Devex World 2020: How Businesses Can Build a Resilient, Sustainable Food System

Dr. David Nabarro, Co-Director, Imperial College Institute of Global Health Innovation; Strategic Director, 4SD; and Special Envoy to the World Health Organization Director-General on COVID-19
Alejandra Schrader, Founding Member, The Chef's Manifesto Eric Soubeiran, CSO/CEO of the Danone Ecosystem Fund
interviewed by Teresa Welsh, Devex Reporter

Dr. David Nabarro, co-director of the Imperial College Institute of Global Health Innovation; Alejandra Schrader, TV chef; and Eric Soubeiran, CEO of the Danone Ecosystem Fund, discuss the role of business in fixing the food system. They stress the importance of collaboration, listening to different perspectives, and moving to a plant-based or better-balanced diet.

• “It’s very clear to us that the food system is broken and … as a food company we have a big responsibility in addressing this topic,” Soubeiran says, explaining that Danone is shifting to a “regenerative agriculture” model, that includes changing the system of remuneration for farmers.

“We are ready to play our part in this transition … but we need also multilateralism to work,” Soubeiran says. Businesses will also have to learn to work collaboratively, rather than in competition, he says.

• “Businesses are inside this transformation, they engage with so many people as consumers … and businesses are seen as role models,” Nabarro says. Over time, he hoped, “businesses will shift away from presenting themselves as just focused on profit ... and instead that they will be judged more and more on what they provide to societies.”

• Schrader also highlights the changes businesses are having to make in the face of consumer pressure. “More and more people are becoming aware of the relationship between food and the environment and livelihoods … so as that demand increases, we as chefs have been, in a good way, pushed towards more sustainable businesses,” she says. “People want us to talk about how we are upcycling food, how are we connecting with local farmers, and how are we holding them accountable for the sustainable practices that they are implementing. People in our restaurants … want to know where our food is coming from, and I think that’s a great motivation.”

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