Q&A: Will England’s National Food Strategy help tackle climate change?

The NFS is the conclusion of more than two years worth of conferences and dialogues with industry leaders, academics, policymakers and the general public.

The very first part of the method, released in July 2020, supplied recommendations for the government to attend to food insecurity and hunger in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. The freshly published 2nd part has the specified objective of providing a “detailed strategy for changing the food system”..

Recently, sequel of Englands National Food Method (NFS) was released, offering a broad introduction of the state of the “food system”– an all-encompassing term that covers the production, processing, transportation and consumption of food– in England..

In this Q&A, Carbon Brief describes and examines the report how its suggestions line up– or do not line up– with the UKs environment targets and decarbonisation objectives.

The government has devoted to producing a white paper and proposals for future laws in reaction within the next 6 months, although the early action from UK prime minister Boris Johnson has been “noncommittal” to many of the NFS proposals, according to the Guardian.

The report, which is more than 150 pages long, sets out 14 recommendations for the UK federal government to consider, including financial incentives, reporting and trade requirements and targets for long-lasting change in the food system..

What is the National Food Strategy?

The NFS was commissioned by the UK federal government in 2019 as the very first independent evaluation of the federal governments food policy in almost three-quarters of a century.

This report by @food_strategy has some fascinating and far reaching ideas that would imply a big change for the better in our food system and make all of us much healthier. I hope that these plans will be taken up by this federal government. https://t.co/gl5rZJCrhO— Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) July 15, 2021.

” [The report] brings everyone around the table for a discussion about what sort of system do we have, what sort of system do we want to bring, what are the compromises and could federal governments do things differently.”.

” The global food system is the single biggest factor to biodiversity loss, logging, dry spell, freshwater contamination and the collapse of aquatic wildlife. It is the second-biggest contributor to climate change, after the energy market.”.

Davey adds that, in his view, “every nation in the world would benefit from doing something of this kind”.

The reaction to recentlys release saw members of parliament, celebrity chefs and even rockstars weighing in on its significance.

The NFS has definitely brought these concerns to the leading edge, Edward Davey, the international engagement director of the Food and Land Use Coalition, informs Carbon Brief. He discusses:.

The report itself calls the food system “both a disaster and a miracle”. While the present food system is capable of feeding the “greatest global population in human history”, it says, this comes at a high ecological expense. The report notes:.

The scope of the report covers England alone, it notes that the house nations “food systems are so securely linked as to be in places inextricable”. It continues that it hopes the devolved federal governments “may in turn discover some beneficial ideas” in the technique.

Its aim was to provide a roadmap for changing the food system from its existing state to one that is healthier for the population and the planet..

Some have criticised the suggestion to tax wholesale sugar and salt as unreasonable or as disproportionately affecting lower-income families. Others state that the measures set out in the report do not go far enough towards making the food system more sustainable.

Why is the food technique essential for dealing with climate modification?

” Without attending to the emissions of the food system, it will not be possible to satisfy those environment change commitments [laid out by law] and to add to mitigating climate modification.”.

Research study suggests that the food system is accountable for about one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. And the numbers are about the same for the UK, Dr Marco Springmann, a population health scientist at the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food, informs Carbon Brief. (The NFS report puts that figure at 19%, however various research studies draw different borders around what counts as the food sector.).

Attempting to create a healthier population while farming in a less damaging method needs collaboration throughout disciplines, Davey informs Carbon Brief. He says:.

Nearly half of all food-related emissions are due to farming, consisting of rearing livestock. The methane produced by cows and other ruminants is “approximated to have triggered a 3rd of overall worldwide warming since the industrial transformation”, the report notes.

Other major contributors to the emissions include transportation, food and fertiliser production and product packaging..

Additionally, essentially all of the gains made in the food sector have been because of cleaner energy and increased effectiveness in the energy sector. Modifications due to farming have actually been minimal– as seen by the big green bar in the chart below.

