If you are what you eat, then we are largely made of fossil fuels. The global food system is presently responsible for roughly a third of humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions. Of that amount, nearly three-quarters of emissions (71%) stem from agricultural production, with the remainder due to transporting, processing, packaging, selling, consuming, and ultimately disposing of it. The good news is that food represents a shrinking share of humanity’s carbon budget compared to steel or cement production, even as output increased 40% between 1990 and 2015—meaning food’s carbon intensity is falling. The bad news is that its total emissions still rose 12.5% during that span. We won’t achieve net zero through portion control alone.

Amid calls for a more sustainable food system—one that can scale to affordably feed a planet of 8.5 billion people by 2030 while continuing to reduce emissions—we should first ask which aspect we hope to sustain. Is the aim to deliver everyone the same meat-heavy diet that’s played havoc with heart disease (and livestock’s methane emissions) in developed nations? Do we continue the policies geared toward manufacturing as many calories as possible, at the expense of fossil fuel-based fertilizers and industrial production? Or is our goal to sustain the current carrying capacity of the planet in a vastly more populous world—which will require a transformation of diets and values toward lower-intensity forms of growing, processing, packaging, and consuming food?

“One definition of sustainable is the avoidance of depletion, so maybe we should consider a different word, such as renewable or regenerative,” says Gigi Lee Chang, managing partner at BFY Capital. “Because we’ve depleted the world so much that simply sustaining is not enough.” Chang’s remarks were part of a panel entitled, “The Future of Sustainable Food Innovation” at the Fast Company Grill during this year’s SXSW conference. She shared the stage with Pedro Gonçalves, vice president of marketing for Tetra Pak, U.S. and Canada; and Christina Zwicky, head of Revl Fruits and Ocean Spray’s innovation ecosystem; to discuss how growers, marketers, founders, and consumers are working together to create a sustainable—or dare we say regenerative?—food system. (Scroll to the bottom to watch the entire panel discussion.)

REDUCING WASTE

Given the scale and speed of change necessary to address both climate change and food insecurity, where should we begin? There are no silver bullets, Zwicky argued, as each crop or product must confront its own constraint or externality, whether it’s methane emitted from organic dairy, water, or soil depletion for Ocean Spray’s cranberries. “The answer to the problem changes with every question and every framing,” she said. In Revl Fruits’ case, the low-hanging fruit was packaging, leading the new brand to turn away from heavy glass or virgin plastic towards primarily plant-based and recyclable paperboard cartons—and thus reducing the product’s weight and transport emissions in the bargain.

A common conundrum is waste, with 30% of all food—totaling 1.3 billion tons per year, or more than 600 calories per person daily—being thrown out due to spoilage. “If we could eliminate half of that, it would be a huge step,” said Gonçalves. Doing so, he added, not only demands increasing the shelf life and stability of common staples, but “ensuring access to the technology that will preserve it.”

When it comes to feeding a future of 8 billion people, the industry faces a two-track future, Chang said. “There’s the lab-grown, science-led track, and then there’s the return to heritage.” The former has been hyped for years, led by “cultivated meat” and “stealth health” startups that have since tightened their belts after gorging on venture capital. As an example of the heritage path, Chang pointed to One Mighty Mill, which rejects industrial roller-milled flour in favor of traditional stone milling techniques. “They’re able to retain nearly 100% of the wheat berry, which means they’re keeping the nutrients, fat, and fiber—not just the starch,” she explained. Just as roller mills squashed stone mills despite their nutritional advantage, “maybe in another 50 or 60 years we’re going to be asking how to undo all of the lab-grown stuff,” Chang added.

FARMERS FIRST

The best way to avoid making the same mistake all over again is to respect the tacit knowledge of food producers, Zwicky asserted. “The biggest change I’ve made when it comes to food systems is starting with the farmer,” she said. As a farmer-owned cooperative comprised of more than 700 farmer families, Ocean Spray is predisposed more than most companies to listen to their hard-won wisdom. “The time we’ve spent in waders and bogs talking to our grower-owners has been amazing. It’s wonderful to hear how passionate they are in ensuring we use every part of the cranberry—which we do; we use 98% of the cranberry in our products—from the seeds to the skins to the juice; you name it,” she added.

Whether with startups or growers, consumer packaged-goods firms, and suppliers, such as Tetra Pak, have a responsibility to smartly partner with challenger brands to help scale more sustainable offerings. “Let’s help with your positioning of your product, how to formulate and test it, and how to preserve it without changing it,” Gonçalves said. “We’re learning how to be this supportive ecosystem.”

And what foods, exactly, was each panelist hoping to sustain? Zwicky stumped for Revl Fruits’ Tart Cherry as a juice whose flavor and time has come. Gonçalves wished for gazpacho to finally have its moment in the U.S. And Chang vouched for intermittent fasting. “The less you eat, the less you want to eat,” she said. “So: eat less.”