However, meeting the targets for eradicating hunger and poverty while addressing the threat of climate change will require a profound transformation of current agriculture systems. 

There is science-based evidence that agriculture, and the food sector at large, bears a major responsibility for climate change.

Taken together, agriculture, forestry and land-use change, account for about one-fifth of global green house gas (GHG) emissions. Livestock products are responsible for the largest share, namely 14.5 per cent of the total anthropogenic GHG emissions.

Furthermore, worldwide meat production is projected to increase from 229 million tonnes in 2001 to 465 million tonnes in 2050.

The impact of food systems as a whole is even greater: further emissions are generated by the manufacture of agrochemicals, by fossil energy use in farm operations, and by transportation, processing and retailing. One-third of the food produced for human consumption is annually lost or wasted along the chain stretching from farms to kitchens.

During the Green Revolution in the second half of the 20th century, planting commodity crops “fencerow to fencerow” was the driving philosophy.

We can no longer think of agriculture as production alone: we recognise the interconnectedness of economic, social and environmental roles and functions. The goal is to optimise agricultural efficiency across a far more complex landscape of production, environmental services, and social justice achievements. 

The outcomes of the agroindustry’s models and food systems that prospered in recent times are discouraging: large numbers of people still hungry, surpassed environmental limits, rising pressures on agricultural resources, and consumers uncertain about how to exert their power.

As a consequence of the globalisation and concentration of the food supply chain, a small number of multinational firms dominate the agrifood market. 

An environmentally sustainable food system is key to ensuring nutritious food and water availability, to preserving natural resources and to mitigating climate change.

Everyone can contribute to this ultimate challenge: defending gastronomic traditions and biodiversity, supporting small-scale and local farming, eating less meat, teaching the pleasure of “good, clean and fair food”.

The combination of all of our choices can push governments and the international community to finally undertake the major changes that planet Earth desperately needs.

In the words of American author Michael Pollan: “You can vote with your fork, and you can do it three times a day.”

Alessandra Telch is a member of the Slow Food Regional Committee Trentino-Alto Adige Südtirol.

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