The recently released The 2021 Food Security Index (FSI) from Economist Impact finds only 28 of 78 countries prioritize agriculture in their international climate commitments. To achieve sustainable food systems, countries must also address key social and economic indicators from gender equality to gross domestic product (GDP).

The FSI assesses the sustainability of food systems in 78 countries according to three pillars: food loss and waste, sustainable agriculture, and nutritional challenges. Countries are categorized by demonstrating either Very High, High, Medium, or Low performance. Across the three pillars, Sweden, Japan, Canada, Finland, and Austria were consistent top performers.

The FSI is the tenth edition of The Global Food Security Index, first launched in 2016. Unlike past iterations that compare specific countries, the 2021 FSI focuses on best practices and areas of improvement in top-performing countries. The new format is intended to help policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders design solutions for more sustainable food systems.

“We hope that this can be a starting point for governments and other decision-makers, as well as those influencing them, to think about the state of their food systems,” Martin Koehring, Senior Manager at Economist Impact, tells Food Tank.

Each pillar of the report highlights key trends and makes recommendations. In the food loss and waste pillar, for example, the report finds that the 20 top-performing countries have set measurable targets. But it also finds there remains room to leverage legislation, market-based instruments, and voluntary agreements into action to further advance their goals.

Read the full article about sustainable food systems by Elizabeth Rhoads at Food Tank.