The sometimes unreasonable functioning of the food sector, which tends to focus on profits and scale, can negatively impact the environment, adding health risks to humans and wildlife, and cause significant resource depletion, compromising availability for future generations. The good news is that the complex global industry that clusters small- to large-scale businesses is undergoing substantial changes, with several initiatives underway to reduce pollution, carbon dioxide emissions, and waste.
Food production companies do their best to save water and preserve energy while making other sustainable choices, such as using sustainable packaging, for which consumers are happy to pay extra. Tackling challenges aligns with shifting consumer demands, who prefer doing business with sustainable companies rather than less sustainably-minded competitors, meaning there’s no better time than now to act.
As far as climate change is concerned, supply chain transformation is of the essence, but it’s not enough to get to net zero right away, so it’s necessary to raise the stakes in the game to meet, manage, and exceed consumer expectations and do your bit for the planet. Examples of threats the food industry must address urgently are traceability, greenwashing, devaluing food and drink, and supply chain issues (e.g., Russia’s War in Ukraine), to name a few.
Meeting the Challenges Around Sustainability Opens Up New Opportunities
The complex network of farmers and various businesses that supply much of the food consumed by the world’s population relies on scarce land, water, and temperate climates, so the possibilities for becoming sustainable seem to be shrinking, which ultimately affects the industry’s bottom line. Life is more stressful for manufacturers and retailers, as they have a complicated road to travel.
Food supply and distribution systems must become healthier, more socially responsible, and more humane to leave no one behind. Sustainability challenges must be embraced as opportunities for growth, as enterprises can test their limits and capabilities, which implies that even the worst-case scenario can have a positive solution.
Many industry players have a hard time explaining their sustainability choices to stakeholders because they can’t be translated into tangible metrics (and then into measurable objectives). That’s exactly why food businesses must peel back the layers of the supply chain and calculate the entire baseline – with this kind of system, they’re in a better position to explain their decision-making and help those interested understand how these choices might play out over time.
Do your due diligence. For example, if you make fruit and nut snacks, favour sustainability, and select a nuts producer that digitises traceability by integrating automated processes, making available an organised set of information. You rely on the support, expertise, and reach of your partners to make a difference to farmers, communities, and the planet.
How Can You Ensure Your Sustainability Strategies Have a Positive Social Impact?
Despite some progress in recent times, the food sector must tackle important aspects, such as reducing the use of hazardous plant protection products, improving farm animal health and welfare, and promoting healthy and sustainable food consumption choices. The principles of the circular economy can be applied to everything from food processing to packaging.
By addressing sustainability issues, food business operators can boost their green credentials, which is especially relevant in the business-to-business (B2B) world, where reputation can make or break success. Companies with a good reputation are often preferred as partners. Every national government is preparing long-term roadmaps for the sustainable use of land and food systems, so firms must recognise and assume their responsibility as key drivers of this transformation.
Good sustainability work goes beyond the office walls. Most corporations have set strategic objectives to help advance healthy and sustainable diets that can lessen the risk of non-communicable diseases – like obesity and diabetes – and protect consumers, who are driven to live better for longer. These new sustainable options must be tasty and appealing, meaning businesses can’t compromise on quality and enjoyment.
Inequalities in agriculture persist: resource-poor farmers depend on what nature delivers and often struggle to raise capital with no subsidies whatsoever from the government. Women farmers produce less crop and, sadly, earn less income compared to their male counterparts. Global food ingredient supplier Ofi connects women-owned businesses with qualified buyers worldwide, therefore encouraging gender equality and empowering women to end hunger and poverty.
All in all, small and large businesses alike must come clean, keep a distance from fraudulent practices, and respect all stakeholders, even if customers, investors, and employees come first. Food production companies can’t solve the world’s problems, but they can help with the difficult transition to a more sustainable future – we consume too much in an unsustainable manner, and the biggest problem facing the world today isn’t beyond our control.
Sustainable, Equitable Food Systems Are Vital for People’s and The Planet’s Survival
Providing people with healthy food and creating a sustainable environmental, economic, and social system reduces emissions from the production/use of fossil fuels, encourages biodiversity while conserving scarce resources, and maintains healthy soil via composting and planting cover crops. The world’s population is expected to increase by roughly two billion in the next decades, so adopting farming and production practices that ensure a stable food supply is key for a brighter future.
The climate crisis isn’t a distant threat but rather an imminent crisis, and it’s paramount for the food sector to capitalise on the opportunity to uncover the potential of sustainable food choices, working together with consumers and governments. The results can be powerful, but the standards must be altered through inspiration and pressure to transform vision into action. What better time to embrace your inner eco-warrior?
On the path to overcoming food system challenges, we must understand that groundbreaking solutions aren’t the end goal but rather part of the process of eliminating unsustainable alternatives and driving sustainability. Most importantly, they boost technical capacities, attract new investments, and enhance productivity. Achieving change requires everyone to work together, so the only way to speed up things and create a viable, future-proof economic model is to get together diverse yet independent industry players.
Image credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/cashew-nut-lot-on-blue-ceramic-bowl-FhXZSP-4ARg
