When it comes to identifying value-driven transformation levers for global agrifood systems, the actors with a stake in those agrifood systems naturally include the entire global population, as humans cannot exist without food. Figure 3 presents a stylized representation of the actors in global agrifood systems, whose decisions depend on and affect the value of agrifood systems. The six core actors cover the entire agrifood value chain, from input suppliers to consumers (including institutional procurement), each of which can be part of local, national or international processes. Consumers in one location may not see the value of improving fertilizer use efficiency on the farms that produce their food in another region or country. Similarly, food manufacturers may not see the value of changing their product compositions as long as the hidden costs due to dietary risks are borne by society at large and mostly in the future (including in other countries). Effective policy entry points can only be identified by clearly mapping such distinctions in a TCA approach, as the decisions of one actor at one point in time in one location have implications for actors in another time or location through biophysical processes and trade.
FIGURE 3 Global agrifood systems actors
All core actors interact with national and international financial institutions and are constituents of local or national governments. National governments have a role in shaping entire agrifood systems through taxes, subsidies, laws, regulations and general services. Intergovernmental organizations play an increasingly important role in shaping transformation pathways for agrifood systems because of the interconnectedness of value and cost creation. Civil society and research organizations (both local and international) have an overarching role in creating knowledge and awareness and catalysing collective action. This report uses the systems lens afforded by TCA to identify the value of transformative action for each actor in global agrifood systems.
As the disconnect between the producers of hidden costs and the cost bearers grows, the benefits to society and the planet from transforming agrifood systems become less visible. This gap can be impossible to bridge if the damage manifests itself in the distant future or abroad, and it is one of the main reasons we find ourselves in the situation we are in today – struggling to address climate change caused by the cumulative effects of human activity since the Industrial Revolution. The inequalities on multiple dimensions (for example, socioeconomic, gender and generational) between who benefits from the production of hidden costs and who bears them are one of the key challenges to transforming global agrifood systems.37 They also play a key role in fuelling dissent among various interest groups, seen, for example, in farmer protests in Europe against environmental regulations or school strikes for climate action. The role of governments and intergovernmental organizations is particularly important in cases where international or intergenerational transfers are needed to address these inequalities in the distribution of the hidden costs and benefits of agrifood systems.
The final chapter of The State of Food and Agriculture 2023 introduced a range of levers that can be used by different agrifood systems actors to reduce the hidden costs of agrifood systems and it discussed briefly how trade-offs and synergies can be navigated using the TCA approach (Figure 4). Given the societal implications of the environmental, health and social hidden costs, governments are the only actors with an active role in all levers to support sustainable and inclusive agrifood systems transformation. This edition of the report illustrates through selected case studies how governments can build global and national visions for transformation using a systems approach. Other case studies in selected countries quantify the hidden costs of broader policy packages for agrifood systems transformation pathways and highlight the role of stakeholder consultations for effective implementation of the TCA approach to guide transformation.
FIGURE 4 Levers for agrifood systems transformation
Although the role of government in all levers for transformative action is obvious in Figure 4, the private sector – including agribusinesses, financial institutions, and research and civil society organizations – also has a critical role to play. Through case studies, this report presents a much broader set of policy levers and provides a systems lens to facilitate the use of TCA in decision-making by all actors.
With the explicit aim of channelling the awareness and interest generated by The State of Food and Agriculture 2023 into tangible policy action, this 2024 edition provides a global framework for assessing the TCA results through an agrifood systems typology. The typology aims to place the potential policy levers informed by global simulations and targeted case studies into broad agrifood systems categories with common characteristics to facilitate an understanding of the effectiveness and feasibility of different levers when it comes to addressing the hidden costs. Such an approach provides a broad perspective on the role of value-chain structures, policies, institutions and fiscal spaces in driving agrifood systems transformation.
