The mission of the Sustainable Food Lab is to accelerate improvement in mainstream food and agriculture systems so we can sustain a high quality life on earth.We define a sustainable food and agriculture system as one in which the fertility of our soil is maintained and improved; the availability and quality of water are protected and enhanced; our biodiversity is protected; farmers, farm workers, and all other actors in value chains have livable incomes; the food we eat is affordable and promotes our health; sustainable businesses can thrive; and the flow of energy and the discharge of waste, including greenhouse gas emissions, are within the capacity of the earth to absorb forever. Latest Blog EntriesValue chains, a growing area of interest
Increasingly, people are turning to food company value chains to help with the challenges of wealth distribution and better management of basic resources (soil, air, water, biodiversity). The FAO and the Ford Foundation have recently taken assertive steps in this direction.
The FAO just completed a paper comparing, contrasting and exploring the two dominant practices in [...]
By Daniella May 5, 2008 Comments Pineapples in the Philippines need standards
By Hal Hamilton
Driving through fields of DelMonte pineapples in the Philippines, I felt an old familiar pain in my gut. Ever since being a farmer myself, I?ve never been able to see serious soil erosion without feeling a ill. I remember my own mistakes, plowing across a low place in a field where water crosses [...]
By Daniella March 7, 2008 Comments Crackdown on illegal fishing
Things are really heating up in the fishing world. The end of January brought a series of New York Times articles the depletion of fish stocks, stolen fish and high levels of mercury in fish. See how Brian Halweil of Worldwatch connects the dots on these three aspects of the fishing industry.
The European Union is [...]
By Daniella February 20, 2008 Comments Presencing
My colleague Susan Sweitzer and I had the chance to speak about the Food Lab yesterday at a Presencing Institute led by Otto Scharmer, Arawana Hayashi, and Beth Jandernoa. Some seventy or so people from eighteen countries are in Cambridge all this week to learn about the U Process that is at the core [...]
By Chris Landry December 6, 2007 Comments Restaurants think small is big and so is locally grown.
Once a year the National Restaurant Association (a different NRA) surveys over 1200 chefs of American Culinary Federation members to rate menu items as “hot,” “passé? or ?perennial favorites.
Bite-size desserts, small plates, locally grown produce and organic products are the latest red-hot food items. Going out of style are low-carb dough, tofu, chai and foie [...]
By Daniella December 3, 2007 Comments talking about sustainability
My friends over at Corporate Watchdog Radio (soon to have a new name) have posted a really terrific interview with Peter Senge and Joe Laur of the Society for Organizational Learning. It includes a very good discussion of the Food Lab and some specific examples of what companies are doing to change the ways [...]
By Chris Landry November 7, 2007 Comments We aren?t the only ones
We aren’t the only ones trying to figure out globally relevant and competitive farming enterprises that work for small-scale farmers, communities and the environment.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) along with three other partners just announced the Global Agro-Industries Forum (GAIF) next April. This form is to bring together 500 [...]
By Daniella November 5, 2007 Comments Global Reporting Initiative sets out to make reporting readable
How about making those corporate sustainability reports more readable?
You are invited to select the sustainability reports of interest to you and score them against five criteria. You must score at least two reports, and you must get your scores in by 31 December 2007.
Thousands of companies issue sustainability reports each year ? but who reads [...]
By Daniella November 5, 2007 Comments Guatemala report ready for reading
Susan Sweitser has written up a report of the meetings in Guatemala, and you can download it here.
As always, Susie has put together a nice summary with some great quotations from meeting participants.
By Chris Landry October 31, 2007 Comments Feed New York City children New York State carrots? Go ahead and try
While most of the Food Lab headed to the meeting in Guatemala the New York Times published a story about a project one of our members has been intimately involved in: Local Carrots With a Side of Red Tape tells how very hard it can be to do something as simple as feeding New York [...]
By Daniella October 29, 2007 Comments |
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