IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/anr/reseco/v13y2021p131-156.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Food Systems for Human and Planetary Health: Economic Perspectives and Challenges

Author

Listed:
  • Shenggen Fan

    (College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Derek Headey

    (International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, DC 20005, USA)

  • Christopher Rue

    (Public Health Institute (PHI), Oakland, California 94607, USA)

  • Timothy Thomas

    (International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, DC 20005, USA)

Abstract

Food systems are currently facing unprecedented challenges. More than 690 million people still suffer hunger while climate change, rapid depletion of natural resources, and loss of biodiversity further threaten future food systems. Influential global reports emphasize the need for fundamental transformations of food systems for human and planetary health, but few incorporate economic considerations. This review adopts an economic lens to assessing potential transitions to ideal food systems that are productive, sustainable, nutritious, resilient, and inclusive. Our findings show that new technologies, policies, institutions, and behavior changes can leverage synergies for achieving multiple food system targets, but rigorous economic analysis is needed to further analyze trade-offs and to overcome complex behavioral, institutional, and political barriers. This review also points to important knowledge gaps that economists and other social scientists must address to contribute to the radical transformation of food systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Shenggen Fan & Derek Headey & Christopher Rue & Timothy Thomas, 2021. "Food Systems for Human and Planetary Health: Economic Perspectives and Challenges," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 13(1), pages 131-156, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:anr:reseco:v:13:y:2021:p:131-156
    DOI: 10.1146/annurev-resource-101520-081337
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-101520-081337
    Download Restriction: Full text downloads are only available to subscribers. Visit the abstract page for more information.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1146/annurev-resource-101520-081337?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Guthrie, Graeme, 2024. "Farm debt and the over-exploitation of natural capital," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Yi Luo & Dong Huang & Fangfang Cao, 2022. "The Impact of Family Members Serving as Village Cadres on Rural Household Food Waste: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-14, February.
    3. Anderson, Kym, 2022. "Trade-related food policies in a more volatile climate and trade environment," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    4. Kym Anderson & Anna Strutt, 2023. "From re-instrumenting to re-purposing farm support policies," Departmental Working Papers 2023-04, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    5. Chengjun Wang & Mengshan Lv & Lei Li, 2023. "Towards a Win-Win Solution for Dietary Health and Carbon Reduction—Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-15, February.
    6. Ehsani, Afsaneh & Jaghdani, Tinoush Jamali & Götz, Linde, 2022. "Red Meat Consumption as a Benchmark for Food Security During Crises: Case Study of Meat Crisis and Covid-19 Pandemic in Iran," 62nd Annual Conference, Stuttgart, Germany, September 7-9, 2022 329614, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    7. Kym Anderson, 2021. "Food policy in a more volatile climate and trade environment," Departmental Working Papers 2021-25, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    8. Marta Ros-Baró & Patricia Casas-Agustench & Diana Alícia Díaz-Rizzolo & Laura Batlle-Bayer & Ferran Adrià-Acosta & Alícia Aguilar-Martínez & Francesc-Xavier Medina & Montserrat Pujolà & Anna Bach-Faig, 2022. "Edible Insect Consumption for Human and Planetary Health: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-29, September.
    9. Dong, Xuemei & Jiang, Baichen & Zeng, Hui & Kassoh, Fallah Samuel, 2022. "Impact of trust and knowledge in the food chain on motivation-behavior gap in green consumption," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    10. Li Jia & Jing Zhang & Guanghua Qiao, 2022. "Scale and Environmental Impacts of Food Loss and Waste in China—A Material Flow Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-21, December.
    11. Pauw, Karl & Ecker, Olivier & Thurlow, James & Comstock, Andrew R., 2023. "Measuring changes in diet deprivation: New indicators and methods," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    food systems; sustainability; nutrition; resilience; economics perspectives;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F01 - International Economics - - General - - - Global Outlook
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:anr:reseco:v:13:y:2021:p:131-156. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: http://www.annualreviews.org (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.annualreviews.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.