World Food Day

October 16, 2018

Today is World Food Day. It is a day that marks the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on October 16, 1945. The day is promoted by food security organizations, including the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. It is a day to remind us of the role that food plays in our survival, how it is integral to all of the world’s cultures, and how we grow, process, and dispose of food has far reaching effects on our world.

World Food Day should also stand for responsibility. The responsibility we all have to cherish the food that we are blessed with in our country, the responsibility we have to embrace more sustainable agricultural practices in order to reduce the negative environmental impacts of our current agricultural practices and food choices.

It is a day to promote our responsibility to recovering edible food for those in need and to substantially reduce the 30-40% of food we waste. And, a day that reminds us as Sustainable Materials Managers that food scraps are a valuable resource that we need to divert to composting or anaerobic digestion in order to do leave a better planet for future generations.

As the FAO states, “Wasting less, eating better and adopting a sustainable lifestyle are key to building a world free of hunger. The choices we make today are vital for a secure future of food.”

Here’s a list of the FAO’s “simple actions” to help each of us “make #ZeroHunger a way of life, to help re-connect to food and what it stands for”:

• Don't waste food
• Produce more, with less
• Adopt a more healthy and sustainable diet
• Advocate For #Zerohunger!

A food system consists of all the processes and infrastructure necessary to feed people: growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consumption, and disposal of food and food-related items. And, by design, a food system includes all of the inputs needed and outputs generated at each of these steps.

The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) is a global initiative focused on “making nature’s values visible”. In our country and around the world, many of our food systems are “broken”. According to TEEB, our food systems “do not nourish and nurture people, society and the planet.” Moreover, unless we alter our food systems, they warn that climate change cannot be stopped. According to TEEB, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the agri-food ‘value chain’ (including agriculture-related deforestation, farming, processing, packaging, transportation and waste) account for 43-57% of all human GHG emissions.

So, today, on World Food Day, let’s celebrate our bounty, but also be mindful of the responsibility we have for our planet and future generations. The time to act is now. More and more communities are embracing the “food system” approach for fostering sustainable agriculture, healthier food for all, community economic development, and stronger farms. We must integrate all of the processes, inputs, and outputs of our food systems in a way that brings positive change for our planet, farmers, communities, and all people.

By Athena Lee Bradley