The forces of globalisation and industrialisation have irreversibly shifted the way food is produced, consumed, and organised.
A new campaign which aims to promote wider citizen participation in food systems and empower them to seek greater transparency over where their food comes from has been launched by new movement for collective action, Inclusive Food.
Inclusive Food is spearheaded by Dr Anne Touboulic and Dr Lucy McCarthy, two UK researchers who are based at the University of Nottingham and the University of Bristol.
The new campaign aims to help challenge the often-damaging global food systems and seeks to address critical sustainability concerns related to food production and consumption. It also aims to help drive change by bringing about a fundamental rethinking of food supply chains, and how they connect consumers, big food producers and farmers.
Irreversibly
Inclusive Food’s campaign builds on existing climate research that has shown that agriculture is directly responsible for 8.5 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions, with a further 14.5 per cent coming from land use change, and 80 per cent of deforestation attributed to land being cleared to grow food.
Meanwhile, long supply chains and a reliance on produce which is out of season, or has been heavily processed, is further increasing the impact current food production and consumption practices are having on the Earth and its citizens.
Dr Touboulic is an associate professor at the University of Nottingham, and a core member of the Food Systems Institute, an interdisciplinary centre for food research. She believes the way food is currently produced and consumed cannot continue at the rate it is, and change is long overdue.
She said: “Food is essential to everyone, but the way our food systems promote over-production and over-consumption is not. Our current food systems are organised in a way which is deeply damaging both ecologically, and to those whose labour is involved at different stages of the food chain.
“In addition, the forces of globalisation and industrialisation have irreversibly shifted the way food is produced, consumed, and organised. Through our campaign, we’re aiming to equip citizens with the knowledge to help them make informed decisions about where their food is from, so they can be empowered to help make a change.”
Systems
Inclusive Food believes transforming food supply chains is critical for reaching the UK’s carbon reduction targets, as well as for developing systems that will cope with the damage already caused to the Earth.
Dr McCarthy is a senior lecturer at the University of Bristol, a core member of the Food Justice Network and a member of the Sustainable Production & Consumption and Inclusive Economy and Action Research and Critical Inquiry in Organisations research groups.
The forces of globalisation and industrialisation have irreversibly shifted the way food is produced, consumed, and organised.
She said: “The changing climate means we must rethink our food systems. We've come to rely on extended food supply chains. In the UK for instance, we import a significant amount of food from locations that are already being disproportionately affected by climate change, which in part results in significant decreases in food productivity.
"For example, Spain produces most of the fruits and vegs consumed across Europe, but it is already being disrupted by changing weather patterns, and it is estimated that crop yields will decrease by a further 15 to 30 per cent as global temperatures increase.
“Growing food more locally and in a wider range of places will help to compensate for the damage that is already happening, while also reducing further impact. Research from the Food and Agricultural Organisation shows that over 90 per cent of crop varieties in the farming industry have been lost over the last century, a decline that's linked to large scale farming."
She added: "Many of the remaining crops are energy dense and high in caloric values but depleted of vitamins and nutrients. And although this has short term benefits for increased yields, it increases the environmental cost of growing food, as ecosystems are altered to suit the limited variety of crops.”
Reconnect
The new movement hopes to empower people to move away from ultra-processed diets to help lower the energy and overall environmental cost, while also shifting from a food system largely controlled by large corporations. This includes harnessing the power of simpler diets with less ultra processed foods where possible, as well as fewer calories, which can help to improve wellbeing and help the environment.
Believing that change should be both top-down and bottom-up, Dr Touboulic and Dr McCarthy are inviting as many people as possible to join them in holding to account large powerful organisations such as big retailers and manufacturers as well as policy makers so that they do their bit to drive change.
Dr Touboulic said: “Sometimes as citizens, we can feel powerless or unsure of where to start to drive change and that’s okay. A good place to start can be as simple as asking those important questions about what you eat, and where it comes from.
"We need to reconnect with the natural cycles and break away from expecting all foods to be available at all times. This is something that individuals should consider, but primarily we require radical change in how supermarkets and other organisations operate and what they offer.
“In an effort to eat seasonally, we also need to be aware that climates are changing across the world and that this can create different seasons for food. But also it's about educating ourselves as to when particular foodstuffs are in season and where they come from.
She concluded: “It’s down to all of us to encourage large retailers to source more locally and to take responsibility and accountability for their own actions. It is only through collective action and engagement that we can create changes that encourage more sustainable food supply chains.”
This Author
Ruby Harbour is the editorial assistant of The Ecologist. This article is based on a new campaign from Inclusive Food.
