AVF Whitepaper 2021 – Towards Sustainable Food Systems

Table of Contents

Environment
Planetary Boundaries
Land
Water
Climate
New Food Production Systems

Society
Ecological Overshoot
Food Security through Access to Innovation
Food Safety
Plastic in our Supply Chains
New Job Opportunities

Economy
365 days of predictable production
Government Support & Geographical trends
Energy & Efficiency
Outlook

52 Pages

Foreword

Our food system is broken, it’s causing the destruction of soil, it’s driving the loss of biodiversity and it’s the number one driver of climate change.
The United Nations have declared a global climate emergency. The IPCC report states that it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Each decade since the 1980s has been warmer than the last resulting in global surface temperature having risen more than one degree Celsius. There is no region on earth that is not affected by the effects of climate change “and there will be a higher likelihood that events with increased intensities, durations and/or spatial extents unprecedented in the observational record will occur.” Projections say we
will need 70% more food by 2050, but Already today the food system is a driving force of the destruction of our ecosystems and depleting our resources. This is the result of centralized and industrialized agriculture working against nature rather than in balance with nature. According to the IPCC report, 3.6 billion people are at high risk due to climate change. Already today we are all experiencing the results on a
global scale – they are happening faster and hitting harder than expected 20 years ago. The climate council suggests dedicating 30-50% of land and water areas to conservation, structured social withdrawal from certain settlements, implementation of clean energy, a shift towards a circular economy, sustainable cities and agriculture, and more responsible traveling and consumption. While the IPCC report outlines that the chances of average temperatures rising to only 1.4°C – and thereby avoiding catastrophic impacts – are very low, it is still possible IF we start acting today. Anything past 1.5°C will start seeing permanent impacts. We need the changes now. And part of that change is a new food system.

This White Paper is focussing on one part of the solution. It points out the different layers of advantages of Vertical Farming looking at sustainability with a broader approach view than just focussing on CO2. Vertical Farms are purpose-driven and yes, the carbon problem is something the industry must tackle, but sustainability is so much bigger and more complex.