Pam Koch and Sara Elnakib recently joined President Joe Biden and thought leaders from throughout the nation at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. As experts in nutrition education and behavior, we were impressed by the administration’s understanding of this complex topic — but there was a critical element missing.
Both the conference and the accompanying strategy released by the White House said very little about building food systems that are sustainable. That is disappointing because shifting our nation’s food supply to more sustainable systems is necessary for meeting our national goals — not just in nutrition and health, but in battling climate change.
We urge the Biden administration to do more to incorporate sustainability into its food and agriculture plans going forward.
Sustainable food systems reduce the drain on the economy, society and ecology of the community they serve. The farmers in these systems are usually more local, more family owned and operated, more focused on the dietary needs of the community and more focused on providing living wages for local workers. They release less pollution and they can mitigate instead of add to climate change. They are profitable, viable businesses and globally produce most of the food that nourishes people. As many folks have learned in the past few years, these systems are often more resilient than the industrialized food system with its thinly stretched global supply chains.