The global food crisis requires a global response

The conflict in Ukraine, soaring inflation and extreme weather events are all exacerbating the global food crisis, with latest figures showing that 345 million people across 82 countries are facing acute food insecurity in 2022 - and 50 million of these people are facing this at emergency levels.

?This serves as a sharp reminder of just how critical the issue is - and as the Ukraine conflict looks unlikely to ease any time soon, and the effects of climate change continue to increase in severity, it's highly likely that this situation is only going to worsen. It seems in the current state of affairs that the only certainty is uncertainty, meaning another COVID surge could well happen, or the worries of a potential Russian gas shut-off could come true, any of which could be of major consequence.

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Adopting a global ‘and, and, and’ approach

?This all makes for stark reading, and when you add in the predictions that the global population will reach 10 billion by 2050 it’s obvious that across the world, drastic measures must be taken.

?At Nutreco, our guiding principle is ‘feeding the future’. We recognise that the current situation is very uncertain and made up of many moving parts, but we know that we have a crucial role to play. In reality, we see that the ‘future’ is now. Our mission is to do whatever we can to help feed the world’s growing population in a sustainable manner.

?We often talk in terms of ‘and, and, and’ at Nutreco, because we believe that investment across all food systems is necessary to meet the scale of the challenge we face. Demand for protein is set to increase by 70% between now and 2050, so one key course of action is to focus on more efficient ways to farm animals that increase productivity and improve sustainable practices.

?The global food and farming industries should also invest more into circular and regenerative agriculture, in order to achieve more outputs with less. Our own investment in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) – which lowers the overall environmental impact of salmon and other fish species farming – is a useful case in point.

?Of course, food insecurity levels vary greatly in different parts of the world, and it’s critically important that regions where food scarcity is most acute receive the broadest support. We are proud that we are heavily invested in projects such as the Catfish Sustainability Project in Nigeria, which has helped many farmers significantly increase their farming outputs since launch. Similarly, our partnership with Unga Group in Kenya and Uganda is increasing local production of animal feed in these developing markets.

?However, in order to feed the growing population, we can’t rely on traditional protein sources. Another key element of tackling the food crisis is a widespread focus on finding sustainable alternative protein sources, and novel feed and food ingredients. These options have the potential to be scaled up quickly, and to reduce the burden on our limited natural resources. Through our investment arm, NuFrontiers, we have partnered with pioneering start-ups in alternative proteins, such as cell-based companies, BlueNalu and Mosa Meat, and fermentation company ENOUGH.

We are constantly working to find more innovative ways to support our mission of feeding the future. We recently launched our brand-new exploration unit, NutEx, to super-charge the supply of proprietary, ultra-speciality ingredients.

The current global landscape means many industries and economies are experiencing levels of uncertainty never seen before, and it’s sadly highly likely that the food crisis is going to get worse before it gets better. There is no singular solution to this issue, and we are acutely aware that our work and the work of many others is just a starting point.

?This is a global issue requiring major action from stakeholders at all levels, across nation states, and in both the third and private sectors - at a time when many are already operating on a knife edge between resilience and disruption. However, this simply cannot be ignored any longer, and we must all come together and make real action happen, now.