Published 2022-06-01

This post is also available in Swedish

Food sector on sustainability in times of crisis and war

The current situation around the world is affecting global and Swedish food systems. Supermarket prices are rising, and catastrophic famine threatens large parts of the world. Mistra Food Futures recently invited representatives from various parts of the food sector to discuss how to promote a long-term transition to sustainability at the same time that urgent crises need to be tackled.

The depletion of biodiversity and a changed climate necessitate a sustainable transition of the food system. Meanwhile, the covid pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine involve urgent problems that require rapid solutions. To discuss sustainability in the short and long term in various parts of the food supply chain, Mistra Food Futures invited researchers and actors from food companies, government agencies and the supply chain to a table talk with the aim of sharing experiences, challenges, opportunities and thoughts about the future.

Helena Hansson, Programme Director of Mistra Food Futures and Line Gordon, Researcher within the programme, started the meeting with an analysis of the current situation. And it is dismal. Russia is the world’s largest exporter of wheat. Ukraine is another major exporter. India is shutting down its grain exports in order to meet its own supply needs after the country was hit by extreme heat. In Sri Lanka, major protests have taken place due to the prevailing food crisis. Indonesia is shutting down its palm oil exports, an alternative that is now more in demand as a large part of the world’s production of sunflower oil occurs in Ukraine.

“Here in Sweden, we’re seeing higher retail prices, but in other parts of the world there is a threat of a real catastrophic famine,” Hansson says. “The crises show how dependent we are on the global food system. International trade has many benefits, but we’re now also seeing how vulnerable it is.”

“I have always been an optimist, but I am deeply concerned about the current situation,” Gordon says. “The crises hit the most vulnerable – the poorest people in the world. This is also taking place at the same time that many countries are reducing their aid to others.”

Crises are the “new normal”

The participants at the meeting discussed everything from consumers’ eating habits and how higher retail prices may affect sales of sustainability-labelled products, to the prevailing shortage of packaging materials and the risk that inferior materials may be start to be used. Positive opportunities were also highlighted, such as more incentives for packaging-free retail and less food waste, as well as opportunities for production of sunflower oil in Sweden and discussions about recycling phosphorus from the mining industry and plant breeding.

The participants also raised the problems of food issues often being managed with a silo mentality, that the focus is on solving one issue at a time and that Sweden tends to manage urgent crises better than long-term ones. Actors in the industry are seeing a shift from a focus on climate to a focus on self-sufficiency and from the wish for global trade to local trade.

Several of the actors pointed out that crises have become the “new normal”. In addition to those already mentioned, drought, overfishing and electricity supply were crises that were highlighted. The prevailing situation may provide the momentum to incorporate more long-term requirements for resilience, climate and environment in policy instruments. However, prioritisation between regulation and market initiatives at EU and national levels is required, and, not least, values and attitudes that can put pressure on politics.