write an essay on method of food cultivation

Food System Primer

• The Food System
• Distribution
• Food & Nutrition
• Food Safety
• Wasted Food
• Food Policy

History of Agriculture

• Industrialization of Agriculture
• Crops & Ecology
• Industrial Food Animal Production
• Food & Climate Change
• Ecological & Urban Agriculture

Agriculture, the cultivation of food and goods through farming, produces the vast majority of the world’s food supply. It is thought to have been practiced sporadically for the past 13,000 years, 1  and widely established for only 7,000 years. 2  In the long view of human history, this is just a flash in the pan compared to the nearly 200,000 years our ancestors spent gathering, hunting, and scavenging in the wild. During its brief history, agriculture has radically transformed human societies and fueled a global population that has grown from 4 million to 7 billion since 10,000 BCE, and is still growing. 3

The road to the present has not been smooth. Resource degradation, rapid population growth, disease, changing climates, and other forces have periodically crippled food supplies, with the poor bearing the brunt of famine. We still face many of the same challenges as our ancestors, in addition to new and even greater threats. To successfully navigate an uncertain future, we can begin by learning from the past.

Dawn of Agriculture

The San are among the first people to have lived in southern Africa, and are one of the few societies that still follow a hunter-gatherer diet. To sustain their lifestyle, San typically spend 12 to 19 hours per week gathering food from the wild—what many might consider a life of leisure. When one San person was asked why he hadn't adopted farming, he replied, "Why should we, when there are so many mongongo nuts in the world? 12 Photo credit: Dietmar Temps, 2010. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 .

Paleoanthropologists have estimated that the earliest fossil evidence of  Homo sapiens— anatomically modern humans—is roughly 196,000 years old. 4  For the vast majority of the time since our species’ arrival on the evolutionary scene, we acquired food by gathering it from the wild. 1,5  Wild plant-based foods and fungi were important staples in the paleolithic diet, including the wild ancestors of some species that are widely cultivated today. 6  While the ancestral hunt for wild animals is often depicted as an epic conflict against woolly mammoths, woolly rhinos, giant elk, and other prehistoric megafauna, early humans also took to foraging for humble insects 7  and scavenging the remains of dead animals. 8

From as early as 11,000 BCE, people began a gradual transition away from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle toward cultivating crops and raising animals for food. The shift to agriculture is believed to have occurred independently in several parts of the world, including northern China, Central America, and the Fertile Crescent, a region in the Middle East that cradled some of the earliest civilizations. 1  By 6000 BCE, most of the farm animals we are familiar with today had been domesticated. 1  By 5000 BCE, agriculture was practiced in every major continent except Australia. 2

Why did people give up hunting and gathering for farming? There are many plausible reasons, all of which likely played some role at different times and across different parts of the world:

• Changes in climate  may have made it too cold or too dry to rely on wild food sources. 1
• Greater population density  may have demanded more food than could be harvested from the wild, and farming provided more food per acre, even if it did require more time and energy. 1,9
• Overhunting  may have helped push woolly mammoths and other megafauna to extinction. 10
• Changing technology , such as domesticated seeds, would have made agriculture a more viable lifestyle. 5,11

Dawn of Civilizations

Grave chamber of an Egyptian public official, circa 1250 BCE.

The plow is believed to have been used as early as 4,000 years ago in ancient Egypt. Although it brought tremendous gains in short-term productivity, it has also been a major contributor to soil erosion . The loss of fertile topsoil has played a role in the decline of numerous civilizations. 14 Photo: public domain.

For better or for worse, agriculture was a driving force behind the growth of civilizations.

Farming probably involved more work than hunting and gathering, but it is thought to have provided 10 to 100 times more calories per acre. 5  More abundant food supplies could support denser populations, and farming tied people to their land. Small settlements grew into towns, and towns grew into cities. 1

Agriculture produced enough food that people became free to pursue interests other than worrying about what they were going to eat that day. Those who didn’t need to be farmers took on roles as soldiers, priests, administrators, artists, and scholars. As early civilizations began to take shape, political and religious leaders rose up to rule them, creating classes of “haves” and “have-nots.” Whereas hunter-gatherer societies generally viewed resources as belonging to everyone, agriculture led to a system of ownership over land, food, and currency that was not (and is still not) equitably distributed among the people. 1,13

Some have questioned whether moving away from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle was in humanity’s best interests, pointing to problems of social inequality, malnutrition, and military conflict that followed the adoption of farming. 1,5  One prominent scientist has even called agriculture the “worst mistake in the history of the human race.” 12 That may be, but given the size and density of human populations today, returning to a paleolithic lifestyle is not a practical option. Hunting, gathering, and farming, however, can complement one another in ways that provide people with a more varied and abundant food supply. People still harvest  aquatic plants and animals  from the sea, for example, and even urban dwellers might find edible berries, greens, and mushrooms in their local park.

