CIRCULAR FOOD SYSTEMS

Modern industrial food systems are fundamentally unsustainable. The linear structure of the globalized industrial food system is based on the view that natural resources are unlimited in their supply at one end and that the planet has an endless capacity to assimilate pollution and waste at the other end. The scale of the social and environmental costs of this model of food and farming is such that “business as usual” is no longer an option today. There is now a growing consensus among scientists that the emerging context of industrial food and farming requires a major rethink and deep structural changes to ensure food security throughout the world. The ecological and social footprints of the modern food system can be reduced through a shift from linear to circular systems that imitate the structure and function of natural ecosystems to reduce both external inputs and waste. This entry focuses on the policies and practices needed for a transition toward circular food systems in rural and urban contexts.