New food policy organization launches today

Jan. 10, 2013 – Food Tank, an American-based food policy organization
founded by food and agriculture experts Ellen Gustafson and Danielle
Nierenberg, is launching today with an aim to fix the food system.

Jan. 10, 2013 – Food Tank, an American-based food policy organization founded by food and agriculture experts Ellen Gustafson and Danielle Nierenberg, is launching today with an aim to fix the food system.

"There’s no doubt that the food system is broken. More than one billion people are obese, nearly one billion people go to bed hungry every night, and at least two billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. We need solutions – from schools and hospitals to fields and forests and from boardrooms to parliaments," the organization said in a press release. "Food Tank: The Food Think Tank will aim to propel change by fostering the growing community of voices on food issues."

The Food Tank website will be an interactive global resource for food and agriculture related issues and a home base
for connecting those involved in the food system, from producers and
consumers to policy-makers and activists, according to the release. New research and insights will be posted daily on the website, and Nirenberg told Bakers Journal in an e-mail that although the
organization is based in the United States, there are plans to highlight
Canadian initiatives in the research. In addition, Food Tank is planning a 2013 Change the Food System summit, conducting
on-the-ground research both domestically and internationally, preparing
research reports and books, highlighting road maps for sustainable
agricultural systems, and building an innovations database.

The release highlights some of the challenges the food system has faced over the years: "Roughly a half-century after the Green Revolution – the first systematic, large-scale attempt to reduce poverty and hunger throughout the world – a large share of the human family is still chronically without food, reliable income, and access to education. And over the last 30 years, the western food system has been built to promote over-consumption of a few consolidated commodities and has failed to be the harbinger of health as it spreads around the world. The epidemic of obesity, in industrialized and developing countries alike, is increasing the risks of diabetes, cardio-vascular disease, and other maladies. In addition, we waste vast amounts of food – more than one third of all food worldwide is wasted, or 1.3 billion tons annually. In the developing world, roughly 40 per cent of all food goes to waste as a result of pests, disease, and improper storage. If we start now, there is an opportunity to develop a better vision for the global food system. Fixing the system requires changing the conversation and finding ways that make food production – and consumption – more economically, environmentally, and socially just and sustainable."

For more information, contact Danielle Nierenberg, danielle@foodtank.org, 202-590-1037, or visit www.foodtank.org .