Title: The Top 5 Problems with the Global Food System - AMP Global Youth
Headings: The Top 5 Problems with the Global Food System
The Top 5 Problems with the Global Food System
1. Increased Biofuel Production
2. Limited Food Access
3. Unsustainable Agricultural Practices
4. Lack of Farmer and Workers’ Rights
5. Food Waste

Content: Unsustainable Agricultural Practices
According to the FAO, agricultural production is a huge driver of climate change, producing one-fifth of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. [ 12] Intensive farming methods use fertilizers and pesticides that contaminate streams and rivers that can create downstream “dead zones,” and deforestation for agricultural use accounts for an estimated 10-11% of global GHG emissions. [ 13], [14] Big agribusinesses utilize poor agricultural practices to cut production costs, and, due to these practices, 5-10 million hectares of arable farmland become unusable every year, with an additional 0.3-1.5 million becoming unproductive as a result of salinization and water logging. [ 15] To protect our environment, our health, and our food, we must implement climate-sensitive production methods such as reduced tillage, crop rotations, soil enrichment, the encouragement of natural pest predators, and the incorporation of agroforestry. [ 16], [17] Agriculture can be shifted to degraded lands, rather than clearing new lands, with a focus on practices that boost productivity and enhance resilience. [ 18] Furthermore, there is a global need to support more small-scale, less mechanically intensive, and more organic practices in order to preserve our productive agricultural land and prevent climate change. 4. Lack of Farmer and Workers’ Rights
According to the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Global Food Policy Report (GFPR), smallholder farmers that farm less than 2 hectares of land make up the majority of agricultural producers for the world, but also make up half of the world’s poor and hungry population. [ 19] These smaller farmers are increasingly unable to compete in an agricultural market dominated by big agribusinesses. Smallholders have a lack of access to the proper assets, such as tractors and fertilizers, and small farmers that are able to stay in business earn less due to the immense surpluses produced by industrial agricultural companies or are subject to these companies’ control.