Panel, Conference Presentation
Transitioning to a Food Environment Built for Health | Milken Institute Global Conference 2023
Milken InstituteAllison Aubrey, Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, Nancy Dalton, Anthony Pratt, Craig Wichner, Dr. Kathleen Medina, Elizabeth Littlefield Jr., Eliza Bailey
- Current dietary trends project that one in two U.S. children will consume no vegetables daily, while over 600,000 annual deaths from diet-related chronic diseases are expected if the food system does not prioritize health investment.
- Rising inflation is anticipated to worsen food insecurity for the 13.5 million households currently affected, with the online SNAP EBT pilot nearing national expansion requiring a transition to a permanent benefit to maintain access.
- The global food market is projected to see the internet of food sector grow at 16% annually and the probiotics market expand from $55 billion to $100 billion as the "food as pharmaceutical" trend gains traction.
- Climate change is expected to shift the U.S. corn-growing region north by approximately 25 miles per year, reaching Canada within 10 years, while diverting one tonne of paper landfill waste avoids three tonnes of CO2 emissions.
- Agricultural policy standards established in 1971 are projected to persist in the upcoming Farm Bill renewal, despite evidence that growing vegetables generates more revenue per acre than chemical-dependent commodity agriculture.
- Conservation efforts face underfunding with less than seven percent of the Farm Bill allocated to land conservation, although cover crops could sequester between 0.5 to 1 ton of carbon per acre annually with a specific verification program.
- The transition to organic or regenerative agriculture requires a three-year conversion period involving capital and time before higher revenues are realized, even though over 80% of participants currently redeem incentives for fruits and vegetables under SNAP.
- Over 60,000 nonprofits in the Feeding America network are expected to adopt nutritional nudging strategies, with SNAP benefits currently providing nine meals for every one meal delivered by the network.
- Universal free school lunches require overcoming significant congressional hurdles, while food insecurity persists as a systemic flaw due to school lunch shame and bill-based restrictions.
- Future strategies aim to leverage public and private partnerships to build health systems and achieve food security with nutritional density, preventing the loss of all currently rotting food which could feed 10 billion people.
- Government subsidies and pre-insured profit models currently make commodity corn farming the lowest-risk agricultural job, creating a barrier to shifting production toward human-consumable crops.