Editorial: Food system transformation and the realization of the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

For more than a half-century, the international scientific community has increasingly recognized that global and regional agriculture and food systems (agri-food systems) are at a critical crossroads, confronting intersecting biophysical, socio-economic, and ethical challenges (Carson, 1962; Altieri, 1989; NRC, 1989; Harwood, 1990; Rockström et al., 2009; Gliessman, 2015; Springmann et al., 2018; HLPE, 2020; IPCC, 2022; Gallardo, 2024). These pressing issues include, but are not limited to significant greenhouse gas emissions and the impacts of anthropogenic climate destabilization (Porter et al., 2014; Clark et al., 2020; Miles & Hoy, 2023), agroecosystem and environmental degradation (Gliessman, 2021; Gallardo, 2024), unsustainable fossil energy use (Pimentel et al., 2005; Crippa et al., 2021), the loss of biological and cultural diversity (Swift & Anderson, 1993; Altieri 1999; Kremen & Miles, 2012), the dispossession and marginalization of indigenous peoples and their food ways (Malli et al., 2105), malnutrition and negative public health outcomes (Fanzo et al., 2022), the exposure of non-target organisms and human populations to high-risk agri-chemicals (Hayes et al., 2002; Hertz-Picciotto et al., 2018; Coleman et al., 2025), profound social inequalities (Alkon & Agyeman, 2011; Shostak, 2023), the exploitation, persecution, and systemic vulnerabilities imposed on human agri-food labor (Blackstone et al., 2023; Bhattacharjee, 2023), the commodification and unnecessary harm of sentient non-human animals (Stuart & Gunderson, 2020; Birch, 2024), and the longstanding inequities in quality food access at the state, regional, national, and international levels (Singleton et al., 2023; UNICEF 2023). In response to these converging agri-food issues and and crises, leading scientists, scientific bodies, NGOs, national governments, and international agencies have issued numerous calls for the fundamental transformation of global agri-food systems (Juri et al. 2024; Abdulai & Béné 2025) to address social and ecological externalities and promote sustainable human development (IAP, 2018; Willett et al., 2019; Webb, et al. 2020; OECD, 2022; FAO 2023; UNDP, 2023). The scientific literature cited herein identifies the interconnections between agriculture, food systems and a broad set of persistent social, economic, public health, ecological, and ethical challenges, which are directly or indirectly aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This body of research makes clear the urgent need for food system change grounded in the principles of ecological sustainability, social equity, and the promotion of human wellbeing (Gliessman, 2000; Miles et al., 2017; Willett et al., 2019; Webb et al., 2020). Specifically, these calls to action seek to: strengthen the economic viability of regional agri-food systems in the face of agri-food globalization; improve public health outcomes through expanded access to nutritious and culturally-appropriate foods and dietary programs; promote social equity through Fair Trade, improved labor standards and other values-based supply chains; build resilience to natural and human-induced shocks across the agri-food sector; advance environmental sustainability through the scaling of agroecological, certified organic and related production practices; and ensure the widespread adoption of diets that promote human and planetary health (DeLonge et al., 2016; Reganold & Wachter, 2016; Eyhorn et al, 2019; Fanzo, 2019; Herrero, et al. 2021; Zurek et al., 2022). Numerous international science-policy consortia and related frameworks have explicitly and consistently pointed to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN, 2015) as a unifying framework to guide, benchmark, and measure progress in addressing the social and ecological crises originating in, and propagated through, agri-food systems (IAP, 2018; Willett et al., 2019; Fanzo et al., 2021; Schneider et al., 2023). Given th