Feeding CitiesEcologically and Ethically

Allison K Wilson, PhDScience Director

The Bioscience Resource Project

Some Numbers

• Cities consume most of the final products of agriculture (in Billen 2011).

• Animal farming and agriculture are responsible for 70% of freshwater consumption on the planet (World Watch Institute, 2004).

• Approx. 40% of world’s land is used for agriculture.

• “Livestock production accounts for 70% of all agricultural land and 30% of the land surface of the planet.” (FAO, Livestock’s Long Shadow 2006).

• Half the food eaten globally is produced by small-scale and peasant farmers (e.g. In the Ukraine, peasant farmers produce 55% of the agricultural output on only 16% of the land, Via Campesina, 2012)

DrinkingWater

Rivers, Lakes, Oceans

Biodiversity

Climate

Livelihoods

Health

Culture

Coral Reefs

The Multifunctionality of Food and Agriculture

Food Safety

Foodand

Agriculture

Immigration

Food Security

Wildlife

Soil Health

Animal Welfare

Tropical Deforestation

Industrial Agriculture and Climate Change

Cultivation, Erosion

Synthetic Fertilizers Transport,

Storageand

Packaging

LandConversion

Mechanization,Pesticides

CO2CO2

CO2

CO2CO2

Irrigation

CO2

CH4

Livestock

CO2

N2OCH4

N2O

Nitrogen Pollution

Our Nutrient World, Sutton et al, 2013

In the summer of 2010, the dead zone in the Gulf spanned over 7,000 square miles.

Factory Farm Map[A Project of Food and Water Watch]

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs Uncovered 2008, Union of Concerned Scientists)

(CaA

13.6% of the estimated world population of 6.8 billion are

malnourished

Hunger in America

In 2011, 50.1 million people lived in food-insecure households.

The US has Major Food Producing Capabilities

US EPA Ag101 Website

.

Genetically engineered corn, soy, cotton, some rice

So Where Does all that Potential Human Food Go?

CORN: According to the National Corn Growers Association, about eighty percent of all corn grown in the U.S. is consumed by domestic and overseas livestock, poultry, and fish production. The crop is fed as ground grain, silage, high-moisture, and high-oil corn. About 12% of the U.S. corn crop ends up in foods that are either consumed directly (e.g. corn chips) or indirectly (e.g. high fructose corn syrup). It also has a wide array of industrial uses including ethanol, a popular oxygenate in cleaner burning auto fuels.

Soybeans: Approximately 2.8 billion bushels of soybeans were harvested from almost 73 million acres of cropland in the U.S. in 2000. This acreage is roughly equivalent to that of corn grown for grain. Over 350,000 farms in the United States produce soybeans, accounting for over 50% of the world’s soybean production and $6.66 billion in soybean and product exports in 2000. Soybeans represented 56 percent of world oilseed production in 2000. Soybeans are used to create a variety of products, the most basic of which are soybean oil, meal, and hulls. According to the United Soybean Board, soybean oil, used in both food manufacturing and frying and sautéing, represents approximately 79 percent of all edible oil consumed in the United States. Soybean oil also makes its way into products ranging from anti-corrosion agents to Soy Diesel fuel to waterproof cement. Over 30 million tons of soybean meal are consumed as livestock feed in a year. Even the hulls are used as a component of cattle feed rations.

US EPA Ag101 Website

Current Industrial Food System

Causes a huge amount of Environmental Damage

Does not feed the world (or even the USA)

Does not promote healthy diets

Is too reliant on limited, costly, hazardous, and polluting inputs to be sustainable

Favors mega-farms and puts mid-size and small farms out of business

Feeding People is Easy (if you want to)(Colin Tudge)

Focus on human staples: cereals, pulses, nuts, tubers (bulk of energy and protein)

Fit the animals in to create mixed-farming systems and to manage grasslands

Devote the best land to horticulture: fruits and vegetables; grow food in polycultures

Let grazing animals graze or browse; feed pigs and poultry on leftovers and surplus

Farms based on biology with the goal of feeding people

Farms based on biology produce the most nutritional diets

Plenty of plantsNot much meat Maximum variety

.. “here too is the basic structure of all the world’s great traditional cuisines—Provence, Tuscany, Turkey, North

Africa, China, India” ..

Options for Feeding Cities Biologically and Ethically

Get people out of cities and back on the land farming agroecologically

Encourage and intensify food production in cities (Case Study: Havana, Cuba; Novo and Murphy 2001)

Localizing food production (e.g. to watersheds) using organic farming techniques

Thought Experiment: Can the Seine

Watershed Feed Paris and Itself While

Maintaining Water Quality?

Why Follow the Nitrogen (N) Footprint?

Reactive Nitrogen (produced by agriculture and burning fossil fuels) is a major environmental pollutant.

Nitrogen leaching impacts drinking water quality and health.

Seine watershed is the only source of drinking water for Paris.

Proteins are made of amino acids which are made of nitrogen so N is a surrogate for protein (and food) in these models.

Following N lets researchers examine the link between farming choices, dietary choices, and nitrate contamination of water resources.

N Footprint of Current Food Supply of One Paris Inhabitant

Constraints for All Systems

Per capita protein consumption is the same in all 3 diets (but % animal protein changes from 65% to 40% in demi-tarian diet).

Overall amount of agricultural land is the same in all scenarios, amount of permanent pasture remains the same.

Crop production is assumed to be based on nitrogen levels.

Local Organic ConstraintsSeine watershed grows all food consumed by both livestock and humans in Paris and the Seine watershed.Only raise enough livestock to feed the local population -- no export of animal products.No import of animal feed.No synthetic N fertilizer: N fertilizer comes from local manure and N2 fixation comes from legume fodder crops and temporary grassland rotations.Amount of N2 fixing and non-fixing (cereal) cropland adjusted accordingly.

Effect of Diet (i.e. livestock decrease) on Seine Watershed

Water Quality

What are Implications of Loc-Org-Demi-diet on a Global Scale?

Global Scenarios

Exploring (Loc) Watershed

Organization for World

Agricultural Systems

and Org and

Demi

Summary of Global Billen et al. AnalysisLocalizing livestock and human food

production to watersheds decreases N pollution Using only organic methods reduces N pollution even more

Feeding everyone in the world a healthy local organic diet with 35% animal protein is possible and results in the lowest N pollution overall

Evaluating the Environmental Impact of Various Dietary Patterns

Baroni et al. 2006

Key Norm = current Italian dietOmni = demi-tarianInt = Industrial agBio = organic

The Future of Food, the Environment, People, and Cities

Local

Org-Demi Prioritize Biology

Vs

GlobalIncreased Industrialization

Prioritize Profit

Bioscience Resource Project Volunteers and Board Members:

Chris DennisPat Dutt

Ann MayerSeth BenselLiza Cobb

Yoke Lee LeeRoger SpanswickCarolyn Kreisel

Jonathan LathamAllison Wilson

www.independentsciencenews.org www.bioscienceresource.org