Sustainable food systems
A sustainable food system ensures food security and nutrition for everyone. Its sustainability is measured by four key indicators: productivity, profitability, environmental stewardship, and improvement of quality of life.
Achieving this requires careful consideration of every stage of the food supply chain, from cultivation and harvesting to processing, packaging, distribution, and retail.
To get started, watch the video or read the video transcript. You can turn on video subtitles using the [CC] button in the bottom right corner of the video or open the video transcript.
Prefer text?
Read the transcript
Agriculture is feeding the world’s 7.3 billion people. One-third of the world's land is degraded, up to 75% of crop genetic diversity has been lost, and more than half of fish stocks are fully exploited. At the same time, about 800 million people are undernourished. How is Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) addressing these challenges?
“For us (FAO), sustainable food and agriculture is one of the most important issues for food security, nutrition, and improving livelihoods. We cannot keep the level of natural resource degradation that we have now, this is unsustainable. We need to look at more adaptation and resilience to climate change and need to increase productivity.
We are not just looking at production but also need to consider the enhancement and protection of natural resources (the ecosystem services and biodiversity). The concept of sustainable food agriculture also considers the improvement of livelihoods, well-being, and gender equity. Good governance is essential for driving policy change at the national level. It plays a key role in improving coordination between ministries, such as Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment, and Forestry, and ensuring more integrated and effective decision-making.
Most importantly, we need to link sustainable food agriculture to the sustainable development goals (SDGs). It’s a much broader approach, and it's going to be a huge challenge for countries to implement. That's why FAO has a very important role to play in that implementation. I think it's possible, but we need to start now. We can no longer cope with the model that we have and the approach that we are using these days. We need to look ahead and work in a more strategic way.” – Clayton Campanhola, Director of FAO Plant Production and Protection Division.
Key definitions
Agriculture: The science and practice of cultivating soil, producing crops and raising livestock for food, fiber and [various] other products. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) includes crop production, livestock, fisheries, forestry and agro-processing in defining agriculture.
Crop: In agriculture, the intentional growing and harvesting of a plant or plant product for profit or subsistence.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): Meaningful partnership between communities and farmers, whereby consumers can purchase shares in a local farm and in return, receive a weekly box of fresh farm-grown produce, eggs or other products.
Conservation agriculture: Type of farming practice whereby land suitable for farming is protected and degraded lands are regenerated. While maintaining soil cover, minimizing soil disturbance and promoting diversification of plant species, this farming system is foundational for sustainable agricultural production.
Cultivate: The preparation of land for farming or gardening practices.
Food miles: Refers to the distance that food travels from where it is produced to where it is consumed.
Genetically Modified Organism (GMO): An organism that undergoes genetic engineering to alter specific traits or characteristics.
Maximize yields: Strategic practices that maximize crop production while managing the available resources wisely.
Organic: System of farming focused on replenishing and preserving soil fertility without the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Utilizing manual labour, crop rotation, green manure and beneficial insects are some ways organic practices are implemented [within/on organic farms]
Pest: Any organism, insect, plant, pathogen or vertebrate, that negatively affects agricultural production.
Pesticide: A chemical substance or mixture aimed to deter, prevent, repel or kill a pest. Pesticide is a broad term which includes herbicides, insecticides and fungicides.
Sustainable food systems: A food system which provides food security and nutrition to all while promoting social equity, maintaining environmental health and supporting economic sustainability. A sustainable food system is intertwined with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
References
Learn more
- What are Food Miles and why are they important?. July 16, 2024, BBC Bitesize.
- Cultivate. 2026, Cambridge Dictionary.
- What is organic? Canada Organic Trade Association. (n.d.).
- Pesticides. Aug. 28, 2025, Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety.
- The CSA Revolution: Support Local Farms, Eat Fresh, and transform your health. Jan. 22, 2025, Darrell, CSA Farm Directory.
- Crop. 2021, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Sustainable Food Systems Concept and framework. 2018, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
- What is Conservation Agriculture? 2026, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
- What is Agriculture? Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
- What is a agricultural pest? June 16, 2025, Institute for Environmental Research and Education.
- Agriculture. May 5, 2026, Merriam-Webster.
- Genetically modified organisms. 2024, National Geographic Society.
- Soil and crop management strategies to ensure higher crop productivity within sustainable environments. 2019, Shah, F., & Wu, W. Sustainability, 11(5), 1485.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
