The Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters (ALLFED) is a nonprofit organization with two primary objectives:
1) to identify, pilot, and prepare resilient food alternatives, in the event that a catastrophe damages conventional food supplies
2) to help governments and communities implement these solutions during a global food shock
As devastating as catastrophes are, the threat of a global catastrophe is not just the initial destruction, but also the impact it could have on food supplies and distribution.
We aim to minimize the damage of a global catastrophe by ensuring that the people continue to have access to nutritious food, during and after the catastrophe.
Our work examines several aspects of resilient food solutions:
- the feasibility of different food options—how they could be grown or produced and what they would cost;
- how the foods could be scaled up to feed millions of people;
- how nutritious the different foods are; and
- the different types of scenarios that might lead to a loss of food—including loss of sunlight, extreme climate change (hot or cold), loss of electricity, loss of industry, and/or loss of transportation—and the different ways to feed people in these scenarios.
In some cases, we might advocate for extracting nutrients from normally inedible material, such as wood, leaves, or grasses. In other cases, we might also recommend that various members of the industry get involved to help manufacture single-cell proteins (like those being used today in many alternative protein products) that are grown with hydrogen or methane. In all cases, we will work with regions to identify the most useful resilient foods that they should include in their backup plan. We will also assist regions to establish implementation plans to ensure they can access these resilient foods in a catastrophe.
Our scientists and engineers study different resilient food options in different regions so that we always have the most up-to-date information on the best food options. Members of the team are also working to build relationships with members of governments and the media to ensure the right people understand the catastrophic risks we are concerned about and how these can be addressed.
Learn more about ALLFED here.
