“Eat local” is often touted as a way to lessen your diet’s carbon footprint. But is focusing on where your food comes from the most effective approach? Understanding “What Is Food Production” and its associated processes is crucial to answering this question. The reality is more nuanced than simply buying locally.
Transport plays a surprisingly small role in the overall carbon footprint of food. Globally, it accounts for only about 5% of food system emissions. The majority of emissions stem from land use changes and on-farm production activities. Understanding “what is food production” means acknowledging these larger contributors.
Carbon footprint of food products, comparing beef and peas, highlighting the impact of production vs. transportation
The Carbon Footprint of Different Foods
Because transportation emissions are relatively minor and the differences between types of food are substantial, what we eat is considerably more important than how far it has traveled. Locally sourced beef will invariably have a significantly larger carbon footprint compared to peas, irrespective of whether the peas are shipped across continents. “What is food production” in the context of beef involves resource-intensive processes like raising livestock, which contribute heavily to greenhouse gas emissions.
Consider the following example: Producing one kilogram of beef generates approximately 60 kilograms of greenhouse gasses (CO2 equivalents). In stark contrast, producing one kilogram of peas emits just 1 kilogram of greenhouse gasses. The local or global origin of these products has a minimal impact on this dramatic difference. The key takeaway is that the production method and resources required define “what is food production” and ultimately shape its environmental impact.
The Role of Transportation Methods
Transportation accounts for a small percentage of overall emissions because most internationally traded food travels by sea, a far more carbon-efficient method than air freight. Only a tiny fraction of food is transported by air; it accounts for only 0.16% of food miles.7 Air freight, while less common, has a much higher carbon footprint than shipping. Flying goods emits 50 times more CO2eq per tonne kilometer than transporting them by boat. Understanding “what is food production” necessitates knowing how goods are moved to consumers.
Shipping is a carbon-efficient method to transport goods, so shipping food over long distances by boat emits only small amounts of carbon. Avocados are a great example. Shipping one kilogram of avocados from Mexico to the United Kingdom produces approximately 0.21kg CO2eq in transport emissions.8 That is around 8% of avocados’ total footprint. Even when shipped across vast distances, the emissions generated are far less than those associated with locally-produced animal products.
Focus on What You Eat, Not Just Where It’s From
If your goal is to reduce the carbon footprint of your diet, concentrate primarily on what you eat, rather than solely focusing on whether your food is local. Understanding “what is food production” for different types of food will give you a clearer view of your diet’s real impact. Choosing more plant-based options, even if they are imported, often results in a smaller carbon footprint than consuming locally-produced animal products.
Choosing sustainable food options starts with understanding “what is food production” and its broad implications.
Data Insights:
- This data originates from meta-analyses of global food systems by Joseph Poore and Thomas Nemecek (2018), published in Science.1 This dataset is based on data from 38,700 commercially viable farms in 119 countries and 40 products.
- Environmental impacts are assessed using life-cycle analyses, considering factors like land use change, on-farm emissions, production of agricultural inputs (fertilizers, pesticides), food processing, transport, packaging, and retail.
- Greenhouse gas emissions are expressed as carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2eq), weighting each gas by its global warming potential over a 100-year timescale (GWP100). This allows for a standardized comparison of different greenhouse gasses.
