“Almost a billion people are going hungry, while we waste one third of the food we produce.” (FAO. 2013). Food security refers to the long-term availability and its availability, stability, access, and utilization. Issues that surround food security such as climate change and food sovereignty are debatably wicked problems. A wicked problem refers to a complex, persistent or reoccurring and hard to resolve issue due to its links to broader social, economic and policy issues, (Ahmed S. Khana. 2010) characterised by their lack of definitive solution, uniqueness and complex attachment to other wicked problems. Firstly, we will explore both sides of food sovereignty and businesses impact on food security. Secondly, we will outline the impact of climate change on food security and different business responses
The influence of food sovereignty on food security can be a positive for the consumers and businesses. Food sovereignty refers to the domination and/or monopolization of the food industry by transnational cooperation’s (TNCs). Agriculture such as the farming of soybeans in Brazil has provided the country with significant capital and employment. Companies such as Archer-Daniels-Midland Co, the largest soybeans exporter in Brazil, have created both an increase income and employment (Brazil’s soybean production will rise 4 million tonnes to 88 million tonnes in 2013-2014. (U.S. Department of Agriculture)) Due to it’s large economies of scale operation. (Shruti Date Singh 2013& Altieri, Miguel A 2009)
However, the influence of food sovereignty also creates a number of issues, the large scale operation of TNCs and unsustainable practices are damaging the dynamic equilibrium of ecosystems and increase potential for natural disaster, such...
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...rrow.com/2013/09/26/brazilian-soy-production-still-unsustainable-according-to-campaigners/>)
(Schmidhuber, Josef, and Francesco N. Tubiello. "Global food security under climate change." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104.50. (2007): Page 19703-19708.)
(Rosenzweig, Cynthia, and Martin L. Parry. "Potential impact of climate change on world food supply." Nature 367.6459 (1994): Page 133-138.)
(Triple Pundit. Climate Change News: Tesla and SolarCity Partner to Provide Energy Storage for Commercial Buildings. 2013. Climate Change News: Tesla and SolarCity Partner to Provide Energy Storage for Commercial Buildings. 10/03/14 )
(Tilman D, Balzer C, Hill J, Befort BL. 2011. Global food demand and the sustainable intensification of agriculture. PNAS 108(50):20260–20264. )
The book The No-Nonsense Guide to World Food, by Wayne Roberts introduces us to the concept of “food system”, which has been neglected by many people in today’s fast-changing and fast-developing global food scene. Roberts points out that rather than food system, more people tend to recognize food as a problem or an opportunity. And he believes that instead of considering food as a “problem”, we should think first and foremost about food as an “opportunity”.
As explained by Rosenzwig, “We are already seeing major impacts of climate change on agriculture: droughts leading to crop loss and salinization of soils, flooding causing waterlogged soils, longer growing seasons leading to new and more pest pressures, and erratic weather shifting harvesting seasons” (854). We know agriculture and fisheries are highly dependent on specific climatic condition. Increases in temperature and carbon dioxide can be beneficial for some crops in some places. But to realize these benefits, nutrient levels, soil moisture, water availability, and other conditions must also be met. Changes in the frequency and severity of droughts and floods have posed challenges for farmers and ranchers. Meanwhile, warmer water temperatures are likely to cause the habitat ranges of many fish and shellfish species to shift, which could disrupt ecosystems. Overall, this climate change has made it more difficult to grow crops, raise animals, and catch fish in the same ways and same places as we have done in the
O’Hara, Sabine U., and Sigrid Stagl. "Global Food Markets and their Local Alternatives: A Socio-Ecological Economic Perspective." Population and Environment 22.6 (2001): pp. 533-554. Web.
...struggling to earn any income at all and sometimes do not even get the opportunity to eat. Another issue that Raj Patel did not touch on is the lack of care consumers have for the farmers. It seems that consumers care about farmers about as much as the corporations do, which, in my opinion, is not a lot. When consumers only care about low prices and large corporations only care about making a profit, the farmers are left out to dry. Many consumers believe “food should be available at a bargain price, a belief that relies on labor exploitation and environmental exhaustion at multiple points along the commodity chain.” (Wright, 95) Corporations as well as consumers generally tend to be selfish and I think Raj Patel is afraid to mention this. If only these people cared a little bit more about each other I believe the hourglass of the food system will begin to even out.
Shifting back to a more locally sourced food economy is often touted as a fairly straightforward way to cut externalities, restore some measure of equity between producers and consumers, and put the food economy on a more sustainable footing.” (source E). The long-distance transportation of food uses a profligate amount of fuel and exploits cheap labor in the process. It can greatly assist the environment to buy from local sources by making the carbon footprint of food production lesser and saving natural resources such as oil.
The clock is ticking! Global Co2 emissions have increased exponentially since the industrialization of today’s developed world. Emissions have now passed the absorptive capacity of the earth and are accumulating in the earth’s atmosphere, warming the surface of the earth and inducing localized climatic changes. Climate change is often a localized issue. Many regions of the world will continue to become hotter, while others may experience highly variable weather patterns. Climate change poses a serious threat to ecosystems, economic sectors, and human welfare. Although almost entirely caused by the developed world, climate change will disproportionally affect the world’s poor.
