Everything about the way we manufacture and consume food – from food packaging to placement of products in the corridors of the grocery store to the one in the stadium – is the result of a carefully designed system.
As soon as we have seen the food system via this design lens, it appears for innovations ripe. 60 percent of calories used worldwide come from only four cultures – wheat, rice, corn and potatoes – a shocking uniformity that makes our food system susceptible to crises such as pandemics and extreme weather. We have already seen how quickly the shelves can empty, how the prices for booklings can skyrocket due to the weak, fragile connections in the food supply chain.
But what if grocery stores are really supposed to bring sustainable food products to regenerate nature and build a more resilient food system? Products such as pasta from various old grains, vegetable alternatives to packaged snacks, beer from excess bread and juices of plants such as funding cactus foods that are less resource-intensive, more resistant to shocks and still delicious. What if consumers could make decisions like now, based on taste, preference and price, but trust that their decisions had positive and sustainable effects?
In the past two years through the global Big Food Redesign ChallengeWe worked with more than 100 food manufacturers on three continents, from small startups to large industry leaders, to the manufacture or revision of products so that they are sustainable from seeds to the shelf. These innovative products show that with partnerships that are sufficient in sectors and industries, and with the philanthropy that is ready to produce early, leading investments to a sustainable manner that benefits people, the planet and the final result.
The concept of sustainability is familiar and is actually valued by consumers and companies. The 2.6 trillion US dollars that the American consumers spend on food every year 20% go to sustainable products. Instead of concentrating on making an element more sustainable, such as Without a system-wide approach, the food sector will continue to be a significant contribution to global carbon emissions-and the third of the global total.
The Schmidt Family Foundation and the Ellen Macarthur Foundation have previously worked with companies to bring consumer goods from drinks to fashion. Each of these efforts had to think about the full system and how to improve it. In order to give every part of the food trip sustainability, the companies that took part in the challenge prioritized in a variety of, inferior and upcycled.
The diversification of ingredients of a wide range of plant and animal species benefits the health of the soil, builds up resilience for food supply and relies the food companies less on individual inputs. A company that has created a shelf stable Smoothie For example, powder searched organic farms and worked with them to use the little-known Indian apple banana, which is more disease-resistant than comparable ingredients. Cereals offer many options for diversification: that of a company Prepared Pilaf Use Fonio, a drought-tolerant, gluten-free West African staple food that has a CO2 footprint that is almost 80% smaller than rice and a 99% footprint with lower water.
Low ingredients such as Fonio have less negative effects on nature or even positively “regenerate” nature. These ingredients can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the loss of biological diversity and deforestation and protect the long -term resilience of natural systems that we rely on food at all. Meat options in the challenge were sometimes unusual Algae Or alternative plant products, reduce the CO2 meatprint. For other products, Manufacturer Worked closely with the farmers to guarantee that products were regenerative.
Finally, upcycled ingredients are derived from food that would otherwise be wasted or lost, which reduces the pressure on land and maximized the inputs used to grow food. Products created by the challenge Remnights harvested to banana shells. Bread that was intended for the garbage BeerAnd wrinkled peas that would otherwise not bring it onto the market were dried and ground with all meal to create to create pasta.
While circular products are important, we need circularity that are built into the system itself. If you eliminate waste, increase productivity and options. Healthy food selection, sources and markets grow. The farmers have a new way to make money: perhaps most importantly, if they put nature first, increase the long -term health of the soil and improve fertility and yield (which also achieves higher profits). Plants, animals and humans all benefit from a new type of renewable efficiency that plans the future and protects the planetary resources in a way that do not do conventional industrial food systems.
The systemic transformation requires all of us. We need courageous management of the economy, political decision -makers and the financial sector. Political levers, including laws and regulation, can offer the economic incentives that food companies need to invest in the transformation of the system. Small amounts of targeted capital can accelerate innovation and product development. The strategic philanthropy can bring great ideas from the pilot to the yardstick. And ultimately, manufacturers, retailers and consumers have to use and demand better options.
We have the resources for a rich and resilient food system. Let us use it.
The opinions that were expressed in Fortune.com comments are exclusively the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of against Assets.
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