Watching What We Eat

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Watching What We Eat
Brian Halweil and Danielle Nierenberg
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Watching What We Eat
Overview

• A Revolution in Every Bite
• From Farm to Factory and Back
• Food Without Pollution
• Eat Here
• The Rise of Food Democracy
• Policy Priorities

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Watching What We Eat
The rise in international food trade and the
proliferation of heavily processed and packaged
foods has distanced most people from what they
eat, both geographically and psychologically
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Watching What We Eat

• Artificially low prices for food do not reflect
  true costs
• Ex. - Farmers often unable to make a
  decent living
• - Need to clean up environmental
  problems caused by destructive forms
  of agriculture

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Watching What We Eat

• Many people in wealthier nations are not aware of
  how food items reach their tables
• For example...

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A Revolution in Every Bite

• Consumers are becoming increasingly concerned and
  involved
• - Making a political statement with their food
  choices
• Refusing to support destructive forms of
  agriculture

• Growing demand for fair foods
• Ex. - certified organic fruits and vegetables
• - pasture-raised beef
• - sustainably caught fish
• - bird-friendly coffee and cocoa

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A Revolution in Every Bite

• 25 of planets surface devoted to food
  production (more than the worlds forested area)
• Impossible to separate agricultural practices
  from the health of rivers, wetlands, forests, and
  the living environment
• Our food choices rival transportation as the
  human activity with the greatest impact on the
  environment

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A Revolution in Every Bite
Most profound changes eaters can make 1)
re-evaluating their consumption of meat 2)
selecting food produced without agrichemicals 3)
buying locally grown food
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A Growing Appetite for Meat

• Global meat production has increased more than
  fivefold since 1950

World Meat Production, 1950-2002
Source FAO
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Projected Meat Consumption in 2020
A Growing Appetite for Meat

• If the trend continues

100
Kg per person per year
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Developing countries
Industrial countries
Source Delgado et al., 1998
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From Farm to Factory and Back

• Industrialized animal production is the most
  ecologically destructive sector of global farming

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Inputs to Industrial Meat
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Inputs to Industrial Meat
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Outputs of Industrial Meat
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Outputs of Industrial Meat
Disease

• Eating animal products high in saturated fat
  and cholesterol is linked to cancer, heart
  disease, and other chronic illnesses
• Factory farm conditions can spread E. coli,
  Salmoella, and other food- borne pathogens
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human variant
  of mad cow disease, has killed at least 100
  people
• Outbreaks of avian flu in densely populated
  chicken farms can spread to humans

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From Farm to Factory and Back

• Growing movement of farmers who choose to raise
  their animals outside
• Increasing consumer demand for pasture-fed or
  free-range meat

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From Farm to Factory and Back

• Advantages of raising animals outside
• Nutritionists say that grass-fed meat is
  healthier (no antibiotics, no hormones, higher in
  Omega 3 fatty acids that lower cholesterol, etc.)
• Animals raised on pasture require little, if any,
  grain, resulting in less pressure on farmland to
  raise monocultures of corn and soybeans to feed
  livestock
• Farmers enjoy lower costs no antibiotics, no
  growth promotants, no pricey feed, no huge sheds
  to maintain

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Problems with Chemical-Intensive Agriculture

• Fertilizers and pesticides pollute surrounding
  environment
• reducing biodiversity
• contaminating groundwater and drinking
  water supplies
• Health risks associated with exposure to
  pesticides that are known or suspected
  carcinogens
• Vicious cycle pests develop resistance to
  pesticides, requiring heavier doses and more
  potent chemicals

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Organic Farms Yield More Than Just Crops
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Food Without Pollution

• Other benefits of organic farming
• No cost to public for removing chemical
  fertilizers and pesticides from drinking water
  supplies
• Emphasis on cover crops, compost, and manure
  increases organic matter in soils, reduces
  erosion, and increases productivity
• Organic produce is more nutritious, containing
  higher concentrations of antioxidants and other
  health-promoting compounds

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Food Without Pollution

• Growing demand for organic foods

Global Sales of Organic Foods, circa 2002
Canada (850 mill.)
United States (11 bill.)
Japan (350 mill.)
Rest of world (825 mill.)
Germany (2.8 bill.)
Total 23 billion
United Kingdom (1.6 bill.)
Italy (1.2 bill.)
France (1.2 bill.)
Other Europe (3.2 bill.)
Source IFOAM
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Eat Here

• Today, the average food item in the U.S.
  travels 2,5004,000 km (25 farther than in 1980)

• However, eating local foods
• - preserves regional cuisines
• - keeps money within the community
• - saves energy (less hauling, packaging,
  processing, and brokering required)
• - reduces greenhouse gas emissions (less
  transport)

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Eat Here
A meal made from imported vs local ingredients in
Britain generates 650 times more
transport-related carbon emissions
Strawberries 8,772 km CALIFORNIA
All these food items can be grown in a British
climate
Potatoes 2,447 km ITALY
Broccoli 8,780 km GUATEMALA
All British 48 km
Blueberries 18,835 km NEW ZEALAND
Runner beans 9,532 km THAILAND
Beef joint 21,462 km AUSTRALIA
Carrots 9,620 km SOUTH AFRICA
Source Jones
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Eat Here

• Local foods are fresher, healthier, and less
  expensive

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Food Democracy

• More farmers, consumers, chefs, and food
  businesses are resisting the temptation to eat
  blindly, and are instead eating deliberately
• They are part of a growing movement to
  re-establish our lost connection to food and the
  people who produce it
• Consumers seeking better
  food choices are the
  driving force behind change

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Policy Priorities Government Action

• Shift the more than 300 billion spent on
  agricultural subsidies each year into support for
  ecological farming
• Consider taxing pesticides, synthetic
  fertilizers, factory farms, and other polluting
  inputs or farming practices

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Policy Priorities Government Action

• Work with farming organizations to increase the
  share of their land under organic production to
  10 over the next 10 years by
• improving organic certification programs
• boosting organic know-how at agricultural
  universities, research centers, and extension
  agencies
• providing subsidies or tax credits to farmers in
  the first few years of conversion

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Policy Priorities Government Action

• Reform international trade agreements to
  eliminate export subsidies, food dumping, and
  other unfair trade practices that restrict the
  ability of nations to protect and build domestic
  farm economies
• From the national to the local level, use food
  procurement for schools, hospitals, government
  offices, etc. to support ecologically raised
  crops from local farmers

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About the Authors
Brian Halweil is a Senior Researcher at the
Worldwatch Institute Danielle Nierenberg is a
Research Associate at the Institute
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More information on State of the World 2004 at
www.worldwatch.org