ISSUE 59 — OCTOBER 2021
UN Food Systems Summit—
Food for Thought This year has been declared the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables by the UN General Assembly, as a push for recognition for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which outline 17 goals as a call to action to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. Within these goals, at least 10 of these are applicable to our industry. These include no hunger, no poverty, climate action, responsible consumption and production and good health and wellbeing. As part of reaching these goals, the UN has launched the UN Food Systems Summit, a conference designed for countries to share what they are doing to help meet the SDGs by 2030. The Summit is a call to reflect on the way the world produces, consumes and thinks about food. The Summit brings together policymakers, farmers, industry, academia and community groups from around the world to discuss challenges and share potential solutions and innovations in food production. The pre-summit dialogues were held in July, and focussed on some interesting topics, with panels titled: ¡ Growing greener- food production and a
healthy environment
¡ Future proofing our food systems –
boosting resilience
¡ Eating for our health and the environment –
balancing nutrition and sustainability
¡ Australian Food Systems – addressing
shared challenges
¡ Agricultural innovation – building better
food systems
Some of the most pressing issues discussed included food wastage and how to reduce this in the production process, nutrition and changing diets, and sustainable futures. Some panellists demanded urgent regulatory action regarding Australian diets and nutrition, calling for a system that reduces unhealthy eating options. This came out of the critical issue of food loss and waste. The loss of food is the loss of nutrition, and nutrition is essential to a healthy population. There were also discussion about constructing a sustainable value chain that is equitable, low impact, resilient and competitive, as an essential way forward for a sustainable future in Australian food systems. Notably, there are imbalances in equity issues in agriculture, with power, resource constraints and consumer drivers leaving room for imbalances throughout the chain. Calls for a more collaborative approach to developing sustainable systems were strong, and set the scene for what the future of our industry could hold. Australia is conducting research across all agricultural industries seeking innovation to create sustainable practices to address issues of climate and sustainability. If you’re interested to see what research is being done, you can view it at growag.com. The pre-summit dialogues are viewable on the Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment website if you’re interested in watching back these panels.
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