I would recommend every PhD Student to attend as many Summer Schools as possible. They are a great way to meet new people, exchange new ideas, and have some fun. Sometimes they even lead to publications. A while ago, I attended a summer university in Berlin called “FutureLand: Competition for Land”. Every participant had to draft a book chapter during this Summer University. I am pleased to see that the overall book, Land Use Competition: Ecological, Economic and Social Perspectives, including my own chapter, has now been published by Springer, one of the largest scientific publishers in the world. Here I give a very short summary. Download (or buy) the book on Springer’s website here.
Exploring a ‘Healthy Foodshed’: Land Use Associated with UK Fruit and Vegetables Supply
Fruit and vegetables are great for health, but where do they come from? We show in our chapter that the UK is increasingly importing fruit and vegetables from other countries. We distinguish three types of fruit and vegetables to analyse this in more detail:
- “British apples” (domestic fruit & veg). This category consists of fruit and veg that are domestically produced and also domestically consumed. Think of the British apples you eat in the UK as an example.
- “South African apples” (foreign fruit & veg). This category consists of fruit and veg that are produced abroad and imported into the UK, but could have produced domestically. Think about apples from South Africa.
- “Bananas” (exotic fruit & veg). This category consists of fruit and veg that are produced abroad and cannot be grown in the UK. Think bananas.
Our analysis shows that there has been a major shift from domestic to foreign fruit and vegetables supply over the last decades, while the exotic category has stayed relatively constant. In the 1980’s, about 35% of the UK’s fruit & veg was foreign, and this share increased to almost 55% in 2008. In other words, we have outsourced the production of fruit and vegetables that could have been grown in the UK.
Land use
Obviously, this has consequences for the use of land. Our fruit and vegetables are now increasingly produced on foreign soil. According to our analysis, most of these foreign croplands are located in Southern Europe, but also in China.
Clik here to view.
Brexit
We wrote this chapter when Brexit was still a remote possibility, if a possibility at all. However, with the Brexit result in mind, we have to ask ourselves the question if we want to be so dependent on other countries for the foods that are most important for our health: fruit and vegetables. About a quarter of all our fruit and vegetables are produced on European land. Only 10% of the land used to produced fruits for UK consumption is domestic, while 90% is produced elsewhere. 100% self-sufficiency may not the best option for Britain, but the UK could definitely produce more domestically, if it wanted to.
How do we decrease our use of land?
Global agricultural land is a scarce resource and will become scarcer with a continuously rising world population. Therefore, we need to think about strategies to reduce our use of land.
We explore two paradigms in the second half of our chapter:
- “Produce as much food for the least cost” – Reductionist-paradigm
- “Create a diverse food system” – Diversity-paradigm
In the reductionist paradigm, complex problems are reduced to its component parts. Therefore, a healthy diet mainly revolves around nutrients, and we need to deliver these nutrients as efficiently as possible. Forget food: the ultimate strategy for environmentally sustainable diets would be to feed people Soylent – a beverage that contains all essential micro-nutrients. Very efficient.
According to the diversity paradigm, however, the best strategy to achieve healthy and environmentally sustainable diets is to increase diversity in the food system. The current food system is focused on mono cultures, and this reduces the resilience of the entire food system. Diversity should be encouraged in the food system, and this will lead to more environmentally sustainable diets.
Future diets
You can read more about this in our chapter. Obviously, these two strategies are stylised, but they can give us a sense of direction. Do we want to go for Soylent and fortified breakfast cereals, or for a diverse basket of different foods?
Het bericht New publication verscheen eerst op Henri de Ruiter.