There is a crisis looming in the systems that feed us.
More than a third of humanity's greenhouse gas emissions come from the way we produce, process and package food. It is also the biggest cause of the declining diversity of life on Earth. Solving these problems will require a thorough reform of agriculture. But so far the burden has fallen on relatively light shoulders: individual farmers and you, the consumer.
Across Europe, widespread frustration in rural communities is boiling over into anger that could derail efforts to make agriculture more sustainable, with protests against environmental measures in countries such as France, Germany, the Netherlands and, most recently, Wales.
Modern agricultural methods consume natural habitats and spray soil, crops and seeds with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. There are forms of agriculture that combine habitats and crops and provide soil with nutrients in other ways, such as planting more crops that can convert atmospheric nitrogen into a biologically useful form, such as legumes.
Why don't more farmers embrace these changes?
Read more: Why the humble legume could be the answer to Europe's fertilizer addictionAgriculture on the edge
"Governments are obliged to meet net zero targets, while farmers must cling to their livelihoods in a difficult economic climate," said Alex Heffron, a PhD candidate in geography at Lancaster University.
"Farmers receive very little of the retail value of their products. Dairy farmers in Britain typically receive less than 1 cent of the retail value of a 480g block of cheese."
The profits farmers can hope to make from growing food are under pressure from the rising costs of feed, fuel and fertilizer, not to mention interest rates and energy, Heffron says. Many see new regulations and reforms from European governments aimed at encouraging greener agriculture as the last straw.
The story continues
Farmers in Wales once had their work subsidized based on the amount of land they managed. New subsidy schemes in England and Wales aim to pay farmers for public goods, such as the amount of habitat they can create or carbon they can store.
The Welsh scheme would ask farmers to plant trees on 10% of their land to receive payments. Heffron says tenant farmers may not get permission to do this from landowners, while farmers with mortgages may be turned away by banks concerned about what planting trees will do to the value of the land.
Read more: Why are farmers in action? The view from WalesThe plan may not ultimately benefit food production or the environment, he warns:
"Falling subsidy levels will force some British farmers to sell their produce. Some farms are already being bought by large investment funds for timber production and the sale of carbon credits to companies seeking to 'offset' their emissions, a practice that has been criticized as 'greenwashing'."
A 2019 analysis by Earth system scientists Simon Lewis (University of Leeds) and Charlotte Wheeler (University of Edinburgh) found that such timber plantations are a pale imitation of forests that regenerate naturally, as they store a small proportion of carbon in comparison.
Read more: The scandal of calling plantations 'forest restoration' jeopardizes climate goals"The scale of this challenge requires a new form of politics, rooted not in austerity but in renewed government spending on food and agriculture systems, combined with swift action against the parts of the supply chain that are hoarding all the profits," Heffron said.
Whose job is it?
A handful of companies control the supply chains that collect, process and sell food. Walmart dominates the US supermarket market, while Tesco has 27% of the UK equivalent.
For example, when such a company announces that it will achieve net zero emissions by a certain date, it is the workers at each link of the supply chain who have to do the heavy lifting. Unfortunately, their employers may lack the necessary resources, says Albert Boaitey, lecturer in global agri-food supply chains at the University of Newcastle.
Read more: Farmers are hardest hit by big food companies' efforts to decarbonize the economy - and here's why"For example, a livestock farm in Brazil that supplies beef to an international retailer abroad would be required to comply with emissions control measures imposed by [the] retailer," he says. For example, by investing in selective breeding programs that produce livestock that eat less feed and emit fewer greenhouse gases.
Boaitey's research shows that farmers are unlikely to make these changes if beef processors (typically large companies downstream in the supply chain) don't pay for them. He points to a report from Barclays bank showing that UK retailers canceled contracts with suppliers worth more than £7 billion in 2021 due to their failure to meet sustainability standards.
"Even though our results were published a few years ago, the situation remains largely unchanged," he says.
You may have noticed that the responsibility for building a sustainable food system also falls on you. With promotional campaigns urging you to opt for plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy, the calculation seems to be that consumer demand alone can drive a shift away from the most harmful food activities.
But how realistic is this? How much power really lies in the supermarket aisle? Global food systems researcher Benjamin Selwyn of the University of Sussex is sceptical, saying many of the companies making vegan burgers and yoghurts are also major producers of beef, milk and cheese.
Read more: Meat and dairy industry giants own the factory power behind many vegan brandsThe type of food we grow and the way we grow it must change radically. Heffron argues that a coordinated response aimed at transforming the food system as a whole is the only way to do this, and that states and the big corporations that dominate these complex systems (and much of their revenue) are best positioned to take the lead. .
While the responsibility remains with cash-strapped producers and consumers at opposite ends of the food supply chains, "business as usual" will continue.
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