Two sets of food scenarios to be published in December
Food and the future of food production have been discussed in, for example, the food change scenarios of Sitra’s ERA project and the Mirhami project, coordinated by the Finland Futures Research Centre. Both projects take a look to the year 2030. ERA is more focused on the challenges brought up by the climate change, while Mirhami takes a closer look at the consumption structure of food.
Mirhami will publish its results on December 10th, 2008, and the final report, Future Images of Food Consumption, will be available from the Centre’s website after the event. The scenarios from Sitra’s EVA project will be available on this website before the end of the year, and will be announced separately.
Food ethicality and ecology will become a selection criterion alongside healthiness
The discussion about the future of food will not end on these reports. Food is a central area of human welfare. The food production and consumption models have lately been carefully studied. The focus is on the ecological, ethical and health related implications of food.
Up until today, the consumer is accustomed of checking the health notes on retail packages. Now they also have to start considering their own ethical and ecological responsibilities. Combining all this requires quite a bit of mental dexterity, as different arguments sometimes contradict each other. On top of all this, consumers are driven by the taste of food - the food they buy has to be good. How can all these views fit the same plate?
However, it is not just the consumer’s responsibility. Regardless of the admittedly significant choices a single consumer can make, only the industry’s product development investments and other development actions lead to better products. The industry has to answer to the changes in food consumption. The packaging notes still count; how else can the consumer know what he is buying?
It’s our choice
What is the food like in 2030, then? The ERA programme promises vegetables and fish. Or, plain old meat, just as we are used to. Or, artificial meat and sausages born in a laboratory. It completely depends on which one of these four scenarios you read. The future is open for us to choose.
Lisää samasta aiheesta
- Summary of January 2010
- Summary of December 2009
- Monthly theme – December 2009: A society of leisure or a society of consumption?
