Introduction: A Research Agenda for Food Systems

The argument that 'food systems are broken' has been made widely over the past decade or more by an ever-growing roster of scholars and policy analysts. Following the first section that deconstructs the food system into key components and examines the way these interconnect, the chapter then goes on to identify and briefly explain major system failings. These include the triple burden of dietary inadequacy and non-communicable disease; a range of environmental impacts, including climate breakdown and wider ecological and health consequences; and issues around labour, inequality and food poverty. However, how such problems - and their proposed solutions - are framed requires paying close attention to different narratives representing very divergent interests. One recurrent term that is widely used - including by those anxious to maintain 'business as usual' - is that of sustainability. This is examined more closely in relation to its deployment as a prefix for agriculture - where the principles of agroecology are outlined - and for diets where the challenges for reshaping consumption practices are explored.