Releasing agriculture from the food security mandate
Summary
The state of food security is achieved if no one has to worry whether or how they can acquire-typically purchase-healthy and nutritious meals. In theory, food security could be addressed from two sides: increasing households' purchasing power or lowering food prices. However, in practice, food insecurity is a by-product of prevailing political and economic systems. Agriculture produces more calories and nutrients than needed to feed humanity, so it is fundamentally an issue of distributive
Content
# Releasing agriculture from the food security mandate
*Published: 2026 Mar 12*
The state of food security is achieved if no one has to worry whether or how
they can acquire-typically purchase-healthy and nutritious meals. In theory,
food security could be addressed from two sides: increasing households'
purchasing power or lowering food prices. However, in practice, food insecurity
is a by-product of prevailing political and economic systems. Agriculture
produces more calories and nutrients than needed to feed humanity, so it is
fundamentally an issue of distributive justice, where geography, education,
ethnicity, gender, and other mechanisms of marginalization determine one's food
security-through access to wealth. Yet humanity has failed to eliminate poverty
and instead of addressing socioeconomic causes of food insecurity, agricultural
research and practice are called upon to compensate. This is not only unfair but
bound to fail. It also diverts muchneeded scientific capacity from the long list
of sustainability challenges that agricultural production systems must address.
DOI: 10.1126/science.aeg4691