Limits to Growth

In the history of civilization … the plowshare has been far more destructive than the sword. – Daniel Hillel 15

Depleted farmland and a changing climate set the stage for periodic famines throughout much of Europe from 1300 to 1850. 19 This print, titled Dance of Death, conveys the fragility of life during this period. Image attributed to Michael Wolgemut, 1493. Public domain.

Agriculture may have made civilizations possible, but it has never been a safeguard against their collapse. Throughout history, increases in agricultural productivity competed against population growth, resource degradation, droughts, changing climates, and other forces that periodically crippled food supplies, with the poor bearing the brunt of famine.

Like many of their modern counterparts, early farmers often worked land in ways that depleted its fertility. Technological innovations like irrigation (circa 6000 BCE) and the plow (circa 3000 BCE) brought enormous gains in productivity, but when used irresponsibly they degraded soil—the very foundation that makes agriculture possible. 16,17 By the beginning of the Common Era, Roman farmers had degraded their soil to the point where they could no longer grow enough food and had to rely on imports from distant Egypt. Rome’s eventual decline is one of many cautionary tales about the importance of sustainable agriculture. 1

By 1798, economist Thomas Malthus warned that unchecked population growth would outpace food production, setting the stage for widespread starvation. 18 History is no stranger to this scenario—depleted farmland and changing climates set the stage for periodic famines throughout much of Europe from 1300 to 1850. 1,19 Malthus’ critics, meanwhile, argued (and still argue) that scientific innovation would keep famine at bay by always finding ways to increase food production. Although his predictions have not played out exactly as he described, Malthus’ work reminds us that the Earth has limited capacity to support human development.

The Population Boom

Application of anhydrous ammonia (synthetic nitrogen) fertilizer at planting time on an Iowa farm.

Synthetic fertilizers are manufactured using a technique that transforms nitrogen in the atmosphere into a form that can be applied to crops (ammonia). These chemicals have dramatically increased short-term crop yields, though not without  consequences . The heavy use of synthetic fertilizers has become a hallmark of industrial agriculture . Photo credit: Lynn Betts, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service.

From 1900 to 2011, the global population grew from 1.6 billion to 7 billion. 20 Despite such explosive growth, the world’s farmers produced enough calories in 2012 to feed the entire population, plus an additional 1.6 billion people. 21 Hunger  remains a global crisis, largely because those calories are not evenly distributed across the population, and much of the world’s food supply is  never eaten . Still, the sheer volume of production dwarfs that of earlier generations. What has made such unprecedented abundance possible?

Innovations in food production and distribution have thus far helped food supplies keep pace with population growth. Crops indigenous to the Americas, such as corn, sweet potatoes, and cassava, spread across the globe. The nutrients provided by these prolific crops helped prevent malnutrition, supporting a widespread increase in population over the 18 th  century. 20  Expanded railways, shipping canals, and new machinery for storing and moving grain helped the U.S. become a major exporter of surplus wheat and corn, supplying much of Europe during times of scarcity overseas. 22 Improvements in  refrigerated transport  allowed farmers to ship perishable food over greater distances. 23

Of all the innovations in agriculture, arguably none has been more influential than synthetic fertilizers—chemicals manufactured using a technique that transforms nitrogen in the atmosphere into a form that can be applied to crops (ammonia). First introduced in the early 1900s, synthetic fertilizers dramatically increased crop yields (though not without  consequences ), and have been credited with providing the lion’s share of the world’s food over the 20 th  century. 24 The use of these and other chemicals has become a hallmark of  industrial agriculture .

This list is a starting point for further exploration. Some materials may not reflect the views of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.

