ARTICLES
Eat the Spotty Banana – why our Food System isn’t Working, and
What you can do about it
By Alana Shepherd Cooper (PhD) – University of Newcastle
What if Australia could no longer farm beef, or dairy? What if there
wasn’t enough fresh water to grow wheat? How would you eat if
you couldn’t pop down to the supermarket?
We know that our environment is changing, but we don’t often
hear about the threat that this poses for our food. Ensuring we
have a sustainable food system that can continue to feed a
growing population is a significant challenge, both on a local and
a global level.
Food sustainability means different things to different people. To
the wider community, it suggests food security – reliable access
to fresh, nutritious food. To the agriculture industry, it means a
strong economic market in which to sell their products. However,
we all rely on a resilient, healthy environment that allows us to
keep producing the food we need to survive.
The Australian government introduced food labelling standards
in 2016 for items grown/produced in Australia [Source: ACCC]
Without action, we are approaching a ‘tipping point’ where
environmental pressures will exceed our ability to continue
producing food at the scale required to feed the population.
It really does matter where you buy your food. The two major
grocery retailers currently share about 80% of the retail market in
Australia, which creates a power imbalance for suppliers. A lack
of retail competition has major negative effects on price, quality,
and the accessibility to fresh food, which disproportionately
affects vulnerable and disadvantaged people in the community
who can’t always afford to shop elsewhere. As a result, many
people choose cheaper processed food, with downstream health
effects such as obesity and diabetes.
We know this is likely to affect our ability to continue growing food
using current practices. What we don’t know, is how fast and
how severe these changes are going to be, or how different parts
of the system will respond to intervention. We can no longer use
past trends as a useful indicator of what is to come. It is critical
that we act now to create a fair, accessible, and secure food
system for current and future generations.
Supermarkets are largely affected by their consumer preferences.
Purchasing fruit and vegetables out-of-season, or only buying the
unblemished bananas, has a big impact on retailers’ marketing
choices, and this affects the price and quality of food, as fresh
food is stored for long periods to ensure year-round availability,
which is also a major source of food waste. Farmers’ markets
and food co-operatives offer fresh seasonal produce, often at
cheaper prices, while also giving some of the power back to the
growers.
There are a few key actions that will make the biggest difference
for the sustainability of our food system. Some of these are long-
term and require coordinated efforts across both global and local
levels. A single solution isn’t enough – we need a combination
of approaches to tackle the issue from several angles. There are
many things we can do as individuals to improve the sustainability
of our food.
Buy local, buy seasonal
Australia plays a key role in the global food network, exporting
around 65% of all food produced locally. Australian-grown food is
critical for food security across the Asia-Pacific, but also creates
challenges for local food supply, as cheap imports compete
with locally grown products. Buying Australian grown food not
only supports local growers, but also reduces the environmental
footprint by shortening the food miles travelled.
Eat less meat
Over a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions come from
food production, mostly due to land clearing and animal output.
Meat products are also highly resource intensive – in order to
produce 1 kg of beef for human consumption requires almost
40kg of plant-based nutrition.
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SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL NEWS VOL 68 NO 4