How can businesses manage food systems in a sustainable way while building resilience and meeting customer expectations? This was the overarching question at the ‘The Future of Food’ conference where key industry personnel, from agriculture, manufacturing, processing and retail, and NGOs, discussed the future of food.
Collaboration
The defining word of the conference was ‘collaboration’, unsurprising really considering collaboration is a driving force behind a conference like this which seeks answers and guidance to a systemic issue. Naturally, a systemic issue requires a systems thinking perspective which encompasses the whole food value chain and all its stakeholders, and this was widely acknowledged among the speakers. But, how?
Trust, traceability and transparency
Key themes of the conference were trust, traceability and transparency. At times, the distinction between these was blurred, but as one delegate argued, they are very different things. This was demonstrated throughout the conference. Transparency does not mean consumers will trust a business: even when consumers trust a brand they believe a business has its own agenda. Innovations like blockchain create a chain of traceability – but only to those within the blockchain and are not used to demonstrate, for example, food safety as there are other technologies that can be used for that. Transparency enables a consumer to make an informed choice. However, this begs the questions ‘what visibility do we give to who?’ and ‘what does each stakeholder want to know?’ One speaker argued that transparency is coming whether we like it or not – but where traceability is demonstrable of food safety and provenance, and trust is an integral part of stakeholder relationships, what happens after the transparency of supply chains?
Unintended consequences
Many speakers warned against unintended consequences: there is a need to respond to consumers’ – and other’s – demands in a timely way, but changes should not be rushed and should certainly not be at the expense of other issues. But we are running out of time and the sense of urgency needs to be instilled in all stakeholders. It is not enough to be reactive, especially when this can lead to unintended consequences. Boycotting palm oil or companies that allow child labour, for example, can only backfire as this can lead to a loss of jobs, children forced into prostitution, and the use of alternative products that have a higher environmental impact. It is better to work with companies to educate, and to work with the local culture to find a way that is best for planet and people. If we want to change something, we have to stay in it. We do not want islands of good practice: good sustainable practice must be the mainstream.
Power of consumers
There are challenges, of course. If whatever a business does is not perfect then it is open to criticism. Many expressed that consumers drive change. We are at a tipping point and consumers have the solutions – and the power. However, although consumer consciousness has increased rapidly, they are do not fully realise the power they have or how to use it. They are looking through a narrow lens at things like plastics, palm oil and veganism, and although what consumers want drives change and decision-making, businesses have a responsibility to get them to care about other sustainability issues too so that the changes businesses make for the better are not met with resistance but through collaboration and co-creation.
Reframing the conversation
While many argued that the conversation around sustainable food systems needs to be reframed, one speaker described how the conversation is continuously changing and at an unpredictable pace. Much of the conversation focuses on individual stories – e.g. who grew my food? – but through innovation and increasing awareness is beginning to give stakeholders the opportunities to create the whole story. However, the debate on genetically modified and gene-engineered food highlighted to me that some stories are more universally accepted than others. We need to ask ‘who drives the narrative?’ and ‘what lens are we looking through?’ Moreover, we need to acknowledge that we do not all speak the same language: we need to change the language used and talk directly to – and with – individuals.
Co-creating balance and harmony
In the food industry, taste is key. Ultimately, consumers want delicious, desirable food and as we move forward we need to take an holistic approach to food production and consumption. We must look through a global lens to provide sustainable diets for everyone that benefit both well-being and the environment: food that is both good for people and good for the planet. My key takeaway from this conference was a narrative of disconnect between people and planet and the need to co-create balance and harmony. Harmony was the sole word I wrote during the first session of the conference. In the last session, the need for balance was emphasised during the discussion of polar issues: using palm oil is bad, plastic is bad, eating meat is bad. But is it healthy to look at it in such an extreme way? What of the unintended consequences? Responsible, sustainable palm oil has numerous benefits, particularly over alternative oils. Plastic packaging can help extend the life of food and therefore minimise food waste, while alternative packaging solutions have their own environmental and social problems. We should eat less meat and not depend on intensive farming, rather than severely heightening demand for plant-based products that could also be unsustainable. And there are far more issues besides that get overlooked as we focus on the polarities, as was seen even within this conference.
The need for balance particularly resonated with me as I can see both sides of each coin and the interconnection between different sustainability issues which makes tackling them and understanding them almost impossible. We talk about educating consumers, but as one speaker pointed out, that assumes that businesses and NGOs know all the answers. But none of us do. Collaboration is a stepping stone to creating a sustainable food system, but it is not enough. Like engagement, I feel like collaboration is becoming one of those ‘buzzwords’. Yet, to reframe the conversation and the terminology to one that places value on food, people and planet, we need to work together.
Personal reflections
My own research falls within the realms of building sustainable food systems and although there were no sessions related directly to food waste, or the hospitality industry, and the discussions focused on businesses, suppliers and consumers and omitted the role of employees, I have come away with a more well-rounded knowledge of the food industry and what is being done to make it more sustainable. This knowledge I can also link to my own research as the same lessons apply. Moreover, we are all consumers of food, and we are all citizens of this planet.
This is an account of the first conference I attended earlier this week during the course of my PhD. Due to the Chatham House rule the comments within this report are not attributed to any particular individuals. The Chatham House rule encourages openness of discussion and freedom of sharing information so long as neither the identity nor the affiliation of a speaker or other participant are revealed.
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