Catalysing transformative food futures for global sustainability (CATAPULT)

CATAPULT aims to explore innovative approaches to food production, processing, distribution and consumption that can help to reduce the environmental impact of the food system. Focusing on issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and food waste, the project aims to develop practical solutions that can be implemented at scale to promote more sustainable food systems.

Although there is growing recognition that the global food system needs fundamental change, there is currently very little understanding of the pathways for such change. This is primarily because the food system is organised around large-scale, commercial and intensive farming that is focused on increasing production. Alternatives to the current mode of farming, food production and food supply are available, but are often marginalised in the global food system. 

The main aim of this project is to identify pathways for food system transformation such that environmental concerns, nutritional needs and cultural traditions of the world’s growing population are foregrounded. 

The project will apply a conceptual framework developed in a recent article by Bhagwat (2022) in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems titled ‘Catalyzing transformative futures in food and farming for global sustainability’ . The conceptual framework explores pathways for system-wide transformations at three scales: landscape, species and genes. 

The existing literature on food systems has focused on one of the three scales. The novelty of this conceptual framework is to bring the three scales of food system organisation together in one coherent programme of research. This tri-scalar approach to food system research will generate outcomes that challenge the status quo and put forward transformative pathways that are more sustainable in environmental, social and cultural terms.

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Email Gillian Hosier or call on 01908 858285 to discuss this project