The Dirty Food Sector- A Brief Overview

This time I want to take a look at how our food industry has made its way into the workings of the economy and how its hidden costs are are fueling climate change. Looking at the breakdown of emissions by sector, it seems like the agricultural sector takes up a relatively modest 13.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions, while energy supply contributes with 25.9% and industry with 19.4% (IPCC, 2007).

Carbon dioxide emissions by sector

Source: IPCC 2007, 'Synthesis Report'

But do these figures really show us the truth about agriculture? It is easy to assume, looking at the data, that food production is one of the least problematic sectors causing carbon dioxide emissions (the most important anthropogenic green house gas). However, it is important to realise that modern food production is fueling climate change from virtually every sector of the world's economy. It is estimated that in reality, food related emissions make up about one third of total greenhouse gases heating our planet (Vermeulen et al, 2012). Food is everywhere!

To illustrate how our food system is accountable for all these emissions, let's look at food trade.  The global food trade has increased more than tenfold in the past 60 years (Schmitz et al, 2012). Using fossil fuel based transport solutions, food trade is a major polluter hiding behind the transport sector. With the excuse of increasing consumer choice, food is being transported from one corner of the world to another, every day. As a disturbing example, in 2008, the US exported 1.9 billion pounds and imported 2.5 billion pounds of beef and veal. Can we really taste the difference? Looking at these figures, one can only imagine how much energy and refrigerating these carcases require to get around the world. I will dedicate a separate post to talk about global food trade later in the course of the blog.

In addition to trade, production of chemical pesticides and fertilisers are energy-intensive and rich in terms of emissions that they emit. Moreover, production and usage of these chemicals releases other anthropogenic gases more dangerous than carbon dioxide. All of these issues will be discussed in greater detail in following posts. New technological and chemical discoveries are to thank for the birth of industrialised food. Modern food industry exploits fossil fuels in order to produce cheaper, faster and in bigger quantities, to ship food all over the planet and to process it for a greater profit. Never has food production been in the hands of so few producers. But at what price?

Garnett (2011) points out that our whole food chain emits greenhouse gases- starting from the farm and finishing on our plates, but the largest polluter is the agricultural stage. The graph below shows 40% of greenhouse emissions relating to the food sector come from the agriculture stage, making it the most promising opportunity to reduce food chain emissions. Although food chain greenhouse emissions are a major environmental issue, we have to remember that our food industry also puts a threat on biodiversity, water use, animal welfare and human nutrition. In the course of the next few months, I want to touch upon all of these but the main focus will be on greenhouse emissions.

Food chain greenhouse emissions by sector.

Source: Garnett (2011)

I hope this post gives a brief overview of what we are dealing with when talking about modern food industry. Problems like food trade, pesticides, fertilisers and processing will be featured in future posts. Until then, here is another short and light TED talk (apologies for my obsession with TED talks) by an 11-year-old Birke Baehr who explains what is wrong with our food system. He emphasises on the aspect of human health and the role of genetically modified food. This is the story seen through a kid's eyes. Enjoy!

Till next time,
Laura