Bold and Broad Action Needed to Ensure Food Is Well Grown and Well Used
By Nicola Dixon | Executive Director of the General Mills Foundation
Originally published by World Food Program USA
The daunting facts – 820 million people today remain malnourished and hungry, while one-third of all food produced for human consumption each year is wasted or lost – can leave some with the belief that our global food system is irrevocably broken; imbalanced to such a tragic degree that significant improvement couldn’t possibly be attainable.
Yet that kind of resignation, if left unchecked, poses a dangerous threat to our collective ability to make real and lasting progress.
To advance critical changes (and we must) that can yield improved outcomes for people and planet, it helps to zero in on specific, actionable areas within the world’s food system that are powerful levers, but still within grasp.
For example, the evidence is mounting that with different choices about how we grow and use the world’s existing food resources – through actions like surplus food redistribution and expanding regenerative agricultural practices – we can not only feed the world’s growing population, but also leave communities, farmers, soils, water and the climate all the better for it.
In order to scale such promising solutions, we need to go beyond awareness to driving bolder and broader action. We need more sectors, organizations and individuals to see and embrace their role to help bring about a new global food system: one that is more equitable, efficient, resilient and regenerative.
