The Chicago Consensus on Sustainable Food Systems Science

Adam Drewnowski, The Ecosystem Inception Team, Adam Drewnowski, Arie Havelaar, Carlos Sere, Charlotte de Fraiture, Frank Mitloehner, Henning Steinfeld, Hugo Melgar-Quinonez, John Ingram, Martin Heller, Pieter van’t Veer, Roger Clemens, Shenggen Fan, Terry Marsden, Timothy Griffin

As participants at the Ecosystem Inception Meeting convened by the Global Dairy Platform and held in Chicago in June 2016, we have identified some concepts as central to the study of food systems science. Following the definition developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization for sustainable diets, the food supply needs to provide foods that are healthy and safe, affordable, culturally acceptable, and with low impact on the environment. Therefore, the four main domains of sustainable food systems science can be described as health, economics, society, and the environment. Food systems science needs to embrace and engage with all relevant allied disciplines that may include environmental health sciences, epidemiology, geography, history, sociology, anthropology, business, and political science. Research and training in food systems science, both domestic and international, would benefit from a set of competencies, from more extensive research networks, and from more public-private engagement. This document builds on major advances in the area of food system research, training, and practice, already achieved by individuals, institutions, foundations, and local and national governments.