Food Production Can Damage the Environment

Everybody needs to eat! Food keeps us healthy and gives us the energy to go about our daily lives. However, producing the foods we eat requires a lot of natural resources. For example, farmers must use a lot of land to grow crops or animals, they use fuels to power their farming equipment, and they often apply fertilizers to enhance crop growth. If there is too little rain, farmers may need to use water from the ground or from lakes and rivers to irrigate their crops.

This resource use can be bad for the planet, but there are even more ways that the foods we eat can cause environmental problems. For example, excessive use of fertilizers or pesticides can cause pollution of nearby land and water and can even affect human health [1]. Consequently, or when land is cleared for food production, the number of different plants, animals, and other living things on those lands can be reduced, decreasing Earth’s natural biodiversity. Pesticides can also harm pollinator populations (such as bees) that are very important for plant growth. Another environmental problem caused by farming is the overuse of medicines called antibiotics that protect farm animals against harmful bacteria, which then makes those medicines less effective for humans. Finally, food production can be a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions—this is what we will focus on in the rest of this article.

What Are Food Systems?

Food systems include the entire life cycle of a food. This includes its production on farms, processing it to get it ready for sale, transportation to places where it will be sold, cooking or other preparation to get it ready to eat, consumption of food, and management of food loss and waste. Food systems also include everything that is needed so that these activities are possible, such as building roads, developing new technologies, or providing clean water [2].

Current food systems not only harm the environment and release greenhouse gases; often the food that is consumed leads to health problems. Many of us eat or drink more than what we need. This can lead to overweight, which today affects more than 2 Billion people [3, 4]. At the same time, more than 700 million people were affected by hunger in 2021 [5]. Some foods, we should be careful not to eat too much of, for example those high in sugar, salt or saturated fats. For other foods, many people should eat more than what they currently do. For example, fruits and vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

How Do Food Systems Release Greenhouse Gases?

The GHG footprint of a food includes all GHG emissions that occur during the life cycle of that food product, from the farm all the way through food preparation and the management of food waste. For example, a fruit will have a larger GHG footprint if it has been stored in a refrigerator for several months vs. if it is fresh from the tree. A fruit will also have a larger GHG footprint if it was harvested from farmland created by cutting down a lush forest. The amount of a food that is lost or wasted during its life cycle also affects its GHG footprint.

Researchers have calculated that roughly one third of the warming caused by human GHG emissions is associated with the global food system [6]. Food system-related GHGs include CO₂ from energy use (46%); methane from ruminants, rice fields, and waste management (38%); and nitrous oxide from fertilizers, grazing animals, and soil breakdown (13%). Figure 1 shows increases in food system GHG emissions since 1990, which are mainly due to energy and industrial processes. In 2015, 17 gigatons of CO₂ equivalent emissions were produced by the global food system, which means the combined effect of those GHGs on the climate is the same as if 17,000,000,000 tons of CO₂ were emitted!

Meat products are among the foods with the highest GHG footprint, especially when the meat comes from ruminant animals, such as cattle, sheep, and goats. These animals eat a diet of grass and leaves, which causes them to release methane—a powerful greenhouse gas. Ruminant meats are produced in many different ways, with varying levels of GHG emissions (Figure 2). Based on greenhouse gas emissions data, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded in 2022 that “diets high in plant protein and low in meat and dairy are associated with lower GHG emissions” [7]. The high GHG emissions of meats, especially from ruminants, are due to several factors. First, lots of land and energy are required to produce the animals’ food. Also, as we mentioned, these animals release the GHG methane. Finally, if forests are cleared to make way for animal pastures and farmland to grow the animals’ food, this causes CO₂ emissions and negatively impacts biodiversity.

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Food Systems

There are many options for reducing the climate impacts of the food system (Table 1). For example, improving the efficiency of food production or reducing food waste would require less resources for food production. Some types of farming practices, such as growing certain crops, can increase the amount of carbon stored in the soil and thus reduce GHG emissions. Eating plant-based alternatives to animal products, like peas, beans, or tofu, can also substantially reduce GHG emissions.

