Food Systems Sustainability

Sustainable food systems aim to meet today’s food security and nutritional needs while safeguarding environmental health and food security and nutrition for the future, but major gaps remain in assessing sustainability despite ambitious commitments such as the UN’s SDG2. Productivity gains have lowered food prices and reduced poverty in parts of the world, but billions still lack access to affordable, nutritious diets. At the same time, agriculture generates enormous hidden environmental costs, from nitrogen and pesticide pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and livestock, even as rising obesity and micronutrient deficiencies add much larger costs through health-related burdens. Meeting future food needs within planetary limits will require coordinated action across four areas: repurposing subsidies toward sustainable practices, strengthening institutions important in the functioning of food systems, accelerating innovation in diverse areas such as crop breeding and dietary advice, and reinvesting in agricultural R&D systems that are essential for global food security.