The Barilla Center for Food &
Nutrition (BCFN) outlined agriculture's many contributions to
the environmental problems the world faces and presented its
proposals for a system that is sustainable for humankind and the
planet at the World Food Research and Innovation Forum.
The BCFN Foundation, an independent food think tank
created by Barilla, pointed out that tropical deforestation
linked to the expansion of farmland produced the equivalent of
3.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
It said that agriculture is having an unprecedented impact
in terms of greenhouse-gas emissions, with the equivalent of
around 6.2 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions, to maintain its
position as the top greenhouse gas-emitter ahead of the energy
and transport sectors.
Agriculture is also top when it comes to how land is used
- almost 40% of global land surface area is taken up by
agricultural and livestock activities and 70% of global
freshwater is used to irrigate crops, leading to a big loss in
biodiversity.
"We have to reconnect primary agricultural production to
the food system," said Riccardo Valentini, a member of the BCFN
Foundation's advisory board and professor of forest ecology at
Italy's Tuscia University (Università della Tuscia).
"It's necessary to return to the real value of food, which
cannot only be represented by market value, but must also
include the costs and benefits of environmental externalities.
"For example, the value of sustainable production that
does not have an impact on the planet's resources and the
nutritional value of the food must be remunerated all along the
supply chain".
Indeed, the BCFN highlights that our greatest impact on
the environment stems from what we eat and put on our plates
every day.
If one only considers greenhouse-gas emissions, food makes
the biggest contribution to climate change, accounting for 31%
of the total, more than heating (23.6%) and transport (18.5%).
Meat consumption is especially significant as it is
responsible for 12% of total emissions, while milk-dairy
products contribute 5%.
Limiting the consumption of animal protein to twice a week
(rather than daily consumption) and making more room for cereals
and legumes could save up to 2,300 grams of CO2 a day.
That would be a 750 kilo annual reduction in CO2 emissions
per person, the equivalent of a 5,600km journey in a
medium-sized car, or a trip from Milan to Moscow and back.
Furthermore, greenhouse-gas emissions from farming have
increased by 20% since 1990 and they have doubled since 1960.
Therefore, our food choices have a fundamental role in
safeguarding our planet, the BCFN says.
Therefore, the adoption of the BCFN's double food and
environment pyramid - a model promoting the Mediterranean diet,
demonstrating its benefits for the health of mankind and the
environment - should be one of the first steps in the path
towards safeguarding the planet and human health.
But the issue of food and diet cannot be separated from
that of sustainability.
With this in mind, the first problem to address is that of
protecting soil.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), 25% of the world's soil is seriously damaged
and only 10% shows some sign of improvement.
In the last 40 years alone, 30% of farmland has become
infertile.
Yet simple solutions like increasing the variety of crops,
instead of concentrating solely on soy and maize, would
contribute to restoring nutrients in the soil and help farmers
for big and small companies to obtain higher yields per hectare,
the BCFN says.
It should be considered that in less than 10 years' time,
by 2025, three million people will not have drinking water while
today, 70% of fresh water is destined for agricultural and food
production.
The latter of those accounts for 23% of total greenhouse
gas emissions.
The BCFN says, therefore, that it is fundamentally
important to grow the most sustainable forms of agriculture that
are capable of effectively combining production volumes, product
quality and environmental, economic and social sustainability,
improving the efficiency of the use and conservation of natural
resources.
It is also necessary to propose a model of agriculture
that safeguards and improves fairness and the quality of social
wellbeing in rural areas and implement responsible, effective
policies for the sustainability of the agro-food system, the
BCFN says.
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