An international group of almost 50 scientists identified 75 emerging innovations and has drawn up 8 action points with the aim of accelerating the transition to a sustainable and healthy food system, the Netherlands-based Wageningen University reports. Their findings were published in the journal Nature Food.
 
Today, 40% of all land on Earth is used for food production, contributing to land use change, biodiversity loss, and greenhouse gas emissions. “Major changes in the way we produce oru food are therefore required,” Dr. Hannah van Zanten, one of the study’s authors, said. “Such a transition towards a sustainable and healthy food system requires a combined effort of farmers, consumers, food companies, and policymakers.”
 
The 75 technologies that researchers identified span the entire food value chain, from manufacturing, to consumption, to waste management. Some are more well-known, such as drones, 3D printing, and vertical agriculture, whereas others require a bigger stretch of the imagination, such as nitrogen-fixing cereals that do not need fertilizer, or feed for livestock made from insects or produced from human sewage.
 
While the study focuses on the transformative potential of technologies, it also proposes eight action points which could accelerate industry transition to a more sustainable food system. Of the eight action points in the perspective paper for accelerating the transformation. At least five revolve around building trust, changing mindsets, enabling social license and safeguarding against undesirable effects.
 
“Therefore, beside technological development a constructive societal dialogue is critical to establish clear transition pathways towards future sustainable food systems,” van Zanten said.
 
Building trust must take place among the farmers, consumers, and food companies who act within the food system, involving the shared values about the desirability of different food system outcomes including sustainability, provenance, and socioeconomic benefit.
 
The transformation of agriculture requires a learning mindset by the actors of the food system, in which the advantages and disadvantages of new technologies are known by a broad audience.
 
The authors called for social license behind the development of these technologies, in that all actors must be engaged in public and private investments. Further, they believe that only policies and government regulations will ensure that substantive change toward sustainability can happen.
 
Additionally, these changes are context- and technology-specific, signifying that incentives may prove critical to the success of technological advances in agriculture. Market incentives will be critical especially for new entrants, as it is unclear whether transformative innovation will emerge from established industry leaders, the authors wrote.
 
Additionally, a safeguard against any indirect, undesirable effects that come as a result against these investment and policy frameworks should be determined, especially in situations in which it’s unknown whether there will be widespread public acceptance. Additionally, stable financial modeling is needed to ensure that piloting new technologies will be effective under real-world conditions.