Inequalities from Farm to Fork. Where do we start?

GoodAfterCovid19 fishbowl #8

During this 8th Good after Covid conversation, we had the chance to discuss a topic that, due to the pandemic, is emerging stronger than ever: Inequalities. Within this series of conversations, we would love to make sense of what is happening around us and to look for the good.

Since the pandemic broke, we at the Future Food Institute, together with Carlo Giardinetti of Franklin University Switzerland, as well as Kim Polman and Anthony Bennett from Reboot the Future, have been partners in a sequence of live-streamed discussions entitled, #GoodAfterCovid19. The express purpose of these being to provide a real-time laboratory to prepare for life, post-lockdown, and to capture the learnings of this unprecedented time.

We were fortunate to have with us various actors from different sectors and disciplines.

Our conversation starters included Arne Cartridge, from Imagine; Mark Brand, Founder of A Better Life Foundation, and Pio Wennubst, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to FAO/IFAD/WFP, as well as a group of bright minds, activists, chefs, farmers, scientists, policy, and industry experts, all thought leaders in their respective fields. We were also fortunate to have with us: Anthony Bennett, Andrea Ciucci, Diletta Bellotti, Chiara Cecchini, Claudia Laricchia, Cola Kavhu, Andrea Ciucci, Peter Klosse, Silvia Gaiani, Tim West, Beatriz Jacoste, Charles Michael, Huub Savelkouls, Julia Dalmadi, Steven Finn, Sonia Massari, Joyce Najm Mendez, Costantino Parma, and Renata Cabrera.

As you know, we think that the more variety of people we meet and listen to, the more the dialogue will help us make good choices. In this, we want to stress again the importance of SDG 17, Partnerships for Sustainable Development, for understanding and fighting the inequalities that are present in all the food sectors.

It is clear that self-assessment is becoming central in our work. This should not be a closed practice but rather a community effort, to understand the weight of our actions. This self-assessment is something relatively new: “It’s only within the past 5/10 years that we started thinking about the interrelation among different sectors” tells Arne Cartridge.

So let’s keep in mind the weight of our actions and ask ourselves: “How do we produce? And what do we eat?”.

The inequalities that have emerged

“When a crisis comes we never come out of it the same. We come out of it worse or better.” —Pope Francis

We are going to try to achieve the complex task of collating all the points that came out of yesterday’s conversation. As we have seen from the diversity of backgrounds and the quantity of participants, the food sector is inordinately complex. This complexity is due to the many layers that are closely linked to each other. As soon as you start talking about one piece, there are all the others that push to be taken into account as well.

Starting from here, we have seen that in the Agrifood sector inequalities are real and tangible and that the pandemic crisis has made them even more evident. Poverty is rising with all non-regular workers having lost their jobs. As we know, this irregular condition is very much diffused across the agri-food sector. As of 2017, in Italy, only 50% of day laborers were irregular. Exploitation is around the corner.

As Diletta Bellotti reminds us: “Also Western countries have a lot of problems in sustainability. Food in Europe has a history of violence and obsession for the most. Why does food rely on exploitation?”

Not seeing and not knowing the faces of these people makes it hard to understand the gravity of this problem. “Numbers are not enough. We need more faces, names, stories, places” stresses Don Ciucci. Maintaining this status quo is no longer possible. In this way we condone violence and we promote poverty. Poor is the person who has not enough resources to take care of himself, to feed himself. These problems have often been seen as the responsibility of the individuals, but they are not. These are social problems. As Mark Brand states: “Poverty is an act of violence, we choose to participate in poverty”.

And poverty is not only perpetrated at the level of agricultural exploitment or at the level of urbanization. Inequalities that generate poverty are also perpetrated at an international level among countries. The well-being of some countries is dependent on the poverty of others. Is it possible to change this? To find a paradigm that diffuses well-being at a local, city, regional, and international level? How might we live in a safe and healthy situation without harming others?

When we talk about inequalities we also need to talk about health inequalities. Like all things, we need to find a balance. Our health is not just the result of chance. In large part, it is also a problem of a good or bad societal organization, or of societal habits.

Obesity has been often relegated as an issue unique to developed countries, but it is increasingly becoming an important problem even in those parts of the world that are not rich. Access to nutritious food is another key problem for all of us, rich and poor alike. Access to nutritious food is also closely linked to having a healthy and vital environment. If the environment where we live is polluted we are going to be sick as well.

So, we might think that when we have nutritious food at our disposal we are surely eating it and are happy and thankful to have it. But it is not always the case. Inequalities in health and access to nutritious food remain paradoxical. As Costantino Parma reminds us, not always when you have a good product you are going to appreciate it. Therefore it is important to create a value chain and educate consumers as to what a good product is. Our grandmothers used to understand that one can determine if a fish is fresh by looking at its eyes Unfortunately, these nuggets of wisdom have dissipated over time and by now, most of us have unlearned this skill.

Inequality must be addressed under these three points: responsibility, consciousness, and willingness.

During this pandemic, we have reverted to a revitalized trust in institutions and research. But these two areas should not remain separated from the consumer and from the citizenry. Responsibility towards the food system must be shared by all. We talked about cooperatives as a powerful tool to spread this responsibility and facilitate change in consciousness. Responsibility should also come from bigger industries that have the power to initiate change on larger scales. We need to have leaders that have the courage to invest long-term. We need to inspire and educate people that we, as humans, have the power to impact our societies. As Carlo Giardinetti reminds us, it is more a question of willingness than of technicalities. Pharmaceutical industries “have made the miracle in 10 months” in creating a vaccine against Covid19. We can make this change.

Synthesis

We are but one among many species on Earth but our peculiar characteristic is that we have data. We can unleash this data to better understand our actions and to predict the consequences that they have on our Society and on our Planet. Let’s use them.

But data alone won’t be enough. A paradigm shift can only happen if we have a change in our values, a change in what is important to us and what is not important. This kind of change will be participative and local can begin through microfinance. This change will also be cultural and needs to be driven by storytelling that makes sense in our societies. This change will happen through collaboration. An example of this is food diplomacy, we need to use this soft power to achieve change, find trade-offs, and keep the momentum going.

Responsibility, Education, and an Intergenerational push are three key concepts that we have to keep in mind while thinking about this change. Responsibility: the care of the planet, and of ourselves as inhabitants of it, is a shared task that we have to take on our shoulders as a community. Education: everyone needs to be “educated” not only children or younger generations. Education is a way to not let our brains fall asleep and to always look at the world through fresh eyes. Intergenerational push: as an accompaniment and expression of those who have been on Earth longer than the younger generations, and as a resource of energies and a willingness to make things better.

To push forward and deepen the analysis that we are making, it would be interesting to make the distinction between inequality and equality, and between equity and justice. This might seem just a theoretical exercise, but it can help us to address the problems that came out of yesterday’s discussion under a different light.

The Future Food Institute is an international non-governmental organization and the cornerstone of the Future Food Ecosystem, a collection of Research Labs, Partnerships, Initiatives, Platforms, Networks, Entrepreneurial Projects, and Academy programs, that aims to build a more equitable world through enlightening a world-class breed of innovators, boosting entrepreneurial potential, and improving agri-food expertise and tradition.

Future Food advocates for positive change through initiatives in Food Waste & Circular Systems, Water Safety & Security, Climate & Earth Regeneration, Mediterranean Foodscape, Nutrition & New Foods, and Humana Communitas, all tied in with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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