Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Food & Environment
- Impact of food production on the
environment
- ploughing
- sewing seeds
- fertilizers
- farm machinery
- transporting crops
and final products
- washing
- manufacturing
- packaging
- Global temperature may rise by 4C by end
of century. (IPCC, 2007)
- Impact of food production
greenhouse gas (GHG)
emission
- modern food system depends on
fossil fuels- natural gas for
fertilisers and oil for farming
machinery
- EU- 10%
- UK -22%
- Ireland- 28%
- due to large number of
ruminant livestock
- Livestock provides 18% of
all GHG emission
- Key green house gases (GHG)
- Carbon Dioxide (CO2)- 85% of UKs
global warming contribution
- Methane (CH4)- digestion of cellulose,
global warming potential 23x higher
than CO2
- Nitrous oxide (N2O)- from land
fertlisers, 296x higher than CO2
- Flurocarbons- used in refrigeration
- world per capita meat consumption
has double since 1960s
- Impact of food
production on water
usage
- 85% global freshwater
consumption for agriculture
- 5000L virtual water
consumed per head per
day
- Maize- 900m3 per
tonne
- Wheat- 1300m3
per tonne
- Husked rice- 3000m3 per
tonne
- Coffee- 20,000m2
per tonne
- Beef- 15,000m2 per
tonne
- Water in food
manufacturing
- as a product (bottled, juice)
- Processing: boiling, washing, cleaning,
steaming
- 8-15% of all water used in
industry in Europe
- Impact of food
production on soil
quality
- soil highly, complex mix of small
rock particles, organic matter,
water, bacteria, nematodes, fungi
and water vapour
- takes 3000- 12000 years to
produce enough soil to form
productive land
- intensive farming has
depleted soil quality-
minerals
- poorly irrigated/
drained land leads to
build up of salt-
poison soil
- Soil erosion
- over cultivation/
over grazing can
break down physical
structure of the soil
- as can wind/ water erosion
- 16% total land area of EU affected by
soil degradtion
- ploughing is a major contributor
to soil erosion
- new low impact system. e.g no till (tickles the soil
just enough to plant seed)
- Impact of food
production on
biodiversity
- depletion of
plants and animal
- destruction of
habitats loss of
genetic diversity
- vulnerability to
pests and disease
- loss of potential food and
medical crops
- decline in variability in
ecosystem
- Energy and oil
- developed countries 10-14% total energy
used is in food production
- oil predominant fuel in
food production
- 1/2 energy to
process and produce
food comes from oil
- prices likely to rise in real terms by
35% by 2035 - with currently rise in
food price
- Food miles
- distance food travels
within the UK +50% in 20
years
- Air transport uses 37x more fuel
than shipping
- Road freight uses 4x the energy of rail
- In 2000, the average food item in the US
had travelled 2400-3200km
- Impact of environmental
change on food
production
- not just food production which effects the environment
- changes in environment are and will
continue to affect food production
- rise in ground level temperature
- may see increase yields of some
crop + decrease
- erratic weather patterns and rainfall
could cause crop failures
- Food production impact on the
environment
- energy- oil
- GHG
- land clearance
- biodiversity
- soil quality
- water availability