Giving Compass' Take:

• The IPES-Food (International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems) is an organization looking to address food system challenges for policy-driven solutions. 

• How can philanthropists promote diversifying food systems and direct funding to organizations working on innovative food solutions? 

• Read about the food system and its effects on the environment and economy. 


Founded in 2015, IPES-Food (International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems) is co-chaired by Olivier De Schutter (former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food) and Olivia Yambi (former UNICEF Representative to Kenya). The organization takes a holistic approach to understanding food system challenges, like hunger and biodiversity loss. They combine scientific research with local knowledge and the experience of individuals across the food system to produce policy-relevant information.

Many of the most severe impacts trace back to industrial food and farming practices. By perpetuating poverty, driving climate change, and degrading ecosystems, industrial food systems undermine the basic conditions for health.

We need to start asking the right questions in order to prevent the debate being co-opted by narrow framing and one-dimensional solutions. We must urgently ask whether industrial food and farming systems can move beyond trade-offs and offer an exit strategy from the current cycles of environmental degradation, poverty, and ill health. In asking this question, we must consider the economic incentives and power relations that are part and parcel of industrial food systems. Not some alternative reality where companies self-regulate, politicians are immune to billions of dollars of lobbying, and consumers have the time and resources to sustainably source each item of food.

It is crucial to turn our attention to systemic alternatives. One in which healthy people and a healthy planet are co-dependent. Agroecological systems are showing huge potential to reconcile productivity gains, environmental resilience, social equity, and health benefits.

Read more about diversified food systems by Brian Frederick at Food Tank