The global food systems that keep more than 8 billion people fed come at a huge cost to public health and the environment in terms of climate change, wasteful and unsustainable production practices, and diseases of overnutrition, undernutrition and malnutrition. These costs will only rise as the global population continues to grow. To ensure that nourishing food is accessible and available to all while staying within planetary limits, the world must transform how food is produced, distributed and consumed.
The School of Public Health (SPH) at Washington University in St. Louis hosted the FARM Food Futures Forum on October 9 to discuss the future of food. The inaugural convening of SPH’s Food and Agriculture Research Mission (FARM) Innovation Research Network, the event brought together leading voices from academia, government, civil society, and the private sector to engage in critical dialogue on transforming food systems to support human and planetary health. See here for a recording of the day’s events.
“The idea of launching a food and agriculture research mission within a school of public health goes to the very core of some of the things we’ve wanted to do for a long time, but nobody has had the courage to do them,” said Agnes Kalibata, PhD, who is recognized internationally for her work in food insecurity and was one of the keynote speakers at the forum. “Putting public health at the center of discussions about food systems creates an opportunity. Only when we do that will we be able to reduce the burden on health and on the environment, and the waste of resources. We need to step back and integrate, really integrate, food and agriculture so they work for public health.”