Bibliography: Confino, J. (2014). Asda: 95% of our fresh produce is already at risk from climate change. [Online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/asda-food-waste-risk-climate-change [Accessed 23 Jan. 2015].
One of the impacts of climate change is that as the temperatures in cooler parts of the world change and become warmer, this will allow that place to be more habitable to other different types of food crops, thus expanding the area in which these crops can be grown. For example, less frequent freezes will allow crops like citrus to be planted and gro...
We live in an age in which we have come to expect everything to be instantaneously at our fingertips. We live in an age of instant coffee, instant tea, and even instant mashed potatoes. We can walk down the street at 5 in the morning and get a gallon of milk or even a weeks worth of groceries at our discretion. Even though it is great that food is now readily available at all times, this convenience comes at a price, for both the producer and the consumer. Farmers are cheated out of money and are slaves to big business, workers and animals are mistreated. And, because food now comes at a low cost, it has become cheaper quality and therefore potentially dangerous to the consumer’s health. These problems surrounding the ethics and the procedures of the instantaneous food system are left unchanged due to the obliviousness of the consumers and the dollar signs in the eyes of the government and big business. The problem begins with the mistreatment and exploitation of farmers.
With the increases in the global population and the increase need to feed this population, comes the great debate in how governments of the developed and developing world must tackle this important issue. In his article, The Politics of Hunger: How Illusion and Greed Fan the Food Crisis, Paul Collier examines the root causes of the food crisis and three ways (the slaying of giants) governments can easily come in finding a solution in the near-term, middle-term and long-term. The root causes, as outlined by Mr. Collier, are the increasing demand for food and increases in food prices. First, Collier states, “the first giant that must be slain is the middle to upper-class love affair with peasant agriculture.” In other words, increasing commercial agriculture and farming. Second, Collier states that the lifting of the genetically modified foods (GM crops) ban by Europe and Africa will allow a decrease in global food prices. Lastly, he states the United States must lift the subsidies on corn produced for biofuel and find an alternate biofuel source (like Brazilian sugar cane), thus decreasing the price on corn produced for food while increasing overall grain production.
There are many problems confronting our global food system. One of them is that the food is not distributed fairly or evenly in the world. According “The Last Bite Is The World’s Food System Collapsing?” by Bee Wilson, “we are producing more food—more grain, more meat, more fruits and vegetables—than ever before, more cheaply than ever before” (Wilson, 2008). Here we are, producing more and more affordable food. However, the World Bank recently announced that thirty-three countries are still famine and hungers as the food price are climbing. Wilson stated, “despite the current food crisis, last year’s worldwide grain harvest was colossal, five per cent above the previous year’s” (Wilson, 2008). This statement support that the food is not distributed evenly. The food production actually increased but people are still in hunger and malnutrition. If the food were evenly distributed, this famine problem would’ve been not a problem. Wilson added, “the food economy has created a system in w...
A. Write on three of the following: 1. Food Sovereignty: a. Food sovereignty is having the right to the appropriate food that the country provides for you as well as, the right to define your own food systems. Food sovereignty and food security go hand-in-hand; furthermore, food security as stated by Rosset in his article “Food Sovereignty,” he states that food security is the right to having enough food to eat each day (Rosset, Food Sovereignty, P. 1). Now, it doesn’t state how it’s made or produced, but it gives a certainty that we are supposed to have a certain amount of food to eat each day. With that being said, how it challenges the free trade agreements with the want to exclude all sorts of food and agriculture from the trade agreements
Food insecurity and poor nutrition is an alarmingly large problem for low income families, especially in developing countries. Many strategies exist to fight this problem, although not many of these address all the factors contributing to it along with all the possible solutions to solve it. In many cases, multiple strategies must correlate and work together so that all the determinants of this issue are addressed and can fight food insecurity from different angles. This essay will discuss the significance of the problem, a range of possible strategies to solve the problem, and go into detail on a select few that will correlate and work together to solve different factors of food insecurity and poor nutrition.
Food is taken for granted by many people in places like the Western World, especially in countries like the United States. There is no fear that the next meal will be an empty plate, nor is there reason to fear that the supply of food will disappear. The reason that there is no need to ration out supplies is that the food industry mass produces food to feed their ever growing population in factory farms. However, the public is kept generally unaware of what occurs inside these farms, which calls into question the integrity of the food production. While there is an acceptance of these farms due to the convenience they provide to the consumer, there are many negative consequences related to these slaughterhouses. The mass production of food from factory farming does not justify the negative affects and threat to the environment, to the health and security of animals, nor the violation of workers’ rights.
Imagine a world with almost ten billion people, thirty percent more than the population of today, the rising standard of living in developing nations causing the global demand for food resources to skyrocket. Now, at the same time, imagine a world that has almost no way to support a population of this size. In fact, this world is slowly losing its ability to support life at all. This scenario is not a pitch for a novel set in a dystopian future, nor is it a prediction made for a time so far in the future that it can be easily ignored. This prediction will most likely come to be within the lifetimes of many alive today, researchers in the ecological field believe that this will become the reality even within the next thirty-five years if significant