive, secure and sustainable food system.^17,18,19

However, technological options for the food system are just one factor to consider for transformative change.¹⁸ If trust and acceptance of new food systems are to be achieved, changes will need to be transparent and responsive,²⁰ highlighting social, governance and institutional factors. For example, the Institute of Food Science and Technology has called for an alignment of interests across supply chains, from plant breeders through to consumers, if safe and acceptable novel ingredients are to be adopted.²¹ A widely debated option is the large-scale production of meat alternatives, including plant-based and artificial or lab-grown meat, which may reduce emissions. The consequences of these have yet to be fully assessed, including the extent of environmental, health and food security benefits or impacts compared with other potential solutions. These include implications for farming; the nutritional value of these products, particularly for micronutrients such as iron; and public acceptance.^{21,22,23,24,25}

Legislation to ban UK firms from selling commodities, such as soya and palm oil, from illegally deforested land was included in the Environment Bill in 2020,²⁶ although NGOs have called to extend measures to legal deforestation.^27,28 Deforestation trends vary significantly across the world, but forests are lost at a rate of about 10 million hectares (Mha) per year across the tropics and subtropics.²⁹ Research has attributed 62% (5.5 Mha/yr) of forest loss in these areas from 2005–2013 to expanding commercial cropland, pastures and tree plantations, which were associated with cattle meat, forestry products, oil palm, cereals and soybeans. International demand for these commodities was associated with 26% of this deforestation.³⁰ Limitations remain in attributing forest loss to specific commodities accurately,³⁰ but an assessment of 100 palm oil producers, processors and traders has demonstrated that, while 71% (56 out of 79) have made a clear and robust commitment to zero deforestation, just 42% (33 out of 79) provide detailed information on how they are actually monitoring deforestation in their operations.³¹

Key unknowns

The UN Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition recommend the promotion of investment in responsible agriculture.³² There has been a global increase in sustainability-linked loans to food and agriculture firms ($135.3bn in 2019) but the effect of this on food system sustainability is unclear.³³

Defining and empirically measuring food systems’ sustainability remains a challenge, and a combination of multiple environmental, economic, social, food security and nutritional factors need to be considered.³⁴

The complexity and interconnectedness of the current food trade has reduced reliance of a third of the global population on the local production of staple foods,³⁵ but trade restrictions by a few key actors could create global food price spikes.^36,37,38

Key questions for Parliament

• Whether public investment in innovations to store, process and manufacture safe, nutritious and affordable food products more efficiently, including circular economy opportunities, is needed.^39,40 The current UKRI Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Transforming Food Production (TFP) only funds pre-farm gate initiatives.^41,42
• What are the appropriate measures and targets for reducing emissions from the UK food system?³³ Given the four nations of the UK will have separate food strategies, how can collaboration and alignment be achieved?^43,44,45
• What are the appropriate strategies for delivering more sustainable and resilient food systems,^46,47,48 such as how to incentivise use of more sustainable ingredients,⁴⁹ or how to facilitate voluntary and community-based enterprise solutions that deliver economic, social and environmental value?⁵⁰

Likelihood and impact

Without major changes to the food system, it is unlikely that the 2050 1.5°C target can be achieved.⁵¹