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The Challenge of Feeding the World Sustainably Summary of the US-UK Scientific Forum on Sustainable Agriculture (2021) / Chapter Skim
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3 Agriculture and Nutrition
Pages 18-22

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From page 18...
... Eating less of these foods and more locally produced fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts would reduce green house gas emissions while also reducing the number of years of life lost to diet-related diseases.2,3 More sustainable and healthier diets could also have many other benefits, including increased support for farmers, greater resiliency of food systems, and increased equity among consumers. Eating Within Planetary Boundaries One prominent effort to understand what a healthier and more sustainable global diet would look like was the detailed study undertaken by the EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health, which in 2019 issued a report titled "Food in the Anthropocene: The EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems."4 The goal of the commission, which consisted of 37 Hales, C
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From page 19...
... The commission also defined planetary boundaries for six key environmental systems and processes: greenhouse gases, cropland use, water use, nitrogen application, phosphorus application, and the species extinction rate. It then applied a global food systems modeling framework to analyze which combinations of measures are needed to stay within planetary boundaries while still delivering healthy diets by 2050.
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From page 20...
... For example, more food is wasted where food is relatively abundant and cheap compared with places where it is less abundant and more expensive, and levels of food waste tend to track levels of obesity.7 Many other national and international bodies have issued recommendations that would result in healthier diets that have fewer harmful consequences. However, relatively few address sustainable agriculture, especially because incremental gains will not be enough to resolve the underlying environmental and health issues.
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From page 21...
... Different diets could drive a more diversified agriculture, creating more mixed farms, multifunctional and resilient landscapes, and rural employment. At the same time, a greater focus on overall system efficiency could lower waste, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and make space for land-based climate mitigation.
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From page 22...
... According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, to ensure an adequate supply of energy, fat-soluble vitamins, and essential fatty acids, 20 to 35 percent of dietary energy should come from fats.a Meeting this goal requires that some people increase and some people decrease their fat consumption. For animal-source foods, the largest sources of fat globally are pork, dairy, poultry, beef, eggs, and fish.
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Key Terms

  • greenhouse gas
  • gas emissions
  • sustainable food
  • planetary health
  • billion people

  • health diet
  • healthy diets
  • processed foods
  • largest sources
  • reduce greenhouse

  • planetary boundaries
  • diet developed
  • starchy vegetables
  • waste tend
  • environmental harms

  • agriculture organization
  • red meat
  • commission calls
  • meat consumption
  • supply chain

  • global food
  • food security
  • enhancing food
  • lower food
  • discarding food

  • metabolic food
  • minimizing food
  • food produced
  • food loss
  • food consumption


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