Hello fellow readers 😀 and welcome back to this week’s theme – Pollution and Food! The consumption of food fuels our daily activities and is a necessity for our survival. But how often do we think about the pollutive production processes that are masked by our plated meals?

For Food’s Sake

The prevalent consumerist lifestyle is centred around the purchase of products in ever-growing amounts. Inherent to consumerism is the notion of choice (Drewnowski, 2016), and faced with a plethora of available foods, consumers can purchase produce that are aligned with their wants and dietary requirements. Food choices are thus shaped by an interlinked web of economics, cultures, and biologies (Drewnowski, 2016), culminating in an expression of cultural and/or socioeconomic identity. These collective food choices then influence the different stages of the global food system – production, distribution, and retail – their resource inputs.

According to the United Nations, ‘food, energy, and water’ are the nexus of sustainable development as the global population increases beyond 7.5 billion (Ritchie & Roser, 2020). This increase in population numbers is accompanied by the rise in global incomes and the demand for food. Subsequently, the growth of food production requires more energy and water inputs, and these processes are typically pollutive due to the inadequacies in resource management. As seen from the infographic below, food production results in a myriad of environmental impacts, from land use implications to the pollution of water bodies (Ritchie & Roser, 2020).

This might seem a little hard to digest so let’s break them down and take a closer look at the environmental impacts of food production!

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Food production and agriculture account for 26% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and evidently, each stage of the production chain varies in its contribution to the said emissions.

Livestock commonly refers to animals raised for their meat, dairy, eggs and other accompanying products, and they contribute to GHG emissions in several ways. For one, ruminant livestock such as cattle produce methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) through their digestive processes – otherwise known as enteric fermentation – and production of manure (McAllister et al., 2011). CH4 and N2O have significantly greater global warming potential at 28 times and 298 times of that compared to carbon dioxide (CO2). Borunda (2019) estimates that there are approximately 1.4 billion ruminating animals in the world and this number is projected to

increase as global incomes rise, contributing to the demand for meat and dairy products. As of 2019, these livestock contribute about 40% of the annual methane budget, and are set to increase with the ever-growing demand for meat.

Significant amounts of CH4 are also emitted during the cultivation of staples such as rice and wheat, amounting to 11% of total anthropogenic CH4 produced in 2012 (McAllister et al, 2011). This stems from the flooded paddies where the crops are grown which provide suitable anaerobic conditions facilitating microbial CH4 generation. Additionally, agriculture is the dominant anthropogenic source of ammonia (NH3) – a gas that is touted to be more acidifying than sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) (FAO, n.d.). Mineral fertilizers, biomass burning and crop residues account for about 44% of global NH3emissions (FAO, n.d.). It is one of the major causes of acid rain, which damages trees, acidifies soils, lakes and rivers, ultimately harming biodiversity. As other acidifying gases such as SO2 are increasingly regulated, NH3 may become the leading cause of acidification in the future. Emissions of ammonia from agriculture are likely to continue rising as the aforementioned livestock projections imply a 60% increase in ammonia emissions from animal excreta (FAO, n.d.).

Unsurprisingly, these GHG emissions result in a myriad of environmental impacts which implicate our health. Take a look at the infographic below to understand how we are affected by the production processes!

Eutrophication

Alongside the emission of GHG, agriculture and aquaculture collectively account for 78% of global eutrophication in oceans and freshwater bodies (Ritchie & Roser, 2020). Projected food production needs associated with an increasing population over the next three decades suggest a 10% to 15% increase in the river input of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) loads into coastal ecosystems (UNESCO WWAP, n.d.). Consequently, this results in harmful algae blooms such as cyanobacteria – or blue-green algae – in freshwater and coastal systems. The toxins produced by excessive algal blooms are concentrated by filter-feeding bivalves, fish and other marine organisms and can cause fish and shellfish poisoning. If consumed by humans, they can cause acute poisoning, skin irritation, and gastrointestinal illnesses.

Trade-offs

Food production is expected to become more productive in the coming years to address tighter food supplies, rising prices from uncertain yields, and insatiable global demand. With that comes the increase in environmental pollution if more sustainable practices are not adopted. As with many other forms of pollutive activities, pollution from food production is often perceived as a trade-off in exchange for a derived benefit – in this case, food security. However, if arable land and water sources are continuously degraded for production purposes alongside climate change from GHG, the food supply chain will only be destabilized in the future. In that sense, a bi-directional relationship exists between food production and the health of the environment – sustainable practices preserve the environmental services required for production, and the prudent use of resources ensures the sustainability of the food supply chain.

With that, we hope that you have gotten a glimpse of the dark side of food production 🙂 This is just the tip of the iceberg as the transportation and management of waste entail another set of problems on their own. So stay tuned to our next post as we move along the supply chain and discuss the implications of food waste!

 

Reference:

Borunda, A. (2019). Methane, explained. National Geographic. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/methane/ [29 September 2020]

Drewnowski, A. (2016). The Limits to Consumerism. In: Eggersdorfer, M , Kraemer, K., Cordaro, J. B., Fanzo, J., Gibney, M., Kennedy, E., Labrique, A., & Steffen, J. (eds.). Good Nutrition: Perspectives for the 21st Century. Berlin, Karger Publishers. Available at: https://www.karger.com/Article/PDF/452376#:~:text=Eat%20more%20stuff.,to%20their%20wants%20and%20needs. [Accessed 2 October 2020]

FAO. (n.d.). Prospects for the environment. Available from: http://www.fao.org/3/y3557e/y3557e11.htm [Accessed 2 October 2020]

McAllister, T. A., Beauchemin, K. A., McGinn, S. M., Hao, X., & Robinson, P. H. (2011). Greenhouse gases in animal agriculture – Find a balance between food production and emissions. Animal Feed Science and Technology. 166, 1-6. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2011.04.057

Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2020). Environmental impacts of food production. Our World in Data. Available from: https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food [Accessed 2 October 2020]

Smith, K. A. (2005). The impact of agriculture and other land uses on emissions of methane and nitrous and nitric oxide. Environmental Sciences. 2(2-3), 101-108. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/15693430500370423 

UNESCO WAPP. (n.d.). World Water Assessment Programme. Available from: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/water/wwap/facts-and-figures/all-facts-wwdr3/fact-28-food-production-pollution/ [Accessed 2 October 2020]

Images:

Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2020). Environmental impacts of food production. Our World in Data. Available from: https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food [Accessed 2 October 2020]