How can you measure the social impact of food production?

Social impact extends beyond immediate outcomes, influencing society's structure by shaping norms, behaviours and societal structures. This concept underscores the transformative potential of food production practices, which, when consciously designed, can catalyse community empowerment, promote social justice, and support inclusivity. By embedding ethical sourcing, fair trade principles, and community engagement into food production, entities can play a key role in crafting resilient social ecosystems. Such practices strengthen economic and environmental sustainability and also ensure societal equity and mutual respect.

Food production’s social impact is a complex and nuanced question but a very important one considering the profound multifaceted impact food has on humans. Food is one of the most basic human needs, without which humans can’t survive. Food production is also the main source of livelihood for 2/3 of the poorest people in the world, 60-80% of them women. Food is also closely connected to human health, both in terms of obesity as well as malnutrition, challenges that are influenced greatly by the changing relationship between people and food production on one hand and food production’s vulnerability to climatic, natural and geopolitical forces on the other.

Brazil is one of the world's largest producers of commodities, and its entire economy is based on and incentivized to be this way. Food production faces enormous challenges due to social problems, primarily related to the health of rural workers, human rights, and rural exodus, where there is increasingly less succession on properties. Considering these dimensions among other relevant aspects to the sector, measuring the social impact of production becomes important to understand the behavior of this sector and generate public actions that can mitigate and continue to encourage Brazil's agricultural sector.

As in any methodology, before measuring, we first need to understand what the objective and scope of the measurement are. In the case of food production associated with agribusiness, it's first necessary to understand the reality of the region to be measured. What impacts are observed? Rural exodus, health, succession, food scarcity, among others. With this in mind, defining which indicators exist and which can be created with public/private data to measure and empower stakeholders for generating this data is essential. In Brazil, the government conducts censuses to understand the social, environmental, and economic impacts of the sector, thereby creating incentives for agribusiness, which is the backbone of society.

Some examples of real indicators to use (complementing my contribution in item 3). And my suggestion, simplify the methods. a) Rural Human Development Index b) Family succession indicator and/or percentage of successful vs unsuccessful succession. c) Measure local employability through the agribusiness chain. d) Soil management indicators, biodiversity, spring recovery, water usage. e) Region reforestation index.

We need food to feed the growing world population, which increases every day, and there are trends indicating that the increase in population does not proportionally increase food production, reaching a point where basic food supplies may one day be lacking for the poorest populations. Measuring social impact is important for the sustainability of the sector; however, measuring alone is not enough. We need to ACT on all the adversities and prejudices that have been occurring within the agribusiness sector! The measurement and understanding of the social impacts of this sector may be the key to transformation and the perpetuation of our species.

Measuring the social impact of food production requires a holistic approach that considers the complex interactions between food systems, communities, and broader societal outcomes. It may involve a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, stakeholder engagement, and the use of diverse indicators to capture the multifaceted nature of social well-being within food production systems. Carbon emission in production, transportation and consumotion and waste disposal of food collectively needs toe accounted for while evaluating the social impact. Also this could be contextualized based on regional priorities and preferences of the population at large.

Measuring the social impact of food production involves the following important metrics: 1. Social impact assessment, 2. Labor conditions and rights, 3. Community development, 4. Food security and nutrition, 5. Social equity and inclusion, 6. Stakeholder engagement, and 7. Collaboration and partnerships. It's important to note that measuring social impact can be complex and context-specific. Additionally, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative indicators, as well as both primary and secondary data, can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the social impact of food production.

La implicación social de la agroindustria es alta y se requiere considerar en estos aspectos ambientales sociales y económicos. Autores como Evia(2016), recomienda que desde una perspectiva cualitativa consideres para tu impacto social lo siguiente: -La seguridad y bienestar de los colaboradores -La gestión de los proveedores -Vinculación con la comunidad -Huella ambiental