A guide for purchasing and sourcing. How much do you know about the ingredients you source?
Food moves across the globe through supply chains that are mostly blind. Purchasers often have scant visibility into who grows our food, the practices they use, or the communities they support.
To deliver the benefits of a more sustainable food system, we must gain and retain the trust of all those involved in the cultivation, distribution, processing, marketing and consumption of food. Developing frameworks that support greater traceability and transparency in supply chains can help companies meet their aquaculture objectives, allow consumers to better align their food purchases with their values, reward producers who adopt more sustainable practices, and offer profoundly positive environmental impacts.
Over half the world’s seafood production now comes from aquaculture, and the FAO predicts that most of the future growth of fisheries will come from farming operations. In a dynamic and rapidly growing space, literacy and connectivity are central to developing visible and responsible supply chains. When food purchasers make conscious, thoughtful sourcing decisions, and can envision who grows their food, an ingredient transforms from a commodity into a highly valued, mutually beneficial resource.
In a connected market, producers are empowered to deliver high quality goods at a fair price that support both their communities and the marketplace. By becoming a partner in this relationship, food purchasers can source ingredients that champion a food system aligned with their values – even when it’s halfway around the world.
To participate in a connected market requires not just being educated but becoming involved; using this tool will help seafood purchasers learn more about the ingredients they source and how to ask the right questions to support a greener blue economy.
A connected market is a mindful market.
- Douglas Gayeton, Co-Founder, The Lexicon
About Seafood MAP
Seafood MAP is is a program of Green Brown Blue, a food systems solutions activator produced by The Lexicon with support from Food at Google. It brings together food companies, NGOs, scientists, entrepreneurs, and food producers from across the globe to tackle some of the most complex challenges facing our food systems, from aquaculture to agrobiodiversity. Instead of an activator for startups or new products, participants design, rapidly prototype, and release tools for change every six months. Learn more by visiting greenbrownblue.com.
Team
Seafood MAP features an unprecedented collaboration of leading food service companies, purchasers, fishers, fish farmers, academics, environmental NGOs, and technical assistance providers.
This website was built by The Lexicon™, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization headquartered in Petaluma, CA.
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To the extent possible under law, Green Brown Blue, a Food Systems Solutions Activator is releasing all its content under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO) licence.