Madre Brava’s Post

🚨Massive news!🚨 FAO distorted evidence to “systematically underestimate” emissions savings from more plant-based diets. Real potential = about 6 to 40 times higher than the 2-5% reductions that the FAO claimed. The FAO based its claims on serious distortions of papers by Paul Behrens and Matthew Hayek , who are now calling for FAO to retract the report. The FAO's major statistical errors/distortions include: 🚨Double-counting meat emissions until 2050 🚨Mixing different baseline years in analyses 🚨Focusing on outdated Nationally Recommended Diets - many have since been updated to recommend less meat intake 🚨Ignoring a wealth of evidence from studies examining more ambitious meat reduction 🚨Failing to factor in the carbon sequestration potential of restoring nature on land spared by lower meat consumption “The scientific consensus at the moment is that dietary shifts are the biggest leverage we have to reduce emissions and other damage caused by our food system. But the FAO chose the roughest and most inappropriate approach to their estimates and framed it in a way that was very useful for [pro-livestock] interest group” Behrens told the Guardian. Read Guardian coverage: https://lnkd.in/ezm2P_fF #food #meat #plantbased #lessandbettermeat #climatechange #climatecrisis #biglivestock #defundbiglivestock

The FAO released ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023 - Urbanization, agrifood systems transformation, and healthy diets across the rural-urban continuum.’ Xi He, AAEC assistant professor says “Other than the latest trends of global good security and malnutrition, this year’s report focuses on how growing urbanization in developing countries challenges our traditional assumption of a rural-urban divide. This report provides an in-depth analysis of how the growing urbanization transforms the agrifood supply chain across the rural-urban continuum and how this transformation creates opportunities and challenges to ensure access to affordable and healthy diets in developing countries.” Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/ggA4-Npz

A few take aways from day 2 of the UN Food Systems Summit: - Today’s Food Systems are designed to deliver on quantity, instead of nutritional value, planet or people considerations. Significant investments are needed to shift this, and both the public and private sectors are expected to contribute. - Subsidides for agriculture throughout the world are enormous and need to be repurposed, to make sure we are subsidizing solutions that deliver on healthy diets, on planet and on people. - To make Food Systems resilient, we need to diversify the world’s plates and move away from the 12crops and 5animal species (!) that dominate today’s world diets. We need to make food less boring, connect it to local contexts, local crops and local boundaries. - It is clearly defined what a healthy diet is from a scientific perspective. At the same time, people’s perceptions of what a “healthy diet” and a “sustainable diet” are, are not aligned and very different. We need to work together on sharing a better understanding and knowledge on these with everyone. - Food is personal and everyone’s business. Access to adequate food is a human right. Looking forward to more insights and ideas for action during the 3rd day of the summit. #UNFSS #foodsystems #SDGs #regenerativeagriculture #peopleandplanet #UNFSS2023 #sustainability #betterfood #betternutrition #people #planet #transformation #agriculture #globalgoals

🌱 vs 🥩 = 50 to 75% fewer CO2 emissions Possibly the most comprehensive study ever on diet-related emissions by University of Oxford: - Data from 55,504 vegans, vegetarians, fish-eaters and meat-eaters in the UK - Review of 570 life-cycle assessments covering more than 38,000 farms in 119 countries (!) Interesting to see massive GHG, water and land use savings not only compared to a high meat diet but even compared to low meat or pescatarian diet. Methane (CH4) emissions 7-15x times lower for vegan vs. low/high meat diet. Any other observations/surprises? Article link (via Nature): https://lnkd.in/gfi8txbR #altprotein #data Peter Scarborough (image source: BBC)

Starting in 1 hour. ‘Enhanced cumulative dietary exposure assessments using the CARES NG Dietary Model’ The EPA has a Framework for Cumulative Risk Assessment so that companies can evaluate their products to be within acceptable limits. Aligned with that framework, the Cares NG model offers the enhanced capability to test various scenarios within the cumulative framework. Powering your product development before expensive investment. Find us at Room 3022, West Bldg. - Moscone Center at 11.30am. See you there. https://lnkd.in/eFGnUKPb #ACSFall2023 #agriculture #agtech #foodtech #foodsecurity #foodsafety #foodscience #foodtech #foodindustry #supplychain

Alliance of Champions launched at #COP28 to supercharge global food systems transformation efforts. Five countries will transform national food systems to deliver universal access to affordable, nutritious and sustainable diets, aiming to accelerate major progress this decade! https://lnkd.in/d5ZuWHtw #foodsystems #cop28uae

I am one of the convenors of the major postharvest conference being held in in Rotorua, New Zealand in November 2024. This large meeting includes FAVHEALTH 2024. Fruit and vegetables play a critical role in the diet and are gaining increased attention with a shift to more sustainable diets and people adopting vegan/vegetarian/flexitarian eating patterns. ‘A diet rich in fruit and vegetables’ is a key component of so-called ‘green prescriptions’ for people wanting to manage ‘Metabolic Syndrome’: the cluster of health conditions that increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Plant-based diets are also recommended from the viewpoint of the health of the planet, increasing the sustainability of agricultural production. In recent years we have seen a health claim for green kiwifruit accepted by EFSA and acceptance of a genetically-modified purple tomato by USDA. Know someone who works in this area? Make sure you let them know about this. We would love abstracts in a whole range of topics in this space. More info here: https://lnkd.in/g4aZ7NfU

🌱 This latest paper from #SRUCResearch and collaborators addresses the challenging task of increasing food production for healthy diets while reducing environmental impacts. The study focussed on two UK regions, East Anglia and South Wales, to understand the implications of aligning food systems with the EAT-Lancet healthy diet recommendations. Using the Rothamsted Landscape Model and IPCC inventory models, the study explored two scenarios: one where each region aims to meet healthy diet requirements on its own, and another where they work together. The results highlight a need for more plant proteins and less red meat to meet healthy diet standards. Although this shift reduces overall calorie production, it also leads to lower emissions and leaching, without significantly changing pesticide impacts. Findings suggest that while fully localising food systems to a regional level may not be feasible, adjusting agricultural production to healthier diets could enhance ecosystem health and make food supply chains more resilient. This shows the importance of adapting our farming practices for the good of both people and the environment, moving us closer to sustainable and resilient agricultural systems. #SustainableAgriculture #RuralPolicyCentre #EnvironmentalImpact https://lnkd.in/e6a9F9-6

Concise and thoughtful points about the future of food

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗴𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 New research from University of Oxford University reveals that reducing meat consumption can significantly impact greenhouse gas emissions. High-meat diets generate twice the carbon emissions of low-meat diets, with a shift potentially equivalent to removing 8 million cars from the road. Agriscience and relevant fields are pivotal in formulating innovative solutions to address the environmental repercussions of dietary habits, as highlighted by the study's findings on meat consumption and its impact on our planet #ClimateChange #Sustainability #Agriscience