Why Our Industrial Food System is Not Sustainable 
By Patti Truant 
According to Fred Kirschenmann, our system of industrial food production is unsustainable, and the extent of the problem is not well understood by the public. Kirschenmann, distinguished fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, spoke at JHSPH as part of the Connecting Health and Sustainability Seminar series. “We are facing a series of pretty incredible challenges,” Kirschenmann said. “In order to adapt, we need some resilience in the system.” To modernize industrial agriculture in a sustainable way, he said we need to change the predominant world view that nature exists to benefit humans, and that we can change and manipulate our environment in a way that is convenient for us. Industrialization favors specializations, mass-production and short-term gratification, but our food system can only become sustainable by switching the focus to diversity, resiliency and production on an appropriate scale. Transitioning from an industrial economy to an ecological economy with regards to food production would include measures such as establishing a national program for restoring the biological health of the soil, reducing water use, and increasing opportunities for young people to farm, Kirschenmann said. The dual problem of high consumption rates and burgeoning populations stresses resources, but Kirschenmann said that producing enough food to feed the planet won’t be the problem if agriculture is diversified. Changing the system will require concentrated efforts at the grassroots level, Kirschenmann said, and hope in the belief that we need to do the right thing because it’s required for the common good. The Connecting Health and Sustainability Seminar series is jointly sponsored by CLF, the Program on Global Sustainability and Health, and the Department of Health, Behavior and Society. The upcoming schedule of speakers can be found on CLF website. | 
