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Sustainable Food: Recent Reports
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Reports: 2010 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006
2007
December
Environmental Footprint & Sustainability of Horticulture is a DEFRA funded study that calculates the environmental footprint for various crops' growing systems, including assessment of seed, fertilisers, water, energy, pesticides and labour.
UK government funds FRICH (Food Retail Industry Challenge Fund) "to help increase the UK market for sustainably produced food from Africa." The main thrust is on "ethical and fair" trading. £200 million of fresh fruit and vegtables is exported from sub Sahara to UK annually. Is this sustainable? The debate is hotting up. Some African businesses say that further controls - especially regarding carbon footprints & air-freighting, jeopardises poor producers. IIED offer their Opinion about "Fair Miles" (pdf) and ODI suggest "Good for Development" label (pdf), We ask how is it sustainable to import 189 million cubic metre of African water in green beans which is enough to provide 13 million Kenyans with drinking water (IIED & NRI Small Scale Producers and standards in agrifood supply chains) - especially from an area where 170 million people go undernourished according to FAO (pdf)? Are 'lost' crops the answer?
November
DEFRA Public Understanding of Sustainable Consumption of Food looks at various behaviours that would reduce the social and environmental impacts of food, and whether people are likley to consume more sustainably.
Soil Association - Lady Eve Balfour Lecture What will we eat when the oil runs out?. Richard Heinberg says "Our global food system faces a crisis of unprecedented scope. This crisis, which threatens to imperil the lives of hundreds of millions and possibly billions of human beings, consists of four simultaneously colliding dilemmas, all arising from our relatively recent pattern of dependence on depleting fossil fuels"
Business and Sustainability Conference Working paper on "Dilemma of Flower Miles "examines the debate surrounding the local versus international sourcing of retail products, particularly food and flowers."
Sustainable Development Commision "$100 a Barrel of Oil" examines the impacts of high oil prices on the sustainability of food supply in the UK.
International Food & Agriculture Trade Policy Council "Sustainability in food & Agriculture". Top level speakers address the big issue - that world food demand will double by 2050, yet this push will run into environmental limits. Our Report
FCRN Livestock's contribution to UK GHG emissions "explores the contribution that our consumption of livestock products in the UK makes to greenhouse gases, the complexities associated with attempts at quantifying these impacts, the options for mitigation and the environmental and welfare challenges these options may present"
WRAP Food Waste campaign links with Love Food Hate Waste. "In the UK we throw away more food from our homes than packaging and food has a greater impact on the environment. See how you can help to tackle the 5.3m/tonnes of avoidable food waste".
October
Welsh Assembly's Quality of Food vision is "to enable everybody in Wales to access healthy and sustainable food by raising the quality of food from farm to fork." In Feb 2010, 'Growing Wales' started "An open source initiative to build resilience, sustainability and prosperity through food"
WCRF/AICR Expert Report, Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective says that diet is a major contributor to increased cancer risk.
Soil Association consultation about air freight has lead to SA "to monitor the amount of air freighted organic goods and work with partners in Africa to promote the positive contribution organic farming makes to food security and people’s livelihoods." Their "Ethical Trade Standard - Chap 70" could be used by many.
DEFRA Food Transport Indicators shows nearly 1/3 rise in Food Air Miles in a year, and carbon dioxide emissions up 5% for all food miles.
Compassion in World Farming report Climate Change & Farm Animal Welfare (pdf) says "Livestock production is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from all human activities, measured in CO2 equivalent.This is a higher share thantransport, which accounts for 14% of global GHG emissions- as livestock production has more impact than transport on world GHGs."
New Statesmen supplement on the Future of the High Street, includes article "Shoppers want their ethics on a plate" summarising present state of debate.
September
Forum for the Future's Retail Futures "provides valuable tools to help the retail sector develop robust, future-proof strategies that will deliver more sustainable retail in a time of radical change."
FFRAF Report foresighting food, rural and agri futures (later version April '09 examines 4 scenarios - climate crisis, energy crisis, food crisis and cooperation with nature, for future of Europe. "These scenarios were then to be used in the identification of priority research needs for the medium and long term "
'Grown under the Sun' logo will remind consumers that purchasing fresh Kenyan fruits, vegetables and flowers helps to sustain thousands of Kenyans. Fresh Kenyan produce
August
Earthwatch Institute Decoding Food Labels "Shopping for healthy, sustainably grown food can be a challenge. When buying eggs, what does that “Cage-Free” label really mean? Read on to learn which labels are just for show, which hold weight, and what they mean". Predominantly US but still useful. Earthwatch Guide to Sustainable Agriculture.
June
Cornwall Food Programme shows Fresh approach to hospital food which sources locally, organically and reduces CO2 emissions, " has transformed menus by serving increasing amounts of fresh, locally produced and organic food to patients, visitors and staff"
FISS Champions Group Reports - Transport Water & Waste
May
Daily Telegraph How to Pick a Supermarket; "supermarkets can actually be a significant force for good. When they start to save energy, cut waste or make environmental demands, the effect is enormous, thanks to the sheer volume of their purchases, and their influence over suppliers. "
Advisory Committee of Releases to the Environment (Acre) recommends the adoption of a Comparative Sustainability Assessment (CSA) for novel crops and farming methods, similar to that for GM crops - where all impacts, direct or indirect, are considered.April
Tomorrow's Climate, Today's Challenge is series of new fact sheets aimed at empowering farmers to manage the challenges and opportunities of climate change. The Sector-specific advice comes from a wide group of pertners including Forum for the Future, National Farmers Union, Country Landowners, and DEFRA.
March
Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) Food Waste Report estimates that we discard 1/3 of the food we buy, equal to 6.7 mt of carbon. "If food waste was reduced to zero, there would be a saving of about 7% of all UK GHGs."
February
Manchester Business School Report 'Environmental Impacts of Food Production and Consumption' is "one of the most comprehensive studies of the environmental impacts of food consumption in the UK and it illustrates extremely well the complexity of the challenges that exist".
Chatham House Briefing focuses on the UK Food Supply up to 2020, when food systems will be shaped increasingly by massive movements of energy, food, water, money and people. "Actors across the sectors will be in competition for power and influence. Climate change will create more natural emergencies. Migration will lead to more sectarian and ethnic tensions."
January
Tesco launch a "revolution in green consumption" that will "search for a universally accepted and commonly understood measure of the carbon footprint of the products we sell".
Marks & Spencer launch Plan A - 'there is no Plan B'; this 100-point plan means that by 2012 M&S will become carbon neutral, send no waste to landfill, extend sustainable sourcing, set new standards in ethical trading, help customers and employees live a healthier lifestyle. This will appear in SFGv3 Fish as "All of its fish will come from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) or other independently certified sources by 2012".
Caroline Lucas MEP (now 1st Green MP) Fuelling a Food Crisis spells out how dwindling oil stocks and EU trade and energy policies threaten food price hikes, and could cause the UK to be vulnerable to food shortages for the first time since the Second World War.