Land + Sea = Our Food System
It's time for us to embrace the whole food system rather than focusing on its separate parts.
I spent NYE whale watching off the coast of Mexico.
The experience was similar to being on safari.
It gave me the chance to interact with life I don’t normally encounter on a day to day basis.
It also offered a different perspective.
One thing I have noticed working on the food system is that we often think of food as land-based agriculture.
This is not the whole story.
Our world is deeply connected. What happens on land impacts our seas and vice versa. It’s one whole system, not two separate parts.
Yet, this isn’t reflected in the industry.
The agriculture world has its own conference circuit, gatherings, investment funds, accelerators etc, which is separate from the food world, which is separate from the climate world, which is separate from the aquaculture world.
I find this division ironic given that we all work with natural systems.
We know that the greatest amount of biodiversity exists at the intersection of ecosystems. This is true in nature and it’s true when it comes to facilitating innovation.
Think of an academic environment. Research often happens in silos. This limits the possibilities. Crazy, new, wild, big, innovative ideas emerge when we collaborate and look at the whole instead of the parts.
I believe that to transform the food system we need to embrace more diversity in thinking, emphasize collaboration, and value different perspectives.
This is why I started Future Food with Analisa Winther. To look at the industry from different angles, break down silos, and encourage more collaboration across the board.
In 2024, I would love to see us embrace the whole.
What do you want to see happen in our industry?
PS: Curious to learn more about aquaculture? This series of podcasts is a great starting point for learning more. Curious to learn more about agriculture? I got you covered. Check out this series.
We had an incredible guide whose philosophy was to let the whales come to us instead of us chasing them down. This is the moment that they got curious and came by our panga boat to say hello! Simply magical :)