The global food system is facing a range of challenges from malnutrition, climate change, resource scarcity, biodiversity loss, soil degradation, a growing and ageing population, urbanisation, food waste and food poverty. COVID-19 has shown the pivotal importance of functioning food supply chains and the need to further increase their resilience to emergencies and crises like pandemics, climate change and geopolitical forces.
To address these challenges, a food system transformation is required which shifts towards more sustainable and healthy diets and aims to ensure food and nutrition security for all. This requires a better understanding of the interactions between the different components of the current food systems to maximise co-benefits, and to accelerate such a system-wide transformation.
The Farm to Fork strategy highlights research and innovation (R&I) as key drivers in accelerating the transition to sustainable, healthy and inclusive food systems, from primary production to consumption.
Food 2030 provides a vision and policy narrative that through a well-governed and more systemic R&I policy, we can develop impactful solutions to the urgent, complex and interconnected challenges inherent to food systems that need to be transformed to respect planetary boundaries, to provide healthy safe and nutritious food and diets for all, and to sustain a diverse fair and inclusive thriving food economy.
