Providing nutritious and affordable food for a growing global population while protecting the vital natural systems that sustain life is one of the critical challenges of our times. Current agricultural practices have yielded impressive productivity gains, but are increasingly associated with high greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, and chronic disease, while leaving many rural people who depend on farming in poverty. How can agricultural support policies be repurposed to make the food system deliver better outcomes?
This report finds that repurposing a portion of government spending on agriculture each year to develop and disseminate more emission-efficient technologies for crops and livestock could reduce overall emissions from agriculture by more than 40%. Meanwhile, millions of hectares of land could be restored to natural habitats.
Repurposing would also deliver large benefits to people. It would raise rural incomes, contributing to improved food security. It would substantially reduce the cost of healthy diets, contributing to better nutritional outcomes. And it would accelerate poverty reduction.