Thread by @VivaFarming

NEW REPORT: Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems - Comparing contrasting and contested versions

chathamhouse.org/2022/05/sustai…

#vegan #food #farming #ukfarming #chathamhouse

Chatham House published a report yesterday looking at how farming and food systems are related and they can become more sustainable.

#plantbased #veganic #ukfarming

It compared the current status quo approach (increasing productivity while sparing land for nature and minimising the environmental impact) to an approach which emphasized nature-friendly farming and dietary and consumer demand change to reduce the amount of agricultural land.

Although the report concludes that a mixture of the two outlooks is likely to happen and it doesn’t advocate for the end of animal farming, there are some interesting points made.

#ClimateCrisis

It notes that a change in social norms and attitudes “can be rapid and significant”, however, “dietary change of the scale required is very unlikely to occur solely through consumer choice at the point of sale”...

and “focusing on the production of foods that contribute directly to nutrition outcomes, and on reducing the aggregate demand for agricultural production, would require significant structural reform in terms of the market”.

The report states that “there is a growing recognition that dietary change is necessary as a common solution to human and environmental issues (including climate change)”.

#transition #FoodSystems

This means a change in farming is required “towards a greater diversity of plants”. We are underproducing the amount of fruit and vegetables needed for a vegan food system. Incredibly, we only produce one-third of the fruit and veggies globally for us all to get 5-a-day!

We need to increase our production of fruit, vegtables and protein crops. To do that we need the system change the report mentions and that's why we call on the UK government to help and incentivise our farmers now.

#foodsystemchange #vivafarming