Subscribe here: [ Ссылка ] Modern food systems constitute complex global networks of production, processing, manufacturing, supply, retail, services, and consumption. Agriculture is the main food production sector complemented by fisheries and aquaculture. The food system includes many other sectors and actors involved in the processing, distribution, transport and consumption of food.
Global food chains, market competition, industrial processes and increased productivity have turned modern agriculture into a sizeable economic sector but this has also created challenges for the environment and climate. For example, agriculture is the source of 11% of all greenhouse gases emitted in the EU, and it remains a significant contributor to the emissions of harmful air pollutants, such as ammonia.
Agriculture is the most significant pressure impacting both surface and groundwaters.
Agriculture, fisheries and the food system are also key drivers of biodiversity and habitat loss through land conversion, soil degradation, overfishing, water abstraction, and chemical and nutrient pollution. Moreover, human health is directly dependent on the sustainability of the food system. Unhealthy diets, exposure to chemical residues in food and packaging, and contamination of drinking water are just some examples of this critical link.
At the same time, agricultural production and the resilience of the food system are themselves dependent on natural resources and processes, and sensitive to environmental degradation and climate change. Reducing these environmental pressures and adapting to their impacts is, therefore, necessary in order to protect food security, farming land and farmers’ livelihoods.
Agriculture and food systems also deliver important benefits to people and the environment, including through the accumulation of CO2 as carbon in vegetation and soils, conserving semi-natural habitats and wildlife species, and more efficient technologies, social innovations, and circular economy practices. These solutions must now be incentivised and scaled up, paying attention to the risk of trade-offs and maximizing co-benefits whenever possible.
While global food chains, market competition, industrial processes and increasing productivity have turned agriculture into a profitable economic sector, it is also one of the biggest contributors to environmental and sustainability challenges in Europe and worldwide. In tandem, the COVID-19 pandemic, recent geopolitical developments in Europe and socio-economic trends have driven attention towards agriculture and food systems. Our briefing 'Rethinking agriculture' reflects on what makes agriculture unsustainable today — and the types of agriculture we may want to preserve and support.
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