Transforming food systems

There is an almost universal recognition that modern agri-food supply chains are unsustainable. They are seen as both contributing to and vulnerable to climate change, too reliant on environmentally-damaging synthetic inputs, as undermining biodiversity, generating significant losses and waste and failing to deliver the nutritious food required for a healthy, balanced diet. Developing sustainable food systems addresses one of the greatest global challenges of our time: how to reform food systems so they are more sustainable but still able to produce the food we need. The book traces the evolution of the current global food production system and reviews competing approaches to achieving more sustainable production, starting with ‘reformist’ approaches which promote new technologies as a way forward, such as genetic modification and synthetic foods. This collection also considers the pros and cons of ‘progressive’ approaches, such as regenerative and organic agriculture, as well as the more radical solutions which seek to achieve a more fundamental reform of the food system. As the world tackles the central question of how food should be produced in the future, this book provides readers with an authoritative guide to the various solutions on offer and how to assess which road we should take. Dr David Watson is a leading authority on sustainability issues affecting agriculture. He has taught at the University of Hull (UK) as well as managing research programmes for the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT). Dr Watson is author of Pesticides and agriculture: Profit, politics and policy and editor of the two-volume Achieving sustainable cultivation of maize, both published by Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing.