Transitioning to a more sustainable food system globally could improve human health, ease the impacts of climate change, and create up to $10 trillion in benefits, according to an economic study produced by the Food System Economics Commission, reports The Guardian.
The report found that current food systems across the globe destroyed more value than they created because of hidden environmental and medical costs.
In its current form, the food system is responsible for roughly 33 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, which the article notes put Earth on course to warm by almost five degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. Additionally, poor food production practices burden the medical system: the study found that, by 2050, 640 million people are on track to be underweight, and obesity will increase by 70 percent.
“The global food system holds the future of humanity on Earth in its hand,” said Johan Rockström, one of the study’s authors.
The study proposes shifting the subsidies and tax incentives from monocultures that rely on fertilizers, pesticides, and deforestation towards smallholder farmers that can produce diverse crops and create more space for wildlife.
“This analysis puts a first figure on the regional and global economic opportunity in transforming food systems. While not easy, the transformation is affordable on a global scale and the accumulating costs into the future of doing nothing pose a considerable economic risk,” said Dr. Steven Lord of the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute.
The U.S. has begun investing in diversifying crops produced domestically. The USDA said Monday that the Biden-Harris Administration has unveiled two initiatives to support the U.S. specialty crops industry.
The Assisting Specialty Crop Exports program will provide $65 million for projects to help specialty crops increase export globally and expand to new markets, and the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program will over $72.9 million in grant funding to innovative projects from industry stakeholders.
“Specialty crop producers feed our nation and the world with nutritious fruits, nuts, and vegetables and supply our communities with horticulture products. Yet, they have unique challenges and opportunities to compete in the domestic market and a vast array of barriers that prevent their world-class products from entering foreign markets,” Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is making these significant investments to maintain, open, and grow markets and reduce and eliminate trade barriers for U.S. specialty crop producers, which in turn will support rural communities, enhance our competitive edge, and help establish lifelong consumers for U.S. food and agricultural products across the world,” he said. Full Story
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