Geneva, 2 October 2018: Food systems are not performing well today: 800 million people worldwide go to bed hungry, two billion people are deficient in essential vitamins or minerals, and two billion people are overweight or obese. What’s more, food systems drive environmental impacts such as biodiversity and soil loss, water scarcity and greenhouse gas emissions.
A systemic approach, linking sustainability and health, is required to transform our food systems. This means that making a systemic analysis is essential. It’s with this in mind that Food Reform for Sustainability and Health (FReSH), a joint project between EAT and WBCSD, has commissioned the development of a new approach to food system modeling through a ”fork to farm” lens.
First piloted in the Mexican market, the report provides a better understanding of the role that business can play by identifying the hotspots where private sector interventions can make the most difference, such as product reformulation and shortening of the supply chain.
Today, 20 companies are meeting in Mexico City to explore pre-competitive cooperation opportunities to transform the food system locally. A workshop co-organized by Sigma Alimentos and FReSH brings together private sector companies across the food industry value chain to identify key action areas where companies could work together to improve the food system in Mexico, based on the hotspots identified in this report.
In order to scale up action beyond Mexico, the Food System Modeling Toolkit allows businesses and other stakeholders to replicate the food system modeling in other countries and identify the local hotspots where interventions have the potential to drive real, positive system transformation. This analysis is an inevitable step of any systemic thinking, with a focus to maximize the positive impacts of interventions.
FReSH is currently exploring collaborations with other organizations to set up further food system modeling workshops in other countries.
