Will COP26 resolve the global food supply conundrum?

With COP26 just a few days away, I can’t help but think we are at one of the most important points of inflection the world has faced. After years of argument, climate change is now generally accepted as real, very real, and the impact on the planet and humanity is both increasingly understood and imminent. This is not a time for political bickering, but for coming together and genuinely working as a species to protect not only our own existence, but the existence of every species we share the planet with.

“Grand words for an ordinary fella from Nottingham”, you might be thinking, and I’d agree. But this is something that I, like many others, feel increasingly motivated by. And is that a surprise, given I’d like to think my son and his children will be fortunate enough to have the same kind of existence I’ve had? 

Data, analytics and technology can help

Back in 2020, mid-pandemic, I joined VSNi because I felt a significant affinity with what VSNi as a commercial organisation is trying to achieve. Not because we develop analytical software (although that is what we do and I have always had a keen interest in using data to make better decisions), but an affinity with WHY we do it. VSNi’s vision is “to see the challenges of global food production eradicated through the effective application of data analytics and technology”, and that is something that I and my colleagues at VSNi are motivated by and jump out of bed every day with a vigour to pursue.

More mouths to feed compounded by pressure on food production systems

With a global population set to exceed 9 billion by 2050, the human race’s ability to feed itself will quickly become a challenge for everyone, not just subsistence farmers. In the developed world we benefit from advanced agricultural production and distribution techniques, supported by technology, and financed by strong economies. Most of the world’s population, however, do not have those advantages. Subsistence farming feeds more of the planet’s population than not, in parts of the world where the population increase is set to be greatest, and it is subsistence farming that is most at risk from climate change. It is tempting to conclude that this is a problem that cannot be solved.

To focus product development activity on our vision, the VSNI mission is “to provide highly valued, instantly accessible and intuitively usable world leading analytical software and data that will enable continual, sustainable improvements in the effectiveness and efficiency of food production: benefitting our customers, our people, our owners and our planet”. VSNi’s software is used by plant and animal breeding companies, scientific researchers, and global “not-for-profit” organisations to help identify, through sophisticated data analytics, opportunities to improve agricultural (and other ecological) outputs. This is something we are immensely proud of. 

Addressing the challenges of the developing world’s smallholders

As we turn our attention to developing new products and services designed to address the challenges of global food production, it is in the support of the worlds smallholders that we feel the greatest opportunity to help exists. “How can we bring the advantages of tech, data and analytics to support the millions of smallholders in the developing world?”, is the question we are focused on answering.

It’s a complex problem and of course, tech, data and analytics won’t solve the problem alone. Individual choices must start to change too, particularly in the developed world. It seems inevitable that we must reduce our consumption of meat products, make choices to eat foods produced closer to home and address the criminal problem of food waste to name but three.

Will COP26 deliver the global cooperation that is needed?

The second goal of COP26  is “adapt to protect communities and natural habitats”, specifically to “build defences, warning systems and resilient infrastructure and agriculture to avoid loss of homes, livelihoods and even lives”. Alok Sharma, COP President-Designate said “we must change the way we look after our land and seas and how we grow our food. This is also important if we want to protect and restore the world's biodiversity, upon which all life depends”.

Hard to argue against. For the sake of us all, let’s hope this is achieved.

Tim Bean FIDM, Chief Commercial Officer, VSNi

About the author

Tim Bean is Chief Commercial Officer at VSNi and a Fellow of the Institute of Data & Marketing for over 20 years. His 30-year career has focused on using data to support decision making. This has been applied mainly in the value management of large consumer and business customer bases and he has held senior positions in telecommunications, utilities, retail and third sector organisations. In 2020 Tim joined VSNi specifically to focus on expanding the reach of data analytics and technology to address the challenges of climate change and securing a sustainable global food supply.