Is “sustainability” still relevant to food systems, or do we need a new term?

Abstract

First paragraph: I looked forward to reading the Routledge Hand­book of Sustainable and Regenerative Food Systems because I greatly respect the work of its editors and wanted to know how they would organize such a vast topic. It hardly needs repeating that today’s dominant industrialized food system is destroying biodiversity, degrading soil and water, emitting greenhouse gases, creating products that cause diet-related diseases, erasing traditional farm livelihoods, and destroying farm communities. Despite ample documentation of the problems and wide agreement on their existence, the solu­tions are much more contentious. What are the alternatives to the destructive industrialized food system, and what is the best trajectory from current practices to a better future? I hoped that this book would provide solid answers. . . .

Keywords

• Regenerative Agriculture
• Food Systems
• Rural-Urban
• Indigenous Knowledge