Feeding the Future: Restoring the Planet and Healing Ourselves

In this resonant call to action, Negowetti, a food law and policy lecturer at Tufts University, posits that solving global food and health-related crises requires that people radically change how they think about food. Ultra-processed foods—mass-produced products filled with additives, preservatives, and sweeteners—make up 57% of total calorie intake in the U.S., she explains. Meeting the demands of this high-volume, low-cost menu requires large-scale agricultural operations, like factory farms. Compared to traditional community and family-based farming, the modern food industry produces less diverse and less nutritional crops while applying more pesticides and harmful fertilizers—all at a high cost to the environment and human health. She is cautious about technological solutions, such as lab-grown meat, contending they emphasize profit and production over health and sustainability. Instead, Negowetti suggests the answer lies in preserving the diversity of global food production (such as pastoral farming) and in embracing “philosophies of regeneration” found in Indigenous cultures that promote collective well-being and ecological harmony over individual gain. She provides convincing examples of communities, such as the Kuikuro of Brazil and the Loma farmers of Liberia, that practice sustainable farming using ancestral techniques. While Negowetti’s writing style can be dry, her noteworthy arguments pave the way for a brighter food future. (Jan.)