The Need to Fundamentally Rethink Food

A sustainable global food system is absolutely essential to a healthy future for humans and the environment, according to expert Tim Lang of the UK government’s newly formed Food Council. Lang warns that the current system is showing “structural failures” and is taking an “astronomic toll” on the environment.

From BBC News:

Professor Lang lists a series of “new fundamentals”, which he outlined during a speech he made as the president-elect of charity Garden Organic, which will shape future food production, including:

Oil and energy: “We have an entirely oil-based food economy, and yet oil is running out. The impact of that on agriculture is one of the drivers of the volatility in the world food commodity markets.”
Water scarcity: “One of the key things that I have been pushing is to get the UK government to start auditing food by water,” Professor Lang said, adding that 50% of the UK’s vegetables are imported, many from water-stressed nations.
Biodiversity: “Biodiversity must not just be protected, it must be replaced and enhanced; but that is going to require a very different way growing food and using the land.”
Urbanisation: “Probably the most important thing within the social sphere. More people now live in towns than in the countryside. In which case, where do they get their food?”

Professor Lang said that in order to feed a projected nine billion people by 2050, policymakers and scientists face a fundamental challenge: how can food systems work with the planet and biodiversity, rather than raiding and pillaging it?

Lang is suggesting that we get biodiversity into gardens and fields as soon as possible. Chef and food campaigner Raymond Blanc agrees, saying people must reconnect with their food by growing their own gardens and becoming more mindful of food waste.

Higher food prices have pushed an additional 40 million people into hunger in 2008, bringing the overall figure of undernourished people in the world to 963 million. The ongoing economic crisis could add millions more to that figure in 2009.

It’s absolutely essential that we all begin thinking of food in a new way, asking ourselves where it came from, how it was grown, how many resources were required to grow and transport it. Reconnecting with food will improve our health and help redistribute agriculture to ensure that large groups of people don’t depend upon food from a single region. We must use land more wisely so that we can feed more people with a larger variety of food.

Urban farming is becoming more popular for those who don’t have yard space to start a garden, and buying food from local farmer’s markets is also a good choice.

Link [BBC News]
Photo credit: Steve Patterson

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