New research reveals important insights for sustainability in global food production  

Why we write about this topic:

This research might expose important information to understand the impact of global food production on the environment and point out possible sustainable solutions.

A research developed by the University of Leeds and the University of California Santa Barbara showed some insightful facts about the environmental impact of food production worldwide. As revealed in a press release, the study identified the implications of food production in the countries with the most environmental pressure and pointed out sustainable solutions.

This initiative had the ultimate goal of mapping out global food production problems and pitching more sustainable ways of production to feed the world’s booming population growth. For instance, the research showed that India, China, the United States, Brazil, and Pakistan are the nations causing the most changes in the state of the environment with their food production. 

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When looking into those environmental changes, the research mainly analyzed aspects like greenhouse gas emissions, water use, habitat disturbance, and pollution, including effluent or fertilizer. This data was relevant to understand the “big picture” and making worldwide food production more balanced and sustainable.

The study also considered the efficiency of different food types. For example, the American soy production is twice more efficient than India’s. Another in-take was that pig farming produces more pollution than cattle farming. All this information is available in the study published in the journal Nature Sustainability.