Global Food Systems: How did we get here?
- FeedBug Farms
- May 28, 2024
- 5 min read
A brief history of the food system
Among the three basic needs of humans, none has arguably shaped human civilization like food. Homo erectus, the primordial intelligent man, developed a larger brain thanks to his calory-dense diet of meat and marrow. Unlike that of his ape counterparts, a higher quality diet with less plant fiber allowed him to have a smaller gut, thereby freeing up more energy to fuel a larger brain. With these greater mental faculties, our earliest ancestors would rise above simple animal instincts to become hunters and gathers, obtaining their food by hunting, gathering, and fishing. Today, a handful of communities still exist in this throwback era such as the the Arctic Inuit, the Tsimane of Bolivia, and the Bajau of Malaysia. In fact, the Hadza of Tanzania are the world’s last full-time hunter-gatherers, living off what they find such as game, honey, and plants.
A few million years later, humans began to practice agriculture with the domestication of grains such as sorghum, barley, wheat and corn, thus creating more predictable food supply. We ventured less into the harsh unknown for sustenance and a population explosion ensued as more people came together within established boundaries. City states emerged that required governance structures to deliver enough quantities of quality food. Political and military conflicts for prime lands became more common, and forager communities were relegated to the forests of the Amazon, the arid grasslands of Africa, the remote islands of Southeast Asia, and the freezing tundra of the Arctic.
The antecedents of the global food system emerged as empires expanded to feed more mouths at a grand scale. The Middle Age ushered trade in agricultural products, live animals and spices. The merchant class emerged thanks to novel techniques in food storage through sealed containers and curing. Transport networks opened up across land and sea that allowed merchants to transport the newly stored food across vast distances. Standardised weights and measurements were developed for uniform estimation of quantities regardless of location. The necessity for a system of exchange based on trust created familiar forms of currency such as coins and banknotes. A new wealthy class outside the royal courts emerged, whose increase in wealth was only matched by an increase in sophistication of taste and food preferences.
Soon, the industrial age would begin as science and technology advanced. These advancements transformed how food is grown, processed, preserved, and transported. Draft animals were set aside for the more efficient iron plough resulting in higher agricultural productivity. The 1800s marked a significant milestone as food preservation techniques from simple drying, fermentation, and pasteurization allowing food to be stored and transported in a near-fresh state. In 1809, French inventor Nicholas Appert conceived the idea of heating food in sealed glass containers for which Napoleon Bonaparte awarded him 12,000F. The following year, King George III granted a patent to Englishman Peter Durand to preserve food using tinplated cans that enabled the British Royal Navy to begin commercial production of the earliest food cans.
The new factories and processing plants employed the growing working and middle class who not only had more discretionary income to spend on food preferences, but also increased pressure on localised food systems. This growing demand for food transformed Western economies from supply-driven economies to demand-driven economies. The West turned overseas to the hitherto untouched Global South which was carved up as colonies. Colonialism was adopted as a solution to the struggles of Western economies to feed their domestic rising populations and create employment due to fewer land and natural resources. Settler economies provided raw materials for their home industries, and food for their compatriots back at home. Policies were set favouring specialised agriculture to ensure adequate supplies of basic foodstuffs. These advanced global food trade as excesses were sold off in export markets creating opportunities for global trade in foodstuffs that had little or no domestic demand.
New Age Merchants
The relatively low cost of food we enjoy today is largely thanks to this demand-driven global food trade in specialised food products. This structure is more entrenched in today’s food systems since food and food ingredients, processing supplies and agricultural inputs continue to move across the globe. However, our current global food system is more complex than it has ever been. Take a cheeseburger, for instance, the quintessential picture of 'fast' food which is made up of over 100 individual ingredients and whose burger patty alone could be obtained from beef reared in at least 10 different countries.
As an homage to the influence of merchants at the infancy of the global food systems, today’s complex food system is influenced by FMCGs and retailers whose sourcing power casts ripples across the food sector. In the EU and UK, the top 10 FMCGs and retailers influence 40% of agricultural land use as they are the major buyers of food. Today’s merchants not only influence consumer needs, but are also positioned to cater to evolving consumer needs. For instance, between 2018 and 2020, sales in plant-based foods, an increasingly popular food alternative, grew by 49% in Europe thanks to retailers and businesses.
The reach of retailers and FMCGs extends beyond sourcing and satisfying consumer demands. Since most of today’s food is designed, the new age merchants determine what food is, its flavour, texture, nutritional content and appearance. From a product marketing standpoint, food manufacturers’ marketing teams consider the food product category, target consumer groups, and brand positioning which informs characteristics such as taste, nutritional requirements and pricing. Research and development teams control ingredient selection which impacts food taste, texture, nutrition, and the environmental impact of the end product. Procurement teams sourcing ingredients dictate ingredient requirements, how food is grown, the distance it has to travel, and in turn impact the environmental, social, economic and societal outcomes of farmers and suppliers. When the food product is finally ready for packaging, packaging design decisions affect the shelf life and environmental impact of food beyond consumption.
Facing forward
Understanding how the current structure of the food system came to be is critical if we are to shape how it operates going forward. Food systems will continue to exist as demand-driven economies, and within this structure, the influence of retailers and FMCGs cannot be ignored. Given the history of our food system, the harsh truth is that despite being responsible for food production, farmers are operating within a system that controls them and whose economics work against them. Even with the best intentions, solutions designed for farmers alone do little to change how food is grown, processed, and consumed. A single-actor approach is inadequate in transforming the system because it ignores the power structure and dynamics that have become entrenched in today’s global food system.
However, consumers have the power to tip the scales. As consumers demand food safety and handling, fair trade, ‘green’ production and animal-welfare related changes in food production, food processors and retailers will in turn require farmers to provide assurances on means of production, characteristics, and inputs. FeedBug's mission is to usher in a new age of sustainable food production, using a systems thinking approach and informed by circular principles. By helping consumers make informed demands from the largest food systems actors, and supporting farmers make the transition to a environmental-friendly system with alternative inputs, we believe that together we can transform the food system to one that is intrinsically connected to people and the environment.
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