A supermarket aisle can look abundant. Shelves stacked high, colours shouting for attention, promotions promising more for less. Yet behind the display is a quieter truth: people still go hungry while enormous quantities of food are wasted. UNEP estimates that households worldwide wasted more than one billion meals a day in 2022 (1). Full shelves do not necessarily mean well-nourished communities.

World Food Day, marked on 16 October, asks us to consider how food reaches our plates, and who is being left out. This year’s theme, “Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow.”, connects new ideas with traditional knowledge and the need to make nutritious food accessible to everyone (2). Producing more food matters. But so does asking what that food contributes to health.

The consequences of failing to nourish people extend beyond hunger. FAO’s The State of Food and Agriculture 2024 estimated that unhealthy dietary patterns account for around US$8.1 trillion in hidden costs annually, linked to diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes (3). These costs do not appear on a supermarket receipt, but they are felt in households, workplaces, and healthcare services. A food system can deliver plenty of calories and still fail to deliver adequate nourishment.

What are we asking agriculture to deliver?

Innovation is often presented as the answer. New technologies, farming practices, and ways of storing and distributing food all have a role to play. The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition has examined how agroecological and other innovative approaches can support more sustainable food systems (4). Their value needs to be considered in terms of nutrition, access, livelihoods, and environmental protection together. An impressive idea means little to a family who still cannot afford dinner.

Forage agronomist Peter Ballerstedt brings human nourishment to the centre of his work on agriculture. In his article What Is “Food?”, he argues that assessing a food system requires looking beyond the volume it produces to the nutritional value people receive and the effects on their health (5). That perspective gives farming a clear purpose: providing food that meets human needs.

His work also highlights a problem with counting protein as though every gram were nutritionally interchangeable. Protein quality depends on the essential amino acids a food provides and how well they can be digested and used. Comparing crops or farming systems only by their total protein output can therefore miss important differences in their contribution to human nutrition (6).

These questions matter when deciding what to grow, how to raise animals, and where to invest in agricultural development. Farmers need viable livelihoods, communities need affordable nourishment, and the land must remain productive for future generations. Progress in one area should be assessed alongside what happens in the others.

Where livestock fits

Ruminants have a distinctive role in this picture. Through their digestive systems, they can convert grasses and other fibrous material that people cannot eat into meat and milk. They can use grasslands unsuitable for cropping, along with crop residues and some agricultural by-products (5).

A study published in Global Food Security estimated that 86% of the feed consumed by livestock worldwide consisted of material not currently eaten by humans (7). That figure covers livestock as a whole, rather than ruminants alone, but it challenges the assumption that all animal feed could otherwise go straight onto our plates.

This does not mean livestock never competes with human food production. Some systems use human-edible crops, and the same study documented substantial cereal consumption by livestock. The contribution depends on what animals are fed, how they are raised, and the land and resources involved (7). Those distinctions matter when evaluating agriculture.

The nutritional output matters too. FAO’s review identifies meat, eggs, and milk as important sources of high-quality protein and nutrients including vitamin B12, iron, zinc, and choline. These foods can help meet nutritional needs at important stages of life, including childhood, pregnancy, and older age (8). Their contribution belongs in discussions about sustainable food production alongside environmental impacts.

Plant and animal agriculture are also closely connected. Crop production supplies food for people and feed resources for animals. Livestock can provide manure and income as well as food (7). The task is to understand how these relationships can work well under local conditions, supporting nutrition, farming livelihoods, and responsible use of resources.

From the farm to the family

Producing nourishing food is only part of the challenge. What happens during processing, distribution, marketing, and retail affects what people eventually eat. Ballerstedt’s work draws attention to these links, including affordability, metabolic health, and the cultural importance of meals (5). Agricultural output alone cannot tell us whether a food system is serving people well.

Food insecurity is not only about empty stomachs. It is also about whether people can obtain the food they need to stay well. The quality of food is as urgent as the quantity. A household may have enough food to get through the day while still struggling to afford a nourishing diet. Food policy needs to address that gap, rather than measuring success only by how much food is produced or distributed.

These questions are part of the conversation at the World Nutrition Summit, hosted by The Noakes Foundation from 14-16 October at Hazendal Wine Estate in the Cape Winelands (9). Peter Ballerstedt is among the speakers, bringing his perspective on agriculture, human nutrition, and the role of ruminants in nourishing people. As the Summit concludes today, on World Food Day, the challenge is to carry these discussions forward into farming practices, food policy, and healthcare, connecting what we produce with the health of the people who eat it.

The answers will not come from one farm, one policy, or one innovation. They will require farmers, businesses, policymakers, healthcare professionals, and communities to work towards a shared goal: making nourishing food available and affordable while protecting the capacity to produce it in future.

The measure of a successful food system is more than how much food it produces. It is whether people can afford the food they need to live well.

References

1. United Nations Environment Programme. (2024, March 27). World squanders over 1 billion meals a day—UN report. Findings from the Food Waste Index Report 2024.
2. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2026). World Food Day 2026: Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow.
3. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2024). Unhealthy dietary patterns drive $8 trillion in annual hidden costs of global agrifood systems. Findings from The State of Food and Agriculture 2024.
4. High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition. (2019). Agroecological and other innovative approaches for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition. HLPE Report No. 14. Rome.
5. Ballerstedt, P. (2026, August 20). What is “Food”? Grass Based Health.
6. Ballerstedt, P. (2026, May 27). The tyranny of crude protein. Grass Based Health.
7. Mottet, A., de Haan, C., Falcucci, A., Tempio, G., Opio, C., & Gerber, P. (2017). Livestock: On our plates or eating at our table? A new analysis of the feed/food debate. Global Food Security, 14, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2017.01.001
8. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2023). Contribution of terrestrial animal source food to healthy diets for improved nutrition and health outcomes: An evidence and policy overview on the state of knowledge and gaps. Rome.
9. The Noakes Foundation. (2026). World Nutrition Summit 2026.