Changing eating habits is not easy. Foods for a healthy, sustainable diet are often more expensive and can be difficult to find in supermarkets. Good-quality information about the environmental effects of foods is also difficult to find. Changing farming practices is not easy, either. Environmentally friendly farming practices are often more expensive and require more land to produce the same amount of food. Often, farmers sell their products to large companies that transport and sell their products all over the world, giving these companies considerable power over what people buy.

To effectively reduce food system GHGs, new technologies need to be developed, tested, and scaled up. Figure 3 gives some examples of how food systems could be made more sustainable through research and innovation [8]. Policies also need to be developed to help sustainable food products reach stores faster— those foods need to be easily available and affordable. Dietary guidelines, information campaigns, and proper food labeling can help consumers to make good choices. In summary, reducing food-related GHG emissions requires changes at all levels, from the producers to the consumers. This works best if there are laws or policies in place that are fair and acceptable to all.

How Can We Help—Should We All Go Vegan?

Everyone who wants to reduce their own food-related GHG footprint can do so, but the options that are available to each person may vary depending on income, culture, and where they live. Some options are free or even save money. Examples include reducing food waste, eating less, or eating more plant-based proteins instead of meat. Our own actions can also make it more likely that others will follow.

According to the IPCC, eating diets with more plant protein while eating less animal products, added sugars, salt, and saturated fats could reduce food-related GHG emissions. These changes are healthy for both the environment and humans [7]. However, this does not mean that everyone must go vegan to make an impact. Some livestock-production systems can keep ecosystems biodiverse while providing nutritious food. There are also places where the land is not good for any type of food production except livestock grazing, like pastures in mountainous areas.

A report to the United Nations recommended that Europeans should decrease the amount of meat and dairy they eat by 50%, along with making technical changes in farming and food-production practices that can help to reduce environmental impact [9]. In some places, like the Global South, there are not enough plant-based foods available to keep people healthy, so people are more dependent on animals for their nutrition. It is important that everyone can obtain the necessary amount of protein in their diets to stay healthy.

In conclusion, if we want to reduce the impact of our food systems on the environment, the world does not need to go completely vegan. However, we do need to decrease the amounts of animal-based foods that we produce and consume. Most people can do this by eating less meat—namely by replacing animal-based foods with plant-based foods.

Glossary

Biodiversity: ↑ The variety of all life on Earth, including plants, animals, and the ecosystems that they live in.

Greenhouse Gases: ↑ Gases in the atmosphere which can absorb heat and cause the planet to warm up. These occur naturally, such as carbon dioxide and water vapor, but human activity is putting more greenhouse gases into the air leading to the planet getting warmer.

Food Systems: ↑ Food systems include the entire life cycle of a food. This includes its production on farms, processing it to get it ready for sale, transportation to places where it will be sold, cooking or other preparation to get it ready to eat, consumption of food, and management of food loss and wastes.

GHG Footprint: ↑ All emissions of greenhouse gases which occur during the life of a product, from input required for its production over processing, transport, consumption, and waste management.

Methane (CH4): ↑ A greenhouse gas that is mainly emitted from some animals that eat grass, from land under water tables as rice or wetlands, and from waste management.

Nitrous Oxide (N2O): ↑ A very powerful greenhouse gas that is mainly emitted from nitrogen sources, such as fertilizers used to enhance crop growth, from animal excretions, or in sewage systems.

Ruminant: ↑ Ruminant animals are animals that are able to eat a diet of grass and leaves. Examples of ruminant animals are cattle, sheep, and goats.

Sustainable: ↑ Sustainability means using resources in a way that protects the planet, so future generations can enjoy it too.

Vegan: ↑ A vegan diet is a way of eating that includes only plant-based foods, like fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and beans, without any animal products such as meat, dairy, or eggs.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.