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3.4: Food Sustainability

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    Food Sustainability

    In addition to being safe and productive enough to feed the world's growing population, modern food systems must be sustainable. A sustainable food system provides food security and nutrition for everyone today and into the future without compromising economic, social, and environmental factors (Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)).1

    Features of Sustainable Food Systems

    The features of sustainable food systems are social, economic and environmental.

    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Three requirements of a sustainable food system. Source: Erin Shanle licensed under CC BY 4.0.

    Environmental Factors

    Sustainable food systems use environmental resources, such as land or water, without depleting the resources in the process. Currently, modern food systems are not sustainable and fail to feed the world without depleting key resources like fresh water and Earth's natural environments or ecosystems. An ecosystem is defined as the biological and physical environments and their interactions with the community of organisms that inhabit those environments as well as the interactions among those organisms. Food production from grains to meats uses more than 40% of Earth's land that is free of deserts or ice, which means these ecosystems have been largely replaced with agricultural fields for growing crops or grazing livestock.2

    Water is at the core of creating a sustainable food system because fresh water is a nonrenewable resource on Earth. That means there is a set amount of freshwater that cycles throughout the Earth, and every person needs it to drink and produce food. According to the World Health Organization and UNICEF, 1 in 3 people on Earth do not have access to clean, safe drinking water.3 Moreover, 70% of the freshwater used daily on Earth is used for agriculture to produce our food.4 This global water crisis requires a balance between using water for drinking and sanitation and using water for food production. Sustainable food systems must be developed that address the global water crisis to continue producing food for everyone on Earth. ​

    Modern food systems also have a large carbon footprint, which means they emit large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses into Earth's atmosphere. It is estimated that our food systems produce 26% of human-derived greenhouse gases.2 One way to reduce the carbon footprint of modern food systems is to reduce food waste. The EPA estimates that in 2019 alone, about 66 million tons of wasted food were generated in the food retail, food service, and residential sectors, and most of this waste (about 60%) was sent to landfills. The EPA estimated that in 2018 in the United States, more food reached landfills and combustion facilities than any other single material in our everyday trash (24% of the amount landfilled and 22% of the amount combusted with energy recovery).5 Globally, food loss and waste accounts for 8% of greenhouse gas emissions.6 Although there are many other environmental factors to consider in modern food systems, making changes to promote healthy ecosystems, reduce waste and carbon emissions, and conserve clean water will help move us toward food systems that can continue to produce food for generations to come.

    Modern Food Systems Use Resources

    Tractor at work in a field in Idaho.

    Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Modern food systems use resources, including land and fresh water, to produce food.7 Source: "File:Tractor at work on a field in Idaho (cropped).jpg" by Sam Beebe is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

    Economic Factors

    Money and profits are important drivers in modern food systems. Agriculture, food, and related industries contributed roughly $1.264 trillion to US gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021, a 5.4% share.8 Consumers can influence food systems by choosing to buy or avoid certain food products. However, factors such as improved shelf-life, protective packaging, and highly productive crops greatly improve profits for food industries. Food industries have increased production and profits by using genetically engineered plants, herbicides, and pesticides. Public policy also shapes modern food systems. For example, the USDA offers subsidies, or money given to farmers, to support over 20 crops in the US. However, feed grains are the most highly supported through these programs.9 These types of policies have the power to influence the development of sustainable food systems using economic and financial support for diverse crops and small- or medium-sized farms.

    The American Public Health Association (APHA) states that a sustainable food system also provides food availability, accessibility, and affordability to all while remaining humane and just for everyone.10 A sustainable food system does not just include the food and those who consume the food but also those who produce the food, such as farmers and fishermen, and those who process, package, distribute, and regulate food. Sustainable food systems must be profitable for each person in the food system, from the farmer to the distributor. In the United States, farmers only receive 14 cents of every dollar spent on food. The rest of that dollar goes to the market share of the food system, which includes transportation, packaging, processing, and advertising (Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\))11 Future sustainable food systems will need to ensure farmers, farm workers, and food producers can sustain profits while keeping foods affordable for consumers.

    The affordability of a healthy diet is a major concern throughout the world. Sustainable food systems should provide nutritious foods that everyone can afford. Unfortunately, modern food systems are currently operating in a way that makes healthy diets more expensive. On average across the world, a diet that provides enough calories through the least expensive foods but lacks essential nutrients is estimated to be about 80 cents per day. However, a diet that provides sufficient nutrients through the incorporation of fruits and vegetables costs almost 5 times more.12 Many factors increase the costs of nutritious foods, but the lack of diverse, nutritious crops increases the cost and availability of nutritious foods throughout the world.

