Vegetable producers to become ‘chosen ones of EU agriculture’
A report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) contains views from policymakers, NGOs and industry leaders insisting that more vegetables in European diets will enhance the region’s carbon footprint, while improving the health of EU citizens.
Vegetables such as potatoes, pulses and soy are shown to have a lower carbon footprint than animals, which make up 33% of total farm greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Veg only accounts for 24% of farm-produced emissions, while also using less water and land.
“An obvious solution to the unsustainability of Europe’s food systems is to rebalance our consumption of animal-based products with more resource-efficient foods that contain similar protein levels,” Bernard Deryckere, president of the European Natural Soyfood Manufacturers’ association (ENSA) told the EU news service EurActiv. “Our view is that soy and plant-based foods can provide an answer as they consistently out-perform animal products when comparing their environmental impact in terms of CO2 emissions, land and water use.”
However, the authors of the FAO report have also taken food waste into account, combining this with GHG emissions to give one single “carbon intensity” rating. As 21% of vegetables and cereals is waste — either in fields, processing facilities, supermarkets or homes — this compares poorly with meat products, which create 15% of global food wastage.
The FAO study also states that pulses, such as peas and beans, are more efficient sources of protein compared with animal sources, as they require fewer inputs per kilogramme produced.
With the ‘vegetables versus animals’ debate set to occupy a large space in future EU farm funding negotiations, the pro-veg camp will give a strong emphasis to the view that vegetables are better for people’s health than animal food products.
The new Eurostat resource efficiency scorecard, rolled out last week, seeks to break overall figures into a “calorie supply” rating for EU foods, mapping calorific food consumption alongside the environmental impact of producing each food type.
Using this measure, vegetable products account for 2,600 of the total calories supplied, and 1,100 calories for animal products. But, as people eat far more veg than animal products, the FAO says other factors must be taken into account. This is where EU obesity and health issues along with expected future global food shortages come into the equation.
The EU has set itself a target of halving its total edible food waste and a near complete elimination of landfill by 2020. The relative merits of vegetables and animals will be central to the debate on how to achieve this goal.