The food system has seen significantly smaller sized reductions in sector-wide emissions because 2008 as compared to the economy as a whole: economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions have reduced by nearly one-third since 2008, but food-related emissions have reduced by just 13% over the exact same time..

Greenhouse gas emissions from the food sector as a portion of the 2008 emissions because sector. By 2018, emissions had lowered by 13%, however none of this change was because of enhancements in farming. Total emissions reduced by 32% over that exact same period. Source: The National Food Strategy, Part II.

Under its dedications to the Paris Agreement, the UK has promised to reduce emissions from 1990 levels by 68% by 2030. The federal government has likewise set a legally binding target to accomplish net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Springmann says:.

” Theres rather a great deal of siloed thinking about the food system. So, from the perspective of integrated nationwide policymaking that delivers, its wonderful.”.

What parts of the food technique could make the biggest effect on climate modification?

The proposed structure uses the “3 compartment design”, which strives for a balance in between semi-natural land, low-yield farmland and high-yield farmland to meet the targets of both sustainability and food production.Investing ₤ 1bn in UK Research and Innovation and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), as well as smaller centres to stimulate development to “produce a better food system”. Introducing necessary reporting on a range of metrics for food companies using more than 250 individuals. These metrics would consist of the tonnage of food waste generated.Creating a national food system information programme, which would enable services and the government to examine their development on the goals laid out in the report.

” The question is how quickly will those reforms really attend to the climate challenge … I think the jurys out. Is it not as ambitious as it should be, from the point of view of what the land sector requires to do to attain the UK nationwide targets?

Numerous of the recommendations made in the report relate in some way to climate modification or environmental sustainability. These recommendations consist of:.

Davey calls the suggestions a “great starting point”. Nevertheless, he adds:.

What are the restrictions of the food strategy in addressing environment modification?

For instance, the suggestion towards investing in innovation lists alternative proteins as a crucial area in requirement of research financing. Nevertheless, Springmann states, the alternative-protein industry is already very well-developed. He tells Carbon Brief:.

The report likewise “really shied” far from taking a strong position on lowering meat consumption, Springmann says, with effect on both the environment and public health. He says:.

The commissioning of the report– it was led by business person and restaurateur Henry Dimbleby– indicates the report itself “reveals a bit of a manipulated focus” towards business-focused solutions, Springmann states.

Gill also keeps in mind that the report, while comprehensive, does not fully think about the unexpected repercussions of its recommendations. A much greater proportion of fresh fruits and veggies is wasted than meat. So the recommendations to consume less meat might increase the amount of food waste.

” If you take the food system as a holistic thing, then you actually require to resolve all kinds of issues. And if you want to address properly the ecological concerns, plus the health issues, you really need to address the overconsumption of animal-sourced foods in our diet plans.”.

” There are currently plenty of meat replaces on the market and even more so when you consider natural meat replaces like more beans, lentils and those examples … Explaining more clearly that sustainable and healthy diet doesnt always need to include processed meat options would have been necessary, however that was missed there and instead this sort of pro-business angle was taken.”.

Limousin beef cattle in a barn feeding on hay, Selside UK. Credit: John Bentley/ Alamy Stock Photo.

The food system “is very intricate”, Gill states, “but I dont believe thats any reason for not in fact highlighting a few of those concerns right at the start”.

” Another thing that appears to be missing is that foresighting, wheres the world going to from other sectors … Theres going to be a transformation in farming … And its going to take years [for the suggestions in the report] to come to fruition by which time the world may have changed.”.

The suggestions “appear to be practically sort of looking backwards instead of looking forward”, Prof Maggie Gill of the University of Aberdeen, tells Carbon Brief. She adds:.

How does the food technique address the completing interests of farming land usage and land usage for carbon sequestration?

