Farm to Failure
4 years, 1 month, 8 days, 20 hours
13 June 2025
We produce more than enough food each year to feed everyone on the planet, but...
It is fundamental to life itself and to health and quality of life; a major contributor to climate change, nature degradation and water shortages, yet critically dependent on climate, nature and water; it is everywhere a local issue but also a geopolitical one, heavily exposed to supply chain disruption and rising costs; and the very land on which it depends is subject to multiple competing pressures, increasingly from renewable energy facilities.
It is food, and the subject of one of the most comprehensive and insightful reports I have seen KPMG produce – attached and available to share here: Reimaging Global Food Resilience.
If you want a primer on our food system today jump to the snapshot on page 4. We produce more than enough food each year to feed everyone on the planet, but because we waste a third of what we produce, and the supply is not remotely evenly allocated, about 10% of the population continue to face hunger. Meanwhile over-eating is driving obesity and diabetes and the escalating healthcare costs of dealing with those issues. 80% of global deforestation is due to agriculture and a third of greenhouse gas emissions.
The report goes on to dissect the key drivers of the food system and the challenges it faces and sets out the key questions that organisations should be asking about their connection with, exposure to and influence over our food system.
But the key message is that this is a huge multi-stakeholder system and to drive the urgently needed reform requires unprecedented levels of collaboration.