New Podcast Episode: Corinna Hawkes on Why Food Needs a Systems Approach

In the latest episode of 'Feed: a food systems podcast,' Corinna Hawkes, Director of FAO’s Agrifood Systems and Food Safety Division, explores what it really means to transform agrifood systems through a systems approach. 

Through examples from Sierra Leone’s Feed Salone initiative and New York City’s food procurement reforms, Hawkes illustrates how large-scale progress emerges when governments and communities work across sectors to balance trade-offs and generate gains for people and planet. 

She also highlights the leadership skills often overlooked in this space: facilitation, deep listening, patience, and humility. “Taking action in a more systemic way takes a certain set of people skills,” she explains. “We need to incentivize that shift and reward those skills, because they are essential for change.” 

The conversation addresses tensions familiar to anyone working on food: the urgency of crises versus the slower, relationship-building work required for lasting solutions. As Hawkes puts it, “The most urgent thing is to pay attention to the things that need to be done slower.” 

Listen to the full episode