Building a More Sustainable, Resilient, Equitable, and Nourishing Food System Proceedings of a Workshop (2021) / Chapter Skim
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3 Vulnerabilities of the Food System
3 Vulnerabilities of the Food System
Pages 9-20
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From page 9... ...
Interactions Between the Food System and Other Systems Rosenzweig opened by stating that much of the work to address climate change globally has focused on crop agriculture, with less attention paid to livestock and fisheries. However, she observed, other components of the food system, such as food processing, supply chains, shipping, demand and consumption, and food loss and waste, also impact climate change.
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From page 10... ...
The pandemic has led to disruptions in production, supply, and demand in the food system, she stated, a system that is already stressed by weather and climate events. Further describing Figure 3-1, Rosenzweig noted that the four pillars of food security -- availability, access, utilization, and stability -- link to both human health and planetary health.
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From page 11... ...
She also explained that freshwater use entails reducing agricultural withdrawals so that they do not impact environmental flow requirements, pointing out that nitrogen flow requires reducing fertilizer use where excess nitrogen leaching occurs. Rosenzweig next described a simulation modeling the impact of the food system not crossing the planetary boundaries.
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From page 12... ...
She explained that COVID-19 has impacted food production through challenges with farm labor, supply chain shortages, and food access, directly affecting food security for millions of people around the world. Looking to the future, Rosenzweig stressed the importance of integrating the responses to COVID-19 and climate change.
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From page 13... ...
In the socioeconomic domain, he pointed to the need for diverse foods to be available to people across income levels, emphasizing the importance of equitable access. Moving on to the distribution dimension, Salvador explained that the health domain includes access to a variety of foods for all.
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Referencing remarks made by former Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack during a recent webinar1 hosted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources, Salvador suggested that the industry needs to make changes to reduce the scale and concentration of its plants and adapt to the need for social distancing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. He asserted that the meatpacking workers were exploited when they were compelled to continue to work, even in hazardous conditions, because they were designated "essential workers" and were financially dependent on their wages.
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From page 15... ...
Daniels noted that the Center for Good Food Purchasing has a certification program designed to disrupt the food system's economic model of relying heavily on global exports and advance the move toward a more regional food economy. She pointed out that most regions in the United States -- even such agricultural states as California, Hawaii, and Iowa -- consume only about 5–15 percent local food.
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From page 16... ...
For example, Daniels developed the certification initiative through a 2-year process involving multiple stakeholders, including farmers; supply chain businesses; food processors; food distributors; government entities; and community-based organizations focused on issues of environmental sustainability, labor, health, and food access. The Los Angeles School District, the second largest school food service district in the country, with a $150 million annual food budget, adopted the program in 2012.
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From page 17... ...
Daniels recommended reframing conversations about the food sys tem from a narrow focus on production to a broader consideration of social and cultural factors, healthfulness, and availability. Sharing an agroecological framework from the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems and experts with Tasting the Future and the Global Alliance for the Future of Food,3 she compared the existing and new ways of thinking about the food system: while the existing thinking is that "we," meaning primarily the Global North, feed the world, the new thinking is that the world feeds itself, and people are empowered to grow their own food.
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From page 18... ...
Food System Vulnerabilities In response to a question asking that they identify the major vulnerability in the food and agriculture system, Rosenzweig pointed to increasing climate events, while Salvador posited that socioeconomic disparities are even more important because those with greater socioeconomic standing can better withstand such challenges as climate change. Daniels highlighted corporate consolidation and vertical integration, as evidenced by the meatpacking plant example provided by Salvador, and suggested increasing emphasis on regional food systems, including regional food processing, ownership, distribution, and resilience, as a potential solution.
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From page 19... ...
Rosenzweig added that intergovernmental science bodies, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, are intentionally incorporating broader knowledge systems, including Indigenous and local knowledge, in their assessment processes. 4 According to La Via Campesina, whose members first coined the term, food sovereignty is "the peoples', Countries', or State Unions' right to define their agricultural and food policy, without any dumping vis-à-vis third countries" (La Via Campesina, 2003)
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From page 20... ...
As strategies for achieving this goal, she highlighted better grazing, land management, improved manure management, better-quality feed, genetic engineering, and cellular agriculture. Daniels recommended that the government set regional targets for transformation toward a more resilient food system as it has for the energy system, creating markets for more regenerative production.
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