    The Food Dollar in America

    Food Dollar in America Food Dollar 2021 2.png

    Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\). A typical food dollar. For every $1 spent on food in America, approximately 14 cents goes to the farm that produces the food. Further breakdown of the food dollar shows that food services and food processing get almost half of the money spent on food.11 Source: USDA Economic Research Service (2023, February 15). Food Dollar Application. Retrieved July 22, 2023, from https://data.ers.usda.gov/reports.aspx?ID=17885

    Social Factors

    The most prominent challenge to building a sustainable food system is to make food available and accessible to all. In the previous section, we learned that food insecurity is a problem throughout the world and in the United States. Modern food systems are not providing nutritious foods to all communities, which has led to a growing food justice movement. This movement aims to improve access to nutritious food for disadvantaged communities, including low-income communities and communities of color, by advocating for change in food systems.13

    Location and income have a great impact on a person's access to nutritious foods. In urban areas, for example, food deserts have increased. A food desert is a location that does not provide access to affordable, high-quality, nutritious food. An estimated 18.8 million people in these low-income and low-access census tracts lived far from a supermarket in 2019.8 One of the best examples of a “food desert” is in Detroit, Michigan (Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\)). The lower socioeconomic status of the people who live in this city does not foster the building of grocery stores in the community. Therefore, the most accessible foods are the cheap, high-caloric ones sold in convenience stores. As a result, people who live in Detroit have some of the highest incidences of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in the country.

    Food Deserts in Detroit, Michigan

    Map of Detroit, Michigan indicating where residents live at least 1 mile from a grocery store.

    Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\): Map of food deserts in Detroit, MI. Regions highlighted in green have a significant number of low-income households that live at least 1 mile from a grocery store.14 Source: USDA Economic Research Service (2023, July 6). Food Access Research Atlas. Retrieved July 22, 2023, from https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-produc...-to-the-atlas/

    References

    1. HLPE on Food Security and Nutrition. Nutrition and food systems. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States. Published September 2017. Accessed July 30, 2023. https://www.fao.org/3/i7846e/i7846e.pdf.
    2. Poore J, Nemecek T. Reducing food's environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science. 2018;360(6392):987-992. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaq0216. Accessed July 18, 2023.
    3. 1 in 3 People Globally Do Not Have Access to Safe Drinking Water. WHO. Published June 18, 2019. Accessed July 31, 2023. https://www.who.int/news/item/18-06-2019-1-in-3-people-globally-do-not-have-access-to-safe-drinking-water-unicef-who.
    4. Molden D, ed. Water for Food Water for Life: A Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture. Routledge; 2007.
    5. Sustainable Management of Food Basics. United States Environmental Protection Agency. Updated June 7, 2023. Accessed July 22, 2023. https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/sustainable-management-food-basics.
    6. UN Environment Programme. UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021. Published March 4, 2021. Accessed July 22, 2023. https://www.unep.org/resources/report/unep-food-waste-index-report-2021.
    7. Beebe S. Tractor plowing fields. Flickr. https://flickr.com/photos/28585409@N04/3710702365. Published July 11, 2009. Accessed July 21, 2023.
    8. FAQs. US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. Updated June 1, 2023. Accessed July 22, 2023. https://www.ers.usda.gov/faqs.
    9. U.S. Department of Agriculture. FY 2021 Budget Summary. Accessed July 22, 2023. https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/usda-fy2021-budget-summary.pdf.
    10. Toward a Healthy Sustainable Food System. American Public Health Association. Published November 6, 2007. Accessed July 23, 2023. https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2014/07/29/12/34/toward-a-healthy-sustainable-food-system.
    11. Food Dollar Application. US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. Updated February 15, 2023. Accessed July 22, 2023. https://data.ers.usda.gov/reports.aspx?ID=17885.
    12. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020: Transforming Food Systems for Affordable Healthy Diets. Published 2020. Accessed July 22, 2023. https://www.fao.org/3/ca9692en/online/ca9692en.html.
    13. What is Food Justice? Brown University Community Service Center. Accessed July 22, 2023. https://www.bu.edu/csc/edref-2/what-is-food-justice/.
    14. Go to the Atlas. US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. Updated July 6, 2023. Accessed July 22, 2023. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/go-to-the-atlas/.

    This page titled 3.4: Food Sustainability is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Jan Dowell and Erin Shanle (Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI)) .