Solutions for a planet
Increasing population and consumption are placing unprecedented demands on agriculture and natural resources. Today, approximately a billion people are chronically malnourished while our agricultural systems are concurrently degrading land, water, biodiversity and climate on a global scale.
To meet the world’s future food security and sustainability needs, food production must grow substantially while, at the same time, agriculture’s environmental footprint must shrink dramatically.
Here we analyse solutions to this dilemma, showing that tremendous progress could be made by halting agricultural expansion, closing ‘yield gaps’ on underperforming lands, increasing cropping efficiency, shifting diets and reducing waste.
Together, these strategies could double food production while greatly reducing the environmental impacts of agriculture.
...
A large volume of food is never consumed but is instead discarded, degraded or consumed by pests along the supply chain...about one-third of food is never consumed...Developing countries lose more than 40% of food post-harvest or during processing because of storage and transport conditions. Industrialized countries have lower producer losses, but at the retail or consumer level more than 40% of food may be wasted.
In short, reducing food waste and rethinking dietary, bioenergy and other agricultural choices could substantially improve the delivery of calories and nutrition with no accompanying environmental harm.
While wholesale conversions of the human diet and the elimination of food waste are not realistic goals, even incremental steps could be extremely beneficial.
Furthermore, targeted efforts—such as reducing waste in our most resource-intensive foods, especially meat and dairy—could be designed for optimal impact.
Fish, also!?
Solutions for a cultivated planet | Nature 2011 | Foley et al.
More about it, here.
To meet the world’s future food security and sustainability needs, food production must grow substantially while, at the same time, agriculture’s environmental footprint must shrink dramatically.
Here we analyse solutions to this dilemma, showing that tremendous progress could be made by halting agricultural expansion, closing ‘yield gaps’ on underperforming lands, increasing cropping efficiency, shifting diets and reducing waste.
Together, these strategies could double food production while greatly reducing the environmental impacts of agriculture.
...
A large volume of food is never consumed but is instead discarded, degraded or consumed by pests along the supply chain...about one-third of food is never consumed...Developing countries lose more than 40% of food post-harvest or during processing because of storage and transport conditions. Industrialized countries have lower producer losses, but at the retail or consumer level more than 40% of food may be wasted.
In short, reducing food waste and rethinking dietary, bioenergy and other agricultural choices could substantially improve the delivery of calories and nutrition with no accompanying environmental harm.
While wholesale conversions of the human diet and the elimination of food waste are not realistic goals, even incremental steps could be extremely beneficial.
Furthermore, targeted efforts—such as reducing waste in our most resource-intensive foods, especially meat and dairy—could be designed for optimal impact.
Fish, also!?
Solutions for a cultivated planet | Nature 2011 | Foley et al.
More about it, here.