Is your food sustainable?

Likewise, feeding New Zealanders well while balancing the environmental and economic aspects of our own food system remains difficult. And as individuals, how should we think about our own diets to make sure we are meeting our own needs, within budget, while still being able to feel good about what’s on our plates?

Food system challenges are global, local, and individual, and there are a range of voices telling us what we should do. What evidence do we need in order to act to achieve sustainable food systems and diets? What needs to be considered part of sustainability when it comes to food? This talk will focus on several aspects of the work of the Riddet Institute and the Sustainable Nutrition Initiative® that aim to inform the future of food systems and nutrition. At the foundation of this work is the idea that nutrition is integral to a sustainable food system: if we fail to produce and provide the food and nutrients to enable people to survive and thrive, we have failed, regardless of what else we achieve.

The talk will cover the nutritional adequacy of the global food system now and in the future; NZ food and nutrient production, trade, and availability; and the trade-offs between the different aspects of sustainability within diets.

Dr Nick Smith is a Senior Research Officer at the Riddet Institute, a New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence hosted by Massey University, where he works as part of the Sustainable Nutrition Initiative®, a program providing evidence for the sustainable food system debate and ensuring that human nutrition is seen as a key aspect of sustainability. Nick holds degrees in mathematics from Swansea University (UK) and in nutritional science from Massey University (NZ). His expertise is in mathematical modelling of complex systems, with a particular focus on human nutrition. His former research interest was in predictive models for dynamics in the human intestinal microbiome, and the influence on host health and wellbeing. He now studies the dynamics of global and national food systems and their impact on the nutrition of the global population.