Hundreds of Food Paradoxes : One best solution

Claudia Laricchia

We live on an obese Planet that is dying of hunger.
Today, more than 2.5 billion adults are overweight, of whom about 900 million are living with obesity, while at the same time 733 million people face chronic hunger (FAO, WHO).

One person in three experiences some form of food insecurity. Excess and deprivation coexist, often within the same countries, sometimes within the same cities, even the same households. This is not a failure of production: globally, we produce enough calories to feed everyone. It is a failure of systems, access, priorities, governance and mindset which still is extracting in the so-called Northern Globe, and not regenerative.

We also live on a Planet of forgotten crops.
Out of more than 6,000 plant species historically cultivated for food, fewer than 200 make any meaningful contribution to global food supply, and just nine crops account for over 65% of total production. Isn’t it unbelievable?

Millet, sorghum, teff, fonio, bambara groundnut, and countless indigenous legumes and tubers – resilient, nutritious, climate-adapted -, have been progressively abandoned by markets that reward uniformity, yield, and tradability over biodiversity and resilience. The erosion of agrobiodiversity is dramatic: since 1900, 75% of crop genetic diversity has been lost, undermining food security precisely when climate volatility demands diversity most. So the market is the answer to actually believe those figures. How come we still live in a trade off market versus biodiversity? Versus environmental sustainability? Versus life? How dare we talk about market or economic growth while life itself is threatening?

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We live on a Planet we have made sick, while pretending we could remain healthy, quoting Pope Francis.

Agriculture consumes around 70% of global freshwater withdrawals, yet over 2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water. Nearly 40% of the world’s land is degraded, with soil erosion occurring up to 100 times faster than natural regeneration. Each year, 24 billion tons of fertile soil are lost. At the same time, food systems remain deeply energy-intensive: around 70% of energy used across global agri-food chains still comes from fossil fuels, from synthetic fertilizers to transport, processing, and cold chains. We externalize environmental damage and then medicalize its consequences.

We live on a Planet that wastes food everywhere – on fields (food loss) and in homes (food waste) -, while food remains scarce.
Roughly one third of all food produced globally is lost or wasted, amounting to 1.3 billion tons per year. FAO estimates place it at roughly 3.3 gigatons of CO₂e annually, which is why food waste is often described as the third-largest emitter after China and the US if it were a country.

In low-income countries, losses occur mainly post-harvest due to lack of storage, infrastructure, and market access. In high-income countries, waste happens mostly at retail and household level. Food waste alone accounts for 8–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Scarcity is not natural; it is designed.

We live on a Planet that is nourishment itself, yet we keep polluting it, making it increasingly poor in nutrients.
Rising CO₂ levels reduce the nutritional density of staple crops, lowering protein, iron, and zinc content. Industrial farming practices deplete soils of organic matter and micronutrients, leading to what scientists call “hidden hunger”: over 2 billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiencies, even when caloric intake is sufficient. The Planet still feeds us, but with diminishing returns.

Finally, we live on a divided and fragmented Planet, where food is geopolitics.

The war in Ukraine disrupted global grain markets, affecting countries far beyond Europe and driving price spikes across Africa and the Middle East. Food has become leverage, sanction, pressure. In Gaza, starvation has been repeatedly documented as a direct consequence of conflict and blockade, showing how food can be weaponized.

Yet food is also the opposite: community, conviviality, identity, memory, culture. It is anthropology, ethnography, history. It is nature and environment, health and economy, politics and science. Food can be an instrument of war or a powerful tool for peace.

Food paradoxes are the reasons why innovation and science matter, especially if accompanied by a shift in mindset and by real compliance with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Thousands of food science and technology centers have been created worldwide, with approximately 400 in Europe. This global infrastructure of knowledge is immense. The challenge is integration and impact.

In Italy, one of the most significant centers is Best4Food, the Center for Food Science and Technology at the University of Milano-Bicocca. With over 100 researchers and nine departments, Best4Food guarantees a genuinely holistic and systemic approach, integrating perspectives from Medicine and Surgery; Law; Economics, Quantitative Methods and Business Strategy; Biotechnology and Biosciences; Environmental and Earth Sciences; Sociology and Social Research; Psychology; Human Sciences and Education; Informatics, Systems Science and Communication.

Seventy-seven percent of these departments have been officially recognized as Departments of Excellence by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MIUR), through a national evaluation based on research quality, innovation capacity, and international impact.

This scientific kaleidoscope converges on key thematic areas including urban metabolism and circular economy, agri-food systems and the environment, quality and traceability; food security and food styles.

What emerges is an extraordinary heritage of transformative science: prototypes, validated models, evidence-based solutions.

This knowledge meets a complex ecosystem of actors for a strong ecosystem enhancing the overall impact of projects: academia, enterprises, startups and spin-offs, investors, grant makers, communities, marginal areas, media, and institutions, at national and international levels.

Best4Food firmly positions itself on the side of solutions, with its gaze fixed on the future and its feet deeply rooted in history. This dual perspective is embodied by its Director, Professor Laura Prosperi, a historian by training, whose vision is both open and rigorous, grounded in a deep understanding of the historical processes that have shaped food systems and the structural reasons why food is, as Wendell Berry wrote, “an agricultural act, a cultural act, and a moral act all at once.”

Food is also the most crucial and fragile pivot of the climate crisis. It may seem to have slipped from political agendas and public attention, but the climate crisis has not forgotten us. And it continues, relentlessly, to sit at our tables.

Be part of the best for food: www.bestforfood.unimib.it best4food@unimib.it

Claudia Laricchia, Women Economic Forum Italy – Public Affairs Director; SMILY Academy, President; Global Forum of Indigenous Peoples’ Climate Justice Forum, Head of Strategic International Cooperation; European Institute of Innovation for Sustainability and Rome Business School, Professor; and Correspondent of Mahabahu.

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