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Research needs for a food system transition

Author

Listed:
  • Sonali Shukla McDermid

    (New York University)

  • Matthew Hayek

    (New York University)

  • Dale W. Jamieson

    (New York University)

  • Galina Hale

    (University of California at Santa Cruz
    National Bureau of Economic Research
    Centre for Economic Policy Research)

  • David Kanter

    (New York University)

Abstract

The global food system, and animal agriculture in particular, is a major and growing contributor to climate change, land system change, biodiversity loss, water consumption and contamination, and environmental pollution. The copious production and consumption of animal products are also contributing to increasingly negative public health outcomes, particularly in wealthy and rapidly industrializing countries, and result in the slaughter of trillions of animals each year. These impacts are motivating calls for reduced reliance on animal-based products and increased use of replacement plant-based products. However, our understanding of how the production and consumption of animal products, as well as plant-based alternatives, interact with important dimensions of human and environment systems is incomplete across space and time. This inhibits comprehensively envisioning global and regional food system transitions and planning to manage the costs and synergies thereof. We therefore propose a cross-disciplinary research agenda on future target-based scenarios for food system transformation that has at its core three main activities: (1) data collection and analysis at the intersection of animal agriculture, the environment, and societal well-being, (2) the construction of target-based scenarios for animal products informed by these new data and empirical understandings, and (3) the evaluation of impacts, unintended consequences, co-benefits, and trade-offs of these target-based scenarios to help inform decision-making.

Suggested Citation

  • Sonali Shukla McDermid & Matthew Hayek & Dale W. Jamieson & Galina Hale & David Kanter, 2023. "Research needs for a food system transition," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 176(4), pages 1-15, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:176:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s10584-023-03507-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-023-03507-2
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