The right-hand side of the chart, using the same scale, reveals how much land is utilized abroad to produce food for the UK. The combined land area for rearing beef and lamb for UK usage is bigger than the UK itself. Source: The National Food Strategy, Part II.

” Implementation of any of those suggestions really needs political will … The recommendations themselves could have been more progressive, but even the ones that are there do not seem to resonate really much with policymakers that are in power at the moment.”.

” The sort of land that might provide the best ecological advantages is often not very agriculturally productive. The most productive 33% of English land produces around 60% of the overall output of the land, while the bottom 33% only produces 15%.”.

Developing the strategy will involve collecting data on agricultural performance, top priority nature areas for preservation (such as existing peatlands) and highly polluted locations. It will likewise build on work such as Englands trees and peat action strategies– launched previously this year– in order to recognize the land best matched for nature repair..

The chart below demonstrate how all land in the UK is assigned (left) and how much overseas land is used to produce food for the UK (best).

The report keeps in mind that with the ideal incentives for farmers to repurpose their land, the strategy could be mutually helpful towards farmers and the environment. It mentions:.

The chart below shows that when the carbon sequestration “opportunity cost” (yellow bars) is included to the emissions of various food groups (teal bars), the carbon expense of lamb and goat meat in fact goes beyond that of beef, due to the big amounts of land needed to graze those animals and their appetite for tree saplings.

The government has committed to producing a response to the method, including propositions for new legislation, within the next 6 months..

Decreasing meat consumption would likewise assist relieve the stress on land resources, the report finds. About 70% of the landmass of the UK is dedicated to agriculture, with feed and pastures for beef and lamb using up the vast bulk of that land.

” Globally, the most significant prospective carbon benefit of eating less meat would not actually be the reduction in emissions, however the opportunity to repurpose land so that it sequesters carbon.”.

As a result, the report says, the food system is being “asked to perform an accomplishment of acrobatics” in providing sufficient land to produce the necessary food, but likewise to alleviate greenhouse gas emissions.

Sharelines from this story.

The UKs Climate Change Committee (CCC) has actually approximated that simply over 20% of farming land must be rewilded or converted to bioenergy or other, non-agricultural crops in order to accomplish net-zero by 2050. The NFS report states:.

Nature-based options, such as peatland remediation and afforestation, are expected to play a major function in lots of countries and companies net-zero targets, but a lot of these need the repurposing of agricultural land.

Get our free Daily Briefing for a digest of the previous 24 hours of environment and energy media protection, or our Weekly Briefing for a round-up of our material from the previous 7 days. Simply enter your e-mail below:.

The report itself calls the food system “both a catastrophe and a wonder”. The proposed structure utilizes the “three compartment design”, which strives for a balance in between semi-natural land, low-yield farmland and high-yield farmland to meet the targets of both sustainability and food production.Investing ₤ 1bn in UK Research and Innovation and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), as well as smaller centres to stimulate development to “develop a much better food system”. These metrics would include the tonnage of food waste generated.Creating a national food system information programme, which would permit businesses and the federal government to examine their development on the objectives laid out in the report. The right-hand side of the chart, utilizing the exact same scale, shows how much land is utilized overseas to produce food for the UK. The teal bars suggest the direct emissions associated with the supply chain of each item, while the yellow bars reveal the carbon “chance cost”, meaning the amount of CO2 that could be sequestered in the land used to produce that food.

However, UK prime minister Boris Johnson has already shown his hesitancy to support a few of the policy recommendations laid out in the report. This does not bode well for the reports adoption, alerts Springmann:.

Total carbon costs (kgCO2e) per kg of numerous food products. The teal bars indicate the direct emissions associated with the supply chain of each item, while the yellow bars show the carbon “opportunity cost”, meaning the quantity of CO2 that could be sequestered in the land utilized to produce that food. Source: The National Food Strategy, Part II.

In order to deal with these completing interests, the report requires a nationwide land-use technique to finest designate land to nature, carbon sequestration and agriculture.