How can you create a more sustainable food system?

Creating a more sustainable food system can start right on your plate – by eating more plants. Shifting towards a plant-based diet has a big impact in reducing your carbon footprint. Plants generally require less water and land to grow than animal products. For example, when studying food supply chains, I saw data on how energy-intensive meat production can be compared to growing crops. So here's a simple, actionable step: Try incorporating more fruits, vegetables, and grains into your meals. It doesn't mean you have to go fully vegetarian or vegan, but even a few plant-based meals a week can make a big difference for the environment. Plus, it's a chance to explore some new, tasty recipes!

Cattle and sheep create 19 - 48 times more GHG emissions, based on weight of food produced, than protein-rich plant crops (Ripple et al. 2014). Insect can also be a viable source of protein, and require far less water to produce protein than traditional sources (Environment Journal 2021).

Edible cities can also be created. A good example of this is Andernach in Germany, where standard municipal plantings were removed in central green spaces and replaced by fruit and vegetables that people are encouraged to take for their own use (Guinness 2014).

While it's not economically feasible for everyone to buy from farmers markets, many supermarkets have sections dedicated to seasonal produce. The challenge is to find ways of working with local farmers, CSAs, and retailers to promote more seasonal produce that is affordable for everyone. Creating food guides and recipes using seasonal goods would help to overcome our eat-anything-anytime culture.

Avoiding or reducing food waste particularly at Post harvest stage is very crucial. In the absebnce of proper post harvest methods and technology, to preserve and improve the shelflife of food, a sizeable chunk of food is being wasted without being consumed or generating revenue. In order to have sustainable food system in place to help each stakeholders in the food system every one of them have their own role and contribution staring from Farmer/Producer, logistics chain, processors, sellers and finally consumers. At each level there should be proper infrastructure based on the type of food commodity so as to food waste can be minimize at lowest possible level.

It means changing habits and confronting customs and traditions. It means deprogramming generations of social conditioning around food. Educate consumers about meal planning, buying only what you need, eating less, and demonstrating how to reuse leftovers creatively. Crucially, it means educating children from an early age in schools in the hope that they bring that knowledge home.

A decade ago, the carbon footprint of waste food was approximately 3.3 gigatonnes (FAO 2013). Food waste presently causes around 1/6 of all annual GHG emissions, around 9 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent (Zhu et al. 2023). There is a strong business case for reducing food loss and waste. One study found for every ￡1 invested to curb avoidable household food waste, households and local authorities saved around ￡250 (Champions 12.3, 2017). A number of solutions are available to turn food waste into a value stream whilst reducing GHG emissions. According to the World Economic Forum (2022), recycling one tonne of food waste through rapid aerobic composting can prevent GHG emissions equivalent to what around 400 trees could absorb annually.

The run towards urbanization and adulteration, use of pesticides/insecticides has pose major question of food security, not only availability of food but Nutritional food. So if one can grow his/her own food with the help of modern farming practices like Vetical farming, Aeroponics, Hydroponics, where you don't need a lot of space or experience to start growing your own food, just some seeds, soil (in some case even soil is not required), water, and sunlight and you are done.

Organic farming may or may not help to establish sustainable food chain as the process of organic farming in itself is quite easy, however what we have seen in Sri Lanka, when a country moved completely to organic farming and its consequences. So learning from the past before jumping to organic farming we need to do risk assessment and its mitigation strategies.

Implementing educational programs in schools can help to cultivate responsible consumption and healthy habits. Socioeconomic factors are real and it's not a-one-size-fits-all approach: each community has its own attitudes and customs around food, so educating at the consumer level involves first understanding how to motivate action. Food marketers and retailers have gotten very sophisticated in luring buyers to buying more, which only results in us throwing out more. We effectively have to deprogram ourselves and increase our immunity to that marketing. Lastly, a tour of the city's landfill should be required viewing for every resident. Seeing our waste up close is the surest way to create urgency and motivate more proactive behaviors.

Create a sustainable food system by prioritizing regenerative agriculture, local sourcing, and reducing food waste. Diversify diets toward plant-based options, optimize resource use with technology, and embrace circular economy principles. Educate stakeholders on the environmental impact of food choices and support small-scale farmers. Advocate for sustainable policies, invest in innovation, and foster collaboration across sectors. Promote food security while raising consumer awareness to empower sustainable decision-making. This holistic approach ensures a balanced and resilient food system for the benefit of the environment and society.

Today most cooling / refrigeration and heating, air (de)humidification, water generation solutions are expensive, highly inefficient, and even contribute towards global warming due to high energy consumption and leak of the refrigerants and brines. Controlled Environment Agriculture and Resource Efficient Supply / Value Chain solution needs a clean energy product that helps reduce global warming and health risks while delivering a value in air, water, energy sectors. We need a real global gamechanger in the market for food ecosystems in arid climates solving air, water, energy, food, national security challenges via cooling/heating, air (de)humidification, water and energy (re)generation, food production / processing / storage applications.

Remove barriers to composting. Whether individuals are composting at home, or using commercial compost services, these remove surplus foods from entering the waste stream headed to landfills. Some cities have contracts with commercial compost services and that model should be repeated everywhere. For residents who don't have a garden or share a community garden plot. Commercial compost services are a critical component of a responsible food waste system.

Cultivating a sustainable food culture requires a generational shift. Imagine if, starting 2014, every student plants a vegetable each month in schools globally. This simple practice can transform growing our own food from an uncommon to a natural phenomenon, fostering food sustainability.