Food

By Seeta Salgia Patel

Globally, one in nine (or 795 million) people in the world today are undernourished, with the vast majority of the world’s hungry people living in developing countries, where 12.9 per cent of the population is undernourished. According to current predictions, the world population will grow to nearly 10 billion by the middle of the 21st century, and will level off at around 11 billion by the end of it. Most of these people (estimated to be about 70%) will be living in cities ¹ : as many men and women find it harder to make ends meet on their land alone, they will migrate to cities in search of opportunities. As cities grow, they will have more mouths to feed, and space (for living and growing food alike) will become hard pressed.

It is necessary to increase food production, ensure that the population has access to nutritious meals, minimize the harmful effects of food production and distribution on the environment, and eliminate food waste. The ultimate goal is to create a sustainable food system contained within a city as much as possible. As 2050 is only a little over two decades away, it is likely inevitable that cities will still depend to some degree on outside sources of food, like rural areas. What is then important is the efficient usage of food, so that the city is as self-dependent as it can be.It is also important for the city to have an efficient way to bring food to all of its citizens, regardless of social class or occupation. In this regards, food distribution and welfare programs are explored, as well as methods to reduce food waste. A sound food system is especially important and increasingly difficult as these cities grow. After all, all humans must eat.

Current trends are not very promising, and change is needed. Right now, our natural resources, from which we derive most of our food–our soils, freshwater, oceans, and forests–are being rapidly degraded by human activity and pollution. Climate change especially puts pressure on our cities. Not only does it increase dangers of disasters such as floods and droughts which could jeopardize the cities themselves, but climate change also reduces crop yields and harms harvests.

Profound changes of the global food and agriculture system are needed if we are to nourish the 795 million people that go hungry today, and the additional 2 billion that are expected by 2050. If harnessed correctly, agriculture, forestry and fisheries can provide nutritious food for all and generate decent incomes, while accommodating the influx of people into cities and protecting the environment. Besides producing enough food, we need to quickly construct a system of food distribution that will be able to expand as more migrants enter the city. This system should also reduce food waste.

Simply put, our goal is to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture” as decided by the UN in 2014. Each of these goals can pertain to the world’s population in general, but we focus on applying them to cities, since that is where most of the world’s population will be in 2050.

A specific list of our goals are as follows:

• End hunger, and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round. Care must be taken to accommodate all the newcomers to these cities.
• End all forms of malnutrition, with a focus on urban malnutrition (ie: an imbalance of nutrients versus a lack of nutrients and foods, which is a tenet of rural malnutrition).
• Increase global food production by 70%, with 15% of all food being produced in cities. Urban agriculture will be defined and explored, with an eye to space conservation and environmental friendliness.
• Ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production.
• Create a closed cycle for food production in cities by which all waste gets converted back into useful materials and so eliminate food waste. As of now, 40% of all food in the US is wasted, going from the farm to the landfill,² while there are still hungry people.

To achieve these goals, we split our research into two broad sections: Sustainable Food Production, and Efficient Food Distribution.

Sustainable Food Production focuses on reducing waste and pollution resulting from the food production process. Especially in cities, where they may be multiple other industries, it is important to incorporate as many sustainable and environmentally friendly processes as possible so as to reduce carbon footprint and forms of pollution that may lower the standards of living. This section involves the following categories:

• Urban Agriculture: Urban agriculture aims on city-specific methods of cultivating food.
• Technology: New scientific advances that help with sustainable food cultivation.
  • Genetically Modified organisms (GMOs): mainly focused on plants. GMOs are a potential method of increasing crop yields, making crops easier to grow, and adding nutrition to plants.

Efficient Food Distribution involves the following categories:

• Food Welfare and Equity Programs: focuses on tackling food poverty and bringing nutritious and filling meals to those in the city who cannot afford them. There is a focus on establishing programs that help fight against hunger and malnutrition.
• Food Accessibility: focused on making food accessible to everyone, regardless of where their city is located, and on making food affordable.
• Food Waste: focused on reducing food waste in the city. Redistribution of uneaten food from restaurants and stores to hungry people is being explored. Solutions also aim to get consumers actively involved in reducing food waste.