Building a More Sustainable,
Resilient, Equitable, and
Nourishing Food System
PROCEEDINGS OF A WORKSHOP
Melissa Maitin-Shepard, Rapporteur
Food Forum
Food and Nutrition Board
Health and Medicine Division
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
www.nap.edu
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This activity was supported by contracts between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Institutes of Health (HHSN263201800029I/HHSN26300023); the U.S. Department of Agriculture (59-8040-8-003 and 123A9419P0026); and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (HHSP233201400020B/75P00119F37096), with additional support from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics; American Heart Association; Cargill, Inc.; The Coca-Cola Company; Conagra Brands; General Mills, Inc.; Keurig Dr Pepper; Mars, Inc.; Nestlé Corporate Affairs; Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.; PepsiCo; and Unilever. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-67885-8
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-67885-4
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/25832
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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Building a more sustainable, resilient, equitable, and nourishing food system: Proceedings of a workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25832.
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PLANNING COMMITTEE FOR A WORKSHOP ON BUILDING A MORE SUSTAINABLE, RESILIENT, EQUITABLE, AND NOURISHING FOOD SYSTEM1
NAOMI K. FUKAGAWA (Chair), Director, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
KRISTIE L. EBI, Professor, Center for Health and the Global Environment, University of Washington
KELSEY FREEMAN SAELENS, Director, Federal Government Relations, Cargill, Inc.
MATT LIEBMAN, Henry A. Wallace Endowed Chair for Sustainable Agriculture, Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University
D. JULIAN McCLEMENTS, Distinguished Professor, Department of Food Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst
CARRIE McMAHON, Consumer Safety Officer, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
CHRISTIAN PETERS, Associate Professor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University
SYLVIA ROWE, President, SR Strategy, LLC
RICARDO SALVADOR, Director, Food & Environment Program, Union of Concerned Scientists
PATRICK J. STOVER, Vice Chancellor, Dean for Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M University
NORBERT WILSON, Professor, Sanford School of Public Policy, Divinity School, Duke University
___________________
1 The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s planning committees are solely responsible for organizing the workshop, identifying topics, and choosing speakers. The responsibility for the published Proceedings of a Workshop rests with the workshop rapporteur and the institution.
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FOOD FORUM (AS OF JULY 2020)1
SYLVIA ROWE (Chair), SR Strategy, LLC, Washington, DC
ARTI ARORA, The Coca-Cola Company, Atlanta, Georgia
RODOLPHE BARRANGOU, North Carolina State University, Raleigh
SUJATHA BERGEN, Natural Resources Defense Council, New York City
WENDY BOLAND, Kogod School of Business, American University, Washington, DC
CINDY DAVIS, Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
ERIC A. DECKER, University of Massachusetts Amherst
JOY DUBOST, Unilever Research and Development, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
DENISE R. EBLEN, Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC
KELSEY FREEMAN SAELENS, Cargill, Inc., Washington, DC
NAOMI K. FUKAGAWA, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland
STEPHANIE K. GOODWIN, Danone North America, Washington, DC
M. R. C. GREENWOOD, University of California, Davis
TERRY T-K HUANG, City University of New York School of Public Health and Health Policy, New York City
RENÉE S. JOHNSON, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
WENDY L. JOHNSON, Nestlé Corporate Affairs, Arlington, Virginia
CHRISTINA KHOO, Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., Lakeville, Massachusetts
VIVICA I. KRAAK, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg
CATHERINE KWIK-URIBE, Mars, Inc., Germantown, Maryland
JOSEPH A. LEVITT, Hogan Lovells, LLP, Washington, DC
ALICE H. LICHTENSTEIN, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts
PETER LURIE, Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington, DC
CHRISTOPHER J. LYNCH, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
DIANE MALUNOWICZ, Keurig Dr Pepper, Dallas, Texas
SUSAN T. MAYNE, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, College Park, Maryland
___________________
1 The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s forums and roundtables do not issue, review, or approve individual documents. The responsibility for the published Proceedings of a Workshop rests with the workshop rapporteur and the institution.
DEIRDRE McGINLEY-GIESER, American Institute for Cancer Research, Arlington, Virginia
KAREN McINTYRE, Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
MEGAN NECHANICKY, General Mills, Golden Valley, Minnesota
RONI NEFF, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
SARAH OHLHORST, American Society for Nutrition, Rockville, Maryland
JILL REEDY, Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
KRISTIN REIMERS, Conagra Brands, Omaha, Nebraska
BRIAN RONHOLM, Consumer Reports, Washington, DC
SHARON A. ROSS, Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
PAMELA STARKE-REED, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland
ALISON L. STEIBER, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Chicago, Illinois
MARY T. STORY, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
PATRICK J. STOVER, Texas A&M University, College Station
CHERYL TONER, American Heart Association, Washington, DC
DOROTHEA K. VAFIADIS, National Council on Aging, Arlington, Virginia
Health and Medicine Division Staff
HEATHER DEL VALLE COOK, Director, Food Forum
CYPRESS LYNX, Research Associate
ANN L. YAKTINE, Director, Food and Nutrition Board
Reviewers
This Proceedings of a Workshop was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published proceedings as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process. We thank the following individuals for their review of this proceedings:
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the content of the proceedings, nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this proceedings was overseen by JOHN W. ERDMAN, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this proceedings was carried out in accordance with standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the rapporteur and the National Academies.
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Contents
2 NEW EXPECTATIONS FOR THE FOOD SYSTEM
Recent Publications on the Sustainability and Resilience of the Food System
3 VULNERABILITIES OF THE FOOD SYSTEM
Planetary Boundaries and Global Change
An Agroecological Framework for the Food System
4 RESILIENCE OF THE FOOD SYSTEM
Recap of the Introductory Remarks: New Expectations for the Food System
Resiliency Within Complex Dynamic Systems
Resilient Properties of the Current Food System