Food is something central to all our lives, yet also something most of us don’t think about at all in any meaningful way. Why are our supermarkets stocked with certain types of foods and not others? What impact do our food choices have on the planet, and how much choice do we actually have when it comes to what we eat?

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a UK-based charity has been thinking about these questions for more than 10 years. Set up by the renowned solo long-distance yachtswoman, Dame Ellen MacArthur, the charity presented its vision – based on its Big Food Redesign report – of a circular food economy at the Action Hub during COP26.

So, what is a circular economy? Essentially it is an economy where everything – from food to construction to fashion – is used, and reused; waste is eliminated; and, as a result, nature is regenerated. A successful circular economy is based on a transition to renewable energy, and a systemic shift away from the consumption of finite resources. The benefits of a circular economy are huge: it protects the environment and reduces emissions, creates economic opportunities and ultimately builds a more resilient world.

In order to illustrate what a world with a redesigned food system would look like, Gaelle Le Gelard, Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Project Manager, Circular Design, presented a fictitious food brand. “Silvo is a cheese and walnut brand. Cows graze around the walnut trees, fertilising the soil, and the trees in turn, provide shade and shelter for the cows, and sequester carbon,” Le Galard says. “Farmers that produce Silvo have diversified their income, and do not have to rely on the price of milk alone, and farms like these can see their greenhouse gas emissions decrease by up to 90 per cent.” The key here is that food industry best practice, such as allowing biodiversity to thrive and upcycling, can play a big role in reducing emissions, and so it vital from both an emissions reduction and a biodiversity standpoint.

In the EU and UK alone, 40 per cent of agricultural land use is influenced by the 10 largest food companies and retailers. Their size means they can dictate what crops get grown, and influence prices, which means their sourcing decisions have a huge impact on ecosystems and they therefore play a vital role in changing the entire food system. Big businesses have started to set climate and biodiversity goals by working with farmers and taking a systems level approach to their supply chain.

The farmers work to meet the demands from the food brands and the retailers. The choice if ingredients not only affects how it tastes but it effects our entire agricultural landscape. Today, 60 per cent of what we eat globally comes from only four crops, out of the hundreds of thousands of edible crops in the world [and more than 40 per cent comes from wheat, maize and rice]. That signals to farmers what they should be growing as that is where the demand is.

Le Galard gives the example of two types of farms: one with a small variety of crops, and one that embraces diversity and circular farming practices. “The soil on the first farm is going to be grey and is not going to smell like anything. The soil [on the second farm] is humid, it is dark, it smells like a forest in Autumn, it has worms wiggling out of it and it is buzzing with insects, birds and animals,” she says. Of course, healthy soil absorbs C02 better, and the more thriving plants, the more C02 they absorb.

The second type of farm is where we need to go, but, says Le Galard, if we want that type of farm to be profitable, “food companies need to create the demand for the farmers, a demand for a much wider mix of ingredients that are fit for regeneration. We are saying rather than bending nature to produce food, food can be designed for nature to thrive.”

There’s a lot that needs to happen for this best-case scenario to occur globally, but Le Galard believes the fact that the top ten food manufacturers and retailers influence about 40 per cent of agricultural land in the EU and UK alone, means that change can happen quite quickly, if the will is there. “If they harness circular design for food tomorrow, they can flood our supermarket with products that are incredibly diverse and good for the soil, good for the planet and good for the farmers,” she says.

“Farmers can benefit by increasing the amount of food they produce on their land and they increase the resilience of their farm due to the diversity of crops they grow.” Of course much of this change will need to come from policymakers, as right now Le Galard says, conventional practices are promoted while more sustainable, circular ones are not. “We need to switch to a system where farmers are supported technologically, financially and through knowledge sharing.”

So what can we as consumers do to make sure this switch happens? “Make sure you buy food that promotes biodiversity,” says Le Galard. “Pulses for example nourish the soil and are good for us. Buying them signals to the food companies that there is a demand.” Yet, says, Jocelyn Blériot, Executive Lead - Institutions, Governments and Cities at Ellen MacArthur Foundation, we must be careful of the tyranny of low expectations.

“You are not trapped in this system,” he says. “It’s not about just settling for the least bad choice, but asking why you have to have these bad choices in the first place. It’s about asking policy makers to make changes and particularly in things such as public procurement. However it’s clear that consumer choices alone won’t be enough and without changes to the system, we won’t get to where we want to be.”