Unsustainable by Design: Extractive Narratives of Ending Hunger and Regenerative Alternatives; Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability

Industrial agriculture has been promoted widely as essential for ending hunger, the second Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Despite increases in global productivity and yields of many commodity crops, SDG2 has not yet been achieved and negative environmental and social consequences of this system have become impossible to ignore. The narrative behind this extractive food system has not been questioned sufficiently, and alternative narratives of regenerative food systems (e.g., agroecology, food sovereignty) have been framed as incapable of sufficient productivity to sustain world populations or even “anti-science”. Yield increases are indeed needed in some regions, especially with growing impacts of the climate emergency; but given the urgency of combatting climate change and socioeconomic impacts of Covid-19, regenerative food production systems that simultaneously sequester more carbon and bring social benefits to poor food producers and their communities are essential and their narrative must be strengthened.