Food systems change and consumers’ relationship with food
Ultimately, changing the food system requires changing how we eat. Of course, changing how we eat is not at all simple. What we eat is influenced by local cultures, by global agribusiness and big food companies, by government policy, and by influencers in the media. I believe that transitioning to a more sustainable, regenerative food system requires working across all nodes of the food system. As discussed here, policy can have a big influence on incentives for both farmers and eaters.
Consumers influence market demand and can provide significant support for policy changes. So how can we reach consumers?
We can think about these in terms of messaging and messengers. Messaging is what we say about regeneratively grown food. Messengers are who says it: media and influencers/celebrities, companies, or educational programs.
With regards to messaging, we can take some lessons from existing movements and trends.
- From the organic movement, we know that consumers have responded more to health concerns about chemicals than to environmental claims
- From the environmental movement, we know that consumers are reluctant to change their habits for impacts that don’t affect them immediately or directly. Even for conscious consumers, there are perceptions that it’s “too hard” or “my actions won’t make a difference”
- From the foodie movement, we know that people are increasingly interested in new and diverse food experiences and like learning about them in various forms of media as well as sharing their experiences on social media
- From various recent food trends, we know about the power of influencers to popularize particular diets, particularly diets that offer immediate benefits to oneself in the form of increased energy or a better physical appearance (examples include whole 30, keto, etc.) and about astronomical growth in popularity of some superfoods, such as kale, avocado, or acai.
- We also know that concerns about climate change are increasing with more evidence and immediate impacts in the form of natural disasters.
- The data show that consumers, 66% of global consumers and 73% of global millennials, say they are willing to pay more for sustainability (2015 Nielsen Global Corporate Social Responsibility), but only 1 to 5% buy greener products (Journal of Industrial Ecology 2015).
To change consumer behavior, I believe the key is to focus on the personal benefits consumers can receive from supporting regenerative agriculture. The most powerful messages will be about health — better health from more diverse diets, including eating more legumes and also heirloom varieties of common foods, and better health from healthier soils due to higher nutrient density and soil microbes.
Diverse diets are important because for regenerative systems to work, we need to create balanced demand for the various crops in a rotation that will support a healthy ecosystem. For this, celebrity chefs, television personalities, and social media influencers have a prominent role to play in promoting different eating habits. Chef Dan Barber, of Blue Hill at Stone Barns, is a vocal advocate of eating from the whole farm. In this vein, the ideal advocacy will have consumers changing how they think about their full set of eating habits. A simpler approach and good building block will be to popularize certain foods whose cultivation will correct imbalances in our current food system. In the US, this could mean popularizing nitrogen-fixing legumes like lentils and chickpeas, as well as brassicas with fungicidal properties, like broccoli and cauliflower. Food shows and social media are a great way to popularize particular foods with personal testimonials, recipes, and tips for how to cook with them or where to try them. Regenerative food organizations have a great opportunity to reach out to these influencers to have them help spread the message.
To support the broader message behind regenerative, media in the form of films and books are also helpful. In recent years, we’ve seen a rise in media about the benefits of regenerative agriculture and soil health, including Kiss the Ground and Farmocology. Like media about the US meat industry, these are likely to convince some consumers and increase the general public’s knowledge of the topic.
To further support this effort, it will be important to conduct more research connecting soil health to nutritional density or gut health (from healthy microbiomes). This can be supported in part by publicly funded research, and in part by non-profits like the Rodale Institute, but there’s also an opportunity to have food companies support this research as part of their R&D or marketing efforts.
Food companies (consumer packaged goods companies, retailers, restaurants etc.) interested in supporting regenerative can share the benefits of their regeneratively grown products with their customers, much as food companies of generations past have influenced consumer tastes and preferences. Regenerative sourcing can also be a competitive advantage for these companies, in allowing them to ensure higher quality food for their customers, regardless of messaging.
Ideally, we want consumers to understand the whole ecosystem impacts of food, beyond the impacts on their own health. Media, as mentioned above, can do some of this, but first-hand experiences will be critical for deeper understanding and behavior change. Some also believe food businesses can play a role here as consumers become more conscious of sustainability impacts. Early education can play a big role in helping the next generation be more conscious of the food system. Edible Schoolyard seeks to expose children to gardening and food production to build connections with soil and food. Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture has designed educational programs for high-schoolers that help them understand the food system and how individual choices fit in. They have the goal of reaching 1 in 10 people, which research has shown is a tipping point for movements. Having this level of awareness in consumers will influence the whole system, including agribusiness and policy makers to effect change.
This is part 7 of a series, written in January 2019
1. Introduction: The Magic of Regenerative Agriculture
3. Defining Regenerative and who’s doing it
5. Farm-level transitions (local learning and infrastructure)
6. Financing Regenerative Agricultural Transitions
