Food Systems Transformation

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Food systems are complex systems spanning the production, processing, transport, distribution, and consumption of food. They deliver nourishment, jobs, community, culture, and pleasure — but today’s food systems do not equitably provide access to sufficient nutritious and safe food for all people, are responsible for a large share of environmental degradation, and are rife with unfair labor practices and human rights violations. Transforming food systems — reshaping the infrastructure, technology, interactions, and actors within them — to become healthy, sustainable, equitable, resilient, and just is essential to addressing problems from human suffering to planetary crisis. This body of work focuses on historical and ongoing food systems change and on policy-relevant food systems information systems and decision-support.

Ongoing

• Food Systems Countdown Initiative — I lead the analysis and management of this large collaborative effort of 60+ multidisciplinary scientists from dozens of institutions, monitoring food systems transformation against the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and other global goals. Indicators from this work have been incorporated into the CAADP framework and FAOSTAT.

Completed

• Global food systems transitions and their outcomes — with Ramya Ambikapathi, Ben Davis, Mario Herrero, Paul Winters, and Jessica Fanzo, showing that food systems transitions have enabled more affordable diets but had less favourable outcomes for nutrition, environmental health, inclusion, and equity. Published in Nature Food.
• Resilient and inclusive rural transformation — with Ana Paula De La O Campos, Romina Cavatassi, Ben Davis, Ramya Ambikapathi, Kaleab Baye, and Lynnette Neufeld, examining challenges and opportunities for income growth and job creation, and pathways to improved nutrition, in sub-Saharan Africa under climate, demographic, and social change. Published in Global Food Security: income growth and job creation · pathways towards improved nutrition.
• Defining and measuring policy coherence for food systems transformation — a scoping review with Deviana Dewi, Destan Aytekin, Namukolo Covic, Jessica Fanzo, Stella Nordhagen, and Danielle Resnick. Published in Global Food Security.
• Health–environment interactions across food systems — a commentary on how health and environmental outcomes interact across food systems. Published in Nature Food.

Peer-reviewed publications

• Carducci, B., Schneider Lecy, K., et al. (2026) “Food systems performance evaluated against targets and benchmarks reveals urgent gaps and a path to 2050.” Nature Food, 7, 802-812. — Article
• Schneider, K., Remans, R., Bekele, T.H., Aytekin, D., Conforti, P., Dasgupta, S., et al. (2025) “Governance and resilience as entry points for transforming food systems in the countdown to 2030.” Nature Food, 6(1). — Article · Data & replication code · Policy report (6 languages)
• Westengen, O.T., Lecy, K.S., Angelsen, A., Aspholm, M.E., Bjugstad, N., Eriksen, S.H., et al. (2025) “Three reasons why food system transformations are contested, and why food system scientists and policymakers should care.” Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 9. — Article
• Ambikapathi, R., Baye, K., Cavatassi, R., Schneider Lecy, K., Davis, B., Neufeld, L.M. (2025) “Resilient and Inclusive Rural Transformation: Pathways towards Improved Nutrition.” Global Food Security, 46, 100871. — Article
• Schneider, K., De La O Campos, A.P., Cavatassi, R., Davis, B. (2024) “Resilient and inclusive rural transformation in sub-Saharan Africa under climate, demographic, and social change: Challenges and opportunities for income growth and job creation.” Global Food Security, 43, 100815. — Article · Data & replication code
• Dewi, D., Aytekin, D., Schneider, K., Covic, N., Fanzo, J., Nordhagen, S., Resnick, D. (2024) “Defining and measuring policy coherence for food systems transformation: A scoping review.” Global Food Security, 43, 100803. — Article
• Schneider, K. (2024) “Health–environment interactions across food systems.” Nature Food, 5. — Article
• Schneider, K., Fanzo, J., Haddad, L., Herrero, M., Moncayo, J.R., Herforth, A., et al. (2023) “The state of food systems worldwide in the countdown to 2030.” Nature Food, 4, 1090-1110. — Article · Data & replication code · Policy report (6 languages)
• Ambikapathi, R., Schneider, K., Davis, B., Herrero, M., Winters, P., Fanzo, J.C. (2022) “Global food systems transitions have enabled affordable diets but had less favourable outcomes for nutrition, environmental health, inclusion and equity.” Nature Food, 3, 764-779. — Article
• Fanzo, J., Haddad, L., Schneider, K., Béné, C., Covic, N.M., Guarin, A., et al. (2021) “Viewpoint: Rigorous monitoring is necessary to meet the food system transformation challenge in the countdown to 2030 global goals.” Food Policy, 104, 102163. — Article
• Schneider, K., Fanzo, J., Haddad, L., Rosero Moncayo, J. (2021) “Global health has a stake in the upcoming UN Food Systems Summit.” The Lancet. — Article
• Pingali, P., Schneider, K., Zurek, M. (2014) “Poverty, agriculture and the environment: The case of Sub-Saharan Africa.” Marginality: Addressing the Nexus of Poverty, Exclusion and Ecology. New York: Springer.