Review: Air Pollution, Food Production and Food Security

harvesting crops in field
Harvest season in Pesotum, Illinois, by James Baltz, 2019, Unsplash.

When it comes to food production, air pollution is arguably much more prone to being overlooked than soil and water pollution, due to how it cannot be easily identified by the naked eye. 

However, another bigger issue is how we tend to only consider the impacts of air pollution from the perspectives of agriculture and public health. On the contrary, there have not been many studies performed on the wider implications of air pollution on food security. Today, our review of a journal article, Air pollution, food production and food security: A review from the perspective of food system, by Sun, Dai and Yu (2017) will focus on how air pollution brings about changes in our food system. 

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Debate: #supportlocal?

food on plate
An Asian-style meal, by Drew Taylor, 2018, Unsplash.

A friend once told me of her intention to switch to consuming plant-based milks as a more environmentally-friendly alternative to regular milk, but faced many hurdles in doing so. Apart from the fact that certain types of plant milk (e.g. oat) are much more expensive than regular milk, the issue of additional food miles incurred by the import of these food products also adds a new layer to this dilemma.

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The Journey to the Plate

food on plate
These foods have certainly come a long way, by Melissa Walker Horn, 2018, Unsplash.

Contrary to popular belief, the concept of food miles is not exactly a new one. In fact, Steel (2020) explains that the globalisation of the food chain started in ancient times, when less perishable types of food were shipped from one place to another via sea routes.

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