There are two huge problems in the world’s food system. First, hundreds of millions of people cannot buy enough nutritious food to stay healthy. Second, it is incredibly destructive. We are still destroying rainforests to make way for ranches, and both conventional and organic farms produce all kinds of pollutants, food systems that produce more than a third of greenhouse gases.
As the world goes through a 1.5°C temperature increase (see “2024 will be the first year to break the 1.5°C warming limit”), things could get a lot worse. But we can do a lot, from eating less meat to reducing food waste (see “Is the climate change food crisis even worse than we thought?”). with amazing advances in genetic technology In recent years, there is also a great opportunity to improve the plants and animals that provide our food. We can make them more nutritious, healthier, to better cope with changing conditions and they are more susceptible to diseases that are on the rise as the world warms. We should also be able to create plants that need less fertilizer and capture more of the sun’s energy.
It is surprising that most countries do not invest heavily in crop improvement
The benefits of all this would be enormous: more food from less land, lower prices, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and less chance of viruses like H5N1 bird flu causing another pandemic.
It is therefore surprising that most countries do not invest heavily in crop improvement. There is some private investment, but these companies are unlikely to make their technologies freely available, slowing their adoption.
We also believe that more “natural” ways of farming are better, as opposition to genetically modified (GM) crops makes it more difficult and expensive to gain acceptance.
This is starting to changeas many countries facilitate the marketing of genetically edited crops and animals, but we need more action, and fast.
The idea that organic food is better for the planet and GMO food is worse is a false narrative that hides a far more inconvenient reality: that continuing as we do will lead to even greater destruction and increased hunger.
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