Will 2017 be the year we get serious about sustainable food?

Americans love to eat. Each person devours, on average, 1,996 lbs – or nearly a ton – of food per year. The enormous effort to satisfy that big appetite creates significant environmental impacts, from fertilizers leaching into our water supplies and overfishing to massive die-offs of bees from pesticides and habitat loss.

Our eating habits come with tremendous social costs, too. More than 70% of the adults in the US and about a third of children are overweight. The medical cost of treating people who are grossly overweight, or obese, reached $147bn within the past decade.

Increasingly, businesses from farms to retailers are under pressure to reduce the environmental and social impact of growing produce and processed food. Here are five challenges we face in 2017 and beyond.

How to persuade farmers

Making a strong business case to farmers that changing their farming practices, such as moving away from conventional fertilizers and pesticides, is hard. That switch can be costly and time consuming, and cause them to tussle with government regulators or customers. And there are no guarantees that their investments will pay off.

The struggle to convince more farmers to switch to organic farming is a prime example. Market research shows that consumers want to buy more yogurt, cereal and other food made with organic ingredients, a market that reached an estimated $13.4bn in the US last year from $12.8bn in 2014. But only about 1% of cropland nationwide has received the organic designation because farmers aren’t convinced that the three years required to show the results of changing their use of pesticides and other practices is worth the financial investment.

“Your farm is your financial life, and when you decide you’re going to change the way you’re doing your business, you’re kind of putting it at risk,” Chris Garibaldi, a cherry farmer in California, said in a story about initiatives by General Mills and Kashi to encourage farmers to go organic. “The grocery stores don’t give a crap whether you’re in the transition to being organic. All they care about is are you certified or not.”

Organic farming also typically produces 10% to 20% less yields than conventional methods, making it seem an unattractive option. John Reganold, a soil science professor at the Washington State University, argues that farmers will make more money even with smaller crops because their organic produce can command higher prices. He also points to several environmental and social benefits, from preserving the rich soil quality to keeping farm laborers healthy.

Reganold believes organic farming should play an important role in feeding the world’s population that is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050: “In a time of increasing population growth, climate change and environmental degradation, we need agricultural systems that come with a more balanced portfolio of sustainability benefits.”

The trouble with antibiotics

Taking a dose of antibiotics and finding out that it has no power to make you feel better is scary. That scare has become a big public health issue with the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, or superbugs. 

Read more https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jan/03/challenges-sustainable-food-2017-organic-farming

Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd