90% of food and agriculture businesses fail on sustainability and health
Startling statistics reveal food production is lagging far behind where it needs to be for environmental and social equity.
Conducted by the WBA, a new study points to 90% of food and agricultural businesses failing to act on sustainable practices, and their responsibility to provide healthy food.
Of the 350 companies included in the research, just 6% have a time-bound commitment to eliminate deforestation, which climate scientists believe should stop in the next two years to meet wider net zero targets. 85% did not have any clear plan or targets for net zero ecosystem conversion, and a mere 2% understood their wider impact on the environment beyond core operations.
‘To reach net zero by 2050, we know we must end deforestation by 2025. Food and agriculture companies have a huge opportunity to simultaneously tackle climate change and biodiversity loss by eliminating deforestation,’ said Jenni Black, Nature Transformation Lead at WBA. ‘But despite some leading companies committing to end deforestation, our benchmark results show there is still a long way to go.’
Further to this, only 4% of companies had assessed how it might be possible to increase payments to the small-scale suppliers they buy from, with many still not paid a living wage, but contractually and economically reliant on major corporations for survival. It is estimated that the combined supply chain of all major corporations included in the WBA analysis accounts for more than 75million smaller firms worldwide.
In terms of what is actually being produced, 18% of consumer facing companies were willing to show how they were adapting products to improve nutritional value. 1% of companies claimed to seek free, prior and informed consent from indigenous communities when looking to conduct projects on their territories, another major equity and environmental issue with the industry itself.
The adoption of regenerative practices has also been flagged as a cause for concern. 50% of farmland across the world is now moderately to severely degraded, yet almost 50% of companies made no reference to these methods, and only 27% had implemented strategies to actually put them into practice. Furthermore, 12% of companies are now reporting the level of pollutants they are releasing into water sources, and only 2% have binding targets to reduce this.
‘Companies are improving farmer livelihoods but not at a level that lifts them out of poverty. The food and agriculture sector must urgently put people at the centre of this transition, starting with the farmers their business depends on and the consumers they serve,’ said Viktoria de Bourbon de Parme, WBA’s Food Agriculture Transformation Lead. ‘Disappointingly, our data shows that farmers are not rewarded fairly, and that nutritious products come at a premium.’
More on regenerative agriculture:
Plant extinction is major threat to healthcare and biodiversity
Regenerative agriculture is essential to avoid UK food crisis
Image: James Baltz