The finalized text for the Sustainable Development Goals was published on August 1st. I was curious to see what it had to say on sustainable food and agricultural systems. I summarize my thoughts below for a quick impression; thereafter you can find a blow-by-blow list of all instances where the SDGs mention food or agriculture with my comments. Your thoughts are obviously very welcome too!

In general, I was positively surprised by the level of detail and thoughtful suggestions in the SDGs when addressing food security. While it doesn’t go so far as to recognize food sovereignty, the importance and needs of smallholder farmers are recognized, important barriers to their success are identified, and the international community is committing itself to invest in improving sustainable and efficient practices.

Of course, the devil lies in the detail. What is still not addressed, and yet so so relevant for future sustainable food systems…