Sustainability in Global Food System and the Pursuit of Human Life on Earth

The global food system represents the set of the most important activities aimed at both the continuation of human life on Earth and the safeguard of natural resources. There is no doubt, in fact, that human beings cannot live without food and, at the same time, for their food supply they are dependent on global food system. In addition, agricultural activities involve 37% of all the emerged land and they require the use of natural resources (soil, water) and living organisms (cultivated plants and raised animals) to be done. It follows that, for the sustainability, no human activity is more relevant than those aimed at food production. At present, all the agro-industrial activities covered by the food global system, are experiencing serious efficiency problems, which effects are evident in environmental, social and economic criticalities, whose costs tend to be higher than the total value of the production. The future of mankind appears to be more and more tied not so much to a further increase in the agricultural productivity, but rather to the possibility to redirect the agro-industrial activities towards a more efficient behaviour able to achieve the best possible compromise between the different human needs and the necessity to preserve natural resources useful for their development. The purpose of this paper is to analyse if the current productive systems are able to achieve their economic objective while taking into account the human needs and the characteristics of the nature, that is if their development can be achieved through a cost benefit ratio acceptable as regards the objective of sustainability. To do this, a comparative analysis of studies about the sustainability of global food system was conducted. The analysis highlighted the unsustainability of the current global food system and the need to re-orientate in a more efficient way agro-industrial business so that the top quality of product and process sustainability and efficiency can be ensured. This study might serve as a starting point for further research on the subject.