Cultivating change: food in a circular economy

Issue 71 l Eka’s Weekly Roundup (19 April 2024)

Apr 19, 2024

Last week, we spoke about fashion’s impact beyond carbon. We’re applying the same thinking here to food and agriculture.

Food systems are responsible for 1/4 of greenhouse emissions. While that seems very high, the larger impact is actually on land use (1/2 of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture) and eutrophication (78% of the global ocean and freshwater pollution comes from agriculture).

The changing climate is also having an impact on the world’s agricultural systems. Fruits and vegetables are the most vulnerable to warming temperatures and a changing water supply.

We will be refreshing our food thesis in the coming weeks, and would love to chat to you if you’re 1) building, 2) researching, or 3) operating more generally in food and ag.

The Impact of Food Across the Supply Chain 🗞️

From farm to fork, the food supply chain exerts a monumental influence on our planet and its inhabitants. By some estimates, agriculture accounts for 1/4 of global greenhouse gas emissions, while food waste comprises nearly one-third of all food produced. Meanwhile, deforestation, water depletion, and biodiversity loss continue to plague conventional farming practices.

The impact, as you’ll know, goes beyond carbon. 50% of the world’s land use is used for agriculture. 70% of the world’s freshwater is used in agriculture. Finally, 78% of the world’s eutrophication is down to agriculture.

Next, we can see that meat product categories have relatively high GHGs/kg of product compared to plant-based products like peas and bananas. A full lifecycle analysis would also take into account the 1) transportation, 2) social impact, and 3) non-GHG related but climate-important metrics. For example, shipping bananas from India to Europe may have significant carbon emissions. Banana exports generate $200m of income for Indian farmers each year, and produce significant fibrous waste (although this is being transformed into alternative materials, as seen with Fiiba’s technology).

So far, we’ve mainly focussed on the impact of food on the climate. But we should also examine the the inverse relationship, i.e. the impact of the climate on food.

The UK government published an interesting piece on food security following climate change in the supply chain (below).

Different crops are more or less susceptible to climate change. For example, the most resistant crops include root vegetables, eggs & dairy, and cereals. Conversely, fruits and vegetables will be more vulnerable to a warmer environment.

In short, we need to:

Be mindful of the complex climate impact which food production has across the supply chain, especially on non GHG metrics as this is where food has the largest climate impacts
Think about food resilience for a changing climate, especially for countries and individuals who are dependent on imports and subsidies for key food items