From Brazilian coffee beans to fish caught in the Mediterranean, today’s grocery stores are stocked with a wide variety of produce. Many of us are now spoiled for choice when it comes to the food we put on our table, but it’s sometimes easy to forget that the ingredients we use in our kitchens are part of a vast, interlinked and energy intensive chain that connects farmers, suppliers, retailers and a whole lot more.
Indeed, food systems, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), “currently consume 30% of the world’s available energy” and rely heavily on fossil fuels. As concerns about the environment and pressure on resources increases, efforts are being made to change the way food systems — a very broad term which refers to everything from the production and distribution of food to its disposal — function.
With the world’s population expanding — according to the United Nations, it’s expected to hit 9.7 billion by 2050 — humanity’s need for food is only set to grow. The question of how we feed the planet in a sustainable and effective way is a pressing one that will become increasingly important in the years ahead. And while energy is clearly crucial to the actual production of food, it is also important when it comes to preventing waste through the use of refrigeration and cooling systems. According to the FAO, it’s estimated that a third of food produced is either “lost or wasted.”
Source: CNBC
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