Steering the EU food system towards a sustainability transformation requires a vast and actionable knowledge base available to a range of public and private actors. Few have captured this complexity by assessing food systems from a multi-dimensional and multi-level perspective, which would include (1) nutrition and diet, environmental and economic outcomes together with social equity dimensions and (2) system interactions across country, EU and global scales. This paper addresses this gap in food systems research and science communication by providing an integrated analytical approach and new ways to communicate this complexity outside science. Based on a transdisciplinary science approach with continuous stakeholder input, the EU Horizon2020 project ‘Metrics, Models and Foresight for European SUStainable Food And Nutrition Security’ (SUSFANS) developed a five-step process: Creating a participatory space; designing a conceptual framework of the EU food system; developing food system performance metrics; designing a modelling toolbox and developing a visualization tool. The Sustainable Food and Nutrition-Visualizer, designed to communicate complex policy change-impacts and trade-off questions, enables an informed debate about trade-offs associated with options for change among food system actors as well as in the policy making arena. The discussion highlights points for further research related to indicator development, reach of assessment models, participatory processes and obstacles in science communication.

Trade is an integral part of our food systems. It connects people at all stages of agricultural and food value chains, linking farmers with consumers across the world. It also links nations to each other, and thus scales up from the domestic to the global perspective. By moving food from surplus to deficit regions, trade promotes food security, the diversity of foods available, and can affect preferences and diets. Trade impacts food prices and the allocation of resources, and thus is inherent to economic growth and interacts with the environment. At the same time, trade can create both winners and losers, resulting in inequality, and can generate negative social and environmental outcomes. This chapter provides an overview of the current debate around trade in food and agriculture and illustrates the role that trade can play within food systems in balancing different dimensions of sustainability. While trade openness is generally conducive to food security and promotes economic growth, formulating trade policies to achieve multiple targets, including environmental, nutritional and social objectives, requires careful analysis. Trade policies may not be the best and most efficient instruments for achieving multiple objectives, and they should be framed by complementary policies targeting specific aspects of sustainability. For example, in addressing climate change, one of today’s most pressing challenges, a combination of food trade and domestic policy instruments can sharpen the adaptation and mitigation roles of trade and significantly contribute to promoting the adoption of climate-smart technologies. In order to effectively design such policies, a better understanding of both the complex linkages between trade and sustainability outcomes and the simultaneous impacts of policy approaches on all parts of the food system will be necessary.