Innovations for Reconfiguring Food Systems

Reconfiguring food systems to be more resilient, sustainable and equitable presents considerable challenges: food systems are extremely diverse, they are based on biological systems that provide many key functions other than food provision that need to be safeguarded, and large-scale disruption has the potential to be catastrophic. Innovation in several parts of the food system will be necessary, consisting of a mixture of small, incremental shifts to existing systems and practices as well as radical and disruptive changes. Many technological options are already being piloted or in the pipeline that may help to shift food system practices and behaviour in ways that can benefit food security, equity and the environment. Uptake of innovations at scale needs a range of enablers to be in place, such as new policies and regulatory frameworks, innovative funding mechanisms, monitoring and assessment to help avoid unintended consequences, and market incentives to help spread risk. We also need to be innovative in doing agricultural research for development and in monitoring the impacts of change on human and natural systems.