Working for a world where there is nourishing food for all

“At a time when nearly 1 in 3 people globally do not have access to adequate food just last year, the United States is committed to rallying our partners to address immediate malnutrition and to ensure that we can sustainably feed the world in the decades to come. To that end, the United States is making a $10 billion commitment to end hunger and invest in food systems at home and abroad.”President Joe Biden, United Nations General Assembly

United Nations Food Systems Summit

On September 23, 2021, the United Nations convened a virtual Food Systems Summit to drive bold progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through transforming food systems by 2030 (2030 Agenda). Specific information on the Summit can be found here.

Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, is working towards a world where all people have access to safe, nutritious and affordable food. By bringing partners together to invest in agriculture, resilience and nutrition, the U.S. Government has enabled millions of families around the world to have the basic dignity of nourishing food to eat.

But there is more work to be done. COVID-19, climate change, increasing conflict, and rising inequality threaten to undermine years of progress on food security and deny more families and communities access to nutritious food. The Food Systems Summit is a critical moment to mobilize urgent global action on ending poverty, hunger and malnutrition. Why this matters now.

One of the principal outcomes of the Food Systems Summit is the National Pathways for Food Systems Transformation. At the Summit, the United States unveiled a series of game-changing deliverables tailored to meet the complex demands of the moment. Watch the video below to learn more.

Fact Sheets

• FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Commit to End Hunger and Malnutrition and Build Sustainable Resilient Food Systems
• Chair’s Summary: UN Food Systems Summit
• Food Loss and Waste Fact Sheet
• Nutrition MOU Fact Sheet
• GRASP Fact Sheet
• Food Fortification Fact Sheet 
• Feed the Future Fact Sheet on U.S. Approach to Food Systems Summit

Why Global Food Security Matters Now

The world is at a critical moment in the fight against global hunger and malnutrition.

• The pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on poverty, food security and nutrition. COVID-19 has pushed an estimated 97 million people into extreme poverty, in addition to the 640 million people who were already living on less than $1.90 per day. 185 million more people cannot access a healthy diet due to the pandemic. Alongside that, COVID-19 is disrupting all systems people rely on for nutrition—economic, food, and health systems—and threatening years of progress. By 2022, COVID-19 could result in an additional 9.3 million children suffering from wasting or acute malnutrition (13.6 million in the worst-case scenario), and 2.6 million more children (3.6 million in the worst-case scenario) will face stunted growth that limits their lifelong potential. These impacts are likely to persist for many years. In 2040, in the absence of increased and sustained development investment, progress on global poverty will remain 6 to 12 years behind where it would have been without COVID-19. This means that even twenty years from now, there will be 200 million more extremely poor people than if the pandemic had not occurred.
• Inequality within countries remains high, constraining economic growth and stifling communities’ ability to be resilient. When people are not provided opportunities to fully participate and benefit – whether due to gender, race, ethnic origins, religion, age, disability or other factors – growth will slow and inequality will increase.
• The climate crisis is already impacting food systems, with millions of the world’s smallholder farmers bearing the brunt of these impacts and threatening decades of development progress. Rising temperatures and severe droughts threaten crop yields and family incomes, all while increasing pests, diseases, and malnutrition. Without significant action, temperature increases could reduce yields of critical crops by up to 30 percent by 2050. Extreme weather also disrupts markets, contributing to price spikes and making nutritious food less accessible and affordable, especially for the poor.
• Conflict has become a key driver of hunger. Nearly every country in a protracted food crisis was also engaged in violent conflict in 2019, and over the past four years conflict has become one of the largest drivers of food crises worldwide especially in countries affected by major crises, and where there is a confluence of conflict and climate shocks.

But Feed the Future has never been more committed to ensuring that families and communities have the basic dignity of nourishing food to eat.

Technical Guidance

• Food Safety Brief
• Food Systems Framework