In response to the Ukraine crisis, Europe is sidelining key sustainability goals in order to ensure food security. Anne Charlotte Bunge, a doctoral candidate at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, explains the state of our food security amid multiple crises and how we should respond both in the short term and the long term. An interview on the critical importance of resilient agriculture and a case for legumes in a sustainable diet.
We are in the midst of a major planetary health crisis. Planetary health refers to the state of health of human civilization and the environment on which it depends. Human health and planetary health are closely intertwined.
Current agricultural practices and dietary habits, particularly in the Western world, are contributing significantly to the destruction of our environment. If we are to resolve both crises, transforming the food system—from production to consumption—is a key approach.
What is the current food crisis like? Why is the war in Ukraine exacerbating it?
There is a lot of talk these days about a “current” food crisis, which is technically true. However, it’s not as if Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and suddenly we had a food crisis. Of course, this was preceded by a long process.
Our current global food system is unfair at every level. As a result, the crisis is affecting countries to varying degrees. My research focuses on food systems in Scandinavia. Here, as in other Western countries, we are facing higher food and energy prices and the resulting inflation. Fertilizers are becoming scarcer and, above all, more expensive.
The situation is quite different in countries of the Global South: food systems were already severely weakened in the years leading up to this. Prices have risen repeatedly since 2011. Agriculture is frequently confronted with unpredictable natural disasters and the resulting crop failures. In areas that are already dry—including some Mediterranean countries—there are increasingly more regions that can no longer be used for agriculture due to water shortages caused by long periods of drought. Many African countries are particularly dependent on wheat from Russia and the “breadbasket” of Ukraine. The disruption of supply chains led to acute famine there.
Egypt, for example, imports 90 percent of its wheat from these two countries. There are other potential suppliers: the U.S., Canada, and the EU. So why is Egypt dependent on grain from these two countries? This is due to our global system, which is deeply unjust in terms of social policy. Poorer countries rely on cheap wheat imports. The EU, on the other hand, can afford to buy grain from the U.S. or Canada. Furthermore, we also produce grain ourselves for our own consumption.
The food supply has always been affected by crises. What is new is that the current crises are interconnected, reinforce one another, and thus have a compounding effect.
David Beasley, the director of the World Food Programme, put it very aptly: environmental disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic, rising prices, and—to top it all off—disruptions to supply chains from Ukraine and Russia have created a“perfect storm.”
How did Europe react?
One of the EU’s major achievements is the 2020 Farm-to-Fork Strategy, part of the Green Deal. This strategy sets out the goal of halving pesticide use in the EU and protecting biodiversity—both of which are essential to ensuring future food security. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, various interest groups have attempted to undermine these goals. Their main arguments are, first, yield: “We need to produce as much food as possible right now.” And second: “Organic farming requires more land for the same yield (which is true in itself), so conventional farming is preferable.”
Some EU countries—including Germany—have, in response to the Ukraine crisis, set aside some of these Farm2Fork strategy goals for the time being. Food security for the future is currently not a major political issue.
What is global agriculture currently capable of that sustainable agriculture might not be able to do?
It can produce food on a massive scale through large-scale monocultures and the use of pesticides and fertilizers. The credo is: In the event of food shortages, we must focus on mass production. The fact is, however, that this type of agriculture is not crisis-proof; it is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events, and the food supply cannot be maintained if supply chains are disrupted.
However, there is no food shortage in Europe! Nor is there a global food shortage; rather, food is distributed unevenly.
Here’s an example: The production of animal-based foods (especially red meat) requires an immense amount of resources. Eighty percent of cultivated land is used for this purpose. Yet animal-based foods account for only 18 percent of the calories consumed globally and only 37 percent of protein intake (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Science). That’s an absurd ratio!
This point is currently not emphasized nearly enough in public discourse.
What ad hoc solutions are available that can mitigate the current crisis without sidelining sustainable development?
Scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research propose three key measures for the EU to mitigate the current crisis while safeguarding human health and ensuring long-term sustainable development:
Other measures include a fund to help farmers transition to new production methods, as well as changes to food taxation. In Germany, for example, vegetables are taxed at a higher rate than meat. This needs to be reversed. Environmental and social costs must also be taken into account to reflect the true cost of products.
A corresponding action plan for decision-makers was signed by over 600 high-profile scientists within a matter of days in March 2022. A clear signal of the direction we need to take!
Why is resilience important in food production?
Resilience plays a role in various fields. Materials research is always looking for the material that is most resistant to weather, storms, and so on. In psychology, resilience means that we are able to cope well with stress or traumatic events.
Crises and disasters have always existed. They are an inherent part of our society and of planet Earth. That is why food systems must also be more resilient.
First, how can the agricultural sector make soils climate-resilient or use polycultures to create alternatives that help mitigate crop failures in a particular variety? Second, how do we distribute food equitably? How can we prevent disruptions in supply chains?
What do food systems that ensure food security look like?
In times of crisis, it is often small-scale farmers who keep the local food supply going. This is true both in Western countries and in the Global South: We suddenly find ourselves dependent on alternative, smaller-scale food systems and local food producers, such as organic food boxes or community-supported agriculture (CSA). Since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, such concepts have seen a major upswing in Europe.
In some African countries, it has become clear that local small-scale farmers are better able to adapt to crop failures or climate disasters because they can organize more easily. Women, in particular, are currently forming new communities and seeking alternatives to wheat. Many of these initiatives are also supported by the World Food Programme. Unfortunately, small communities have too little influence at the political level, which is why their approaches are not being implemented on a large scale.
So how do we transform the food system?
To achieve the transition toward sustainable food systems, we need, above all, equitable structures. The “North-South divide” must be eliminated. We must heed the findings of climate and environmental research to ensure food security in the Global South.
Five agribusiness conglomerates (the four so-called ABCD companies plus the Chinese company Cofco) currently control a large portion of the global grain supply chain and, consequently, the distribution of animal feed. Many farmers are dependent on their directives. By redirecting subsidies to small farms, we maintain local supply chains instead of supporting a few large corporations, which in turn exert greater political influence to advance their own, often profit-driven interests. However, the Common Agricultural Policy —the EU-wide support and development program for agriculture—still largely operates this way.
And when it comes to nutrition?
A drastic reduction in animal-based foods in our diet!
It would be better to follow the Planetary Health Diet, which consumes far fewer resources. Legumes are true powerhouses in this regard: they don’t require artificial fertilizers because they act as nitrogen fixers for the soil and are excellent sources of nutrients. When we talk about disrupted supply chains, we know that legumes can be stored for decades when dried or canned.
Many farms specialize in meat production. For many, a transition seems virtually impossible, especially on short notice. What is your response to that?
We talk a lot about intergenerational justice in the context of climate change, but hardly ever about the fact that our food systems also need intergenerational justice.
Every decision we make now will have an impact on food security in the future.
At present, we are allowing ourselves to use even more land to produce even more animal feed in order to maintain the same level of meat consumption. We are accepting that even more soil quality and biodiversity will be irretrievably lost. This is at the expense of future generations, whose food supply we are thereby putting at grave risk.
The issue is not just a shortage of food, but also the fact that food production is becoming increasingly expensive: artificial pollination due to insect decline, soil quality that is steadily deteriorating and yielding lower harvests, and so on.
Politicians really need to think this through. In fact, a great deal is already laid out in our laws: debt ceilings in our fiscal legislation, set-aside land for biodiversity, and so on. Right now, much of this is simply being “set aside.” No one knows how future generations are supposed to deal with all of this.
Eating habits are formed as early as childhood. What advice would you give to someone who likes to eat meat five times a week? Where do you start?
The best thing we can do as a society is to provide children with sustainable food in schools and, in doing so, get parents on board.
What advice would I give to someone who has 60 years of culinary experience? I would focus on education and also apply the“nudge principle”: people who aren’t interested in nutrition might not even notice when more sustainable meals are served in public institutions, hospitals, and so on. The public sector can certainly use this approach to bring about significant change in society.
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