For teachers

• Industrialization of Agriculture  (lesson plan). FoodSpan. The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.
• Introduction to the US Food System: Public Health, Environment, and Equity  (textbook). Neff RN (editor). Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. 2014.
• Foodies Unite: Insects Should Be More Food Than Fad . Emma Bryce. The Guardian. 2014.
• Hunter-Gatherer Energetics and Human Obesity  (open access). Pontzer H, Raichlen DA, et al. PLOS One. 2012.
• Are Malthus's Predicted 1798 Food Shortages Coming True?  Jeffrey Sachs. Scientific American. 2008.
• The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race . Jared Diamond. Discover Magazine. 1999.
• Refrigeration Nation: A History of Ice, Appliances, and Enterprise in America . Jonathan Rees. 2013.
• Fresh: A Perishable History . Susanne Freidberg. 2009.
• Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations . David Montgomery. 2008.
• The World's Greatest Fix: A History of Nitrogen and Agriculture . G. J. Leigh. 2004.  
• Montgomery D. Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press; 2008.
• Bulliet RW, Crossley PK, Headrick DR, Johnson LL, Hirsch SW. The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History, Volume I. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin; 2008.
• Kremer M. Population Growth and Technological Change: One Million B.C. to 1990. Q J Econ. 1993;108(3):681-716.
• Trinkaus E. Early Modern Humans. Annu Rev Anthropol. 2005;34(1):207-230.
• Diamond J. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York, New York: W. W. Norton and Company; 1999.
• Diamond J. Evolution, consequences and future of plant and animal domestication. Nature. 2002;418(6898):700-707.
• Raubenheimer D, Rothman JM, Pontzer H, Simpson SJ. Macronutrient contributions of insects to the diets of hunter-gatherers: A geometric analysis. J Hum Evol . 2014;71:70-76.
• Moleón M, Sánchez-Zapata JA, Margalida A, Carrete M, Owen-Smith N, Donázar JA. Humans and Scavengers: The Evolution of Interactions and Ecosystem Services. Bioscience. 2014.
• Vasey D. An Ecological History of Agriculture: 10,000 B.C. - A.D. 10,000. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press; 1992.
• Stuart AJ, Sulerzhitsky LD, Orlova LA, Kuzmin Y V., Lister AM. The latest woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach) in Europe and Asia: A review of the current evidence. Quat Sci Rev. 2002;21(14-15):1559-1569.
• Dow G, Olewiler N, Reed C. The Transition to Agriculture: Climate Reversals, Population Density, and Technical Change. Simon Fraser University; 2005.
• Diamond J. The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race. Discov Mag. 1987:64-66.
• Price TD. Social Inequality at the Foundations of Agriculture. In: Price TD, Feinman G, eds. Foundations of Social Inequality. New York: Platinum Press; 1995.
• Pryor LF. The invention of the plow. Comp Stud Soc Hist. 1985;27(4).
• Hillel D. Out of the Earth: Civilization and the Life of the Soil. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press; 1991.
• Montgomery D. Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press; 2008.
• Cohen JE. People control the growth of nonhuman populations. In: How Many People Can the Earth Support?. New York and London: W. W. Norton and Company; 1995.
• Malthus TR. An Essay on the Principle of Population, Volume 1.; 1798.
• Appleby AB. Epidemics and Famine in the Little Ice Age. J Interdiscip Hist. 2013;10(4).
• Cohen JE. How Many People Can the Earth Support? New York and London: W. W. Norton and Company; 1995.
• U.N. Food & Agriculture Organization. FAOSTAT. 2013. http://faostat3.fao.org/.

Environmental Impacts of Food Production

What are the environmental impacts of food production? How do we reduce the impacts of agriculture on the environment?

By: Hannah Ritchie , Pablo Rosado and Max Roser

Agriculture has a significant environmental impact in three key ways.

First, it requires large amounts of fresh water , which can cause significant environmental pressures in regions with water stress. It needs water as input and pollutes rivers, lakes, and oceans by releasing nutrients.

It is a crucial driver of climate change, responsible for around one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions .

Finally, agriculture has a massive impact on the world’s environment due to its enormous land use . Half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture.

Large parts of the world that were once covered by forests and wildlands are now used for agriculture. This loss of natural habitat has been the main driver for reducing the world’s biodiversity . Wildlife can rebound if we reduce agricultural land use and allow natural lands to restore.

Ensuring everyone has access to a nutritious diet sustainably is one of the most significant challenges we face. On this page, you can find our data, visualizations, and writing relating to the environmental impacts of food.

Key insights on the Environmental Impacts of Food

Food production has a large environmental impact in several ways.

What are the environmental impacts of food and agriculture?

The visualization here shows a summary of some of the main global impacts:

• Food production accounts for over a quarter (26%) of global greenhouse gas emissions. 1
• Half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture. Habitable land is land that is ice- and desert-free.
• 70% of global freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture 2 .
• 78% of global ocean and freshwater eutrophication is caused by agriculture. 1 Eutrophication is the pollution of waterways with nutrient-rich water.
• 94% of non-human mammal biomass is livestock. This means livestock outweigh wild mammals by a factor of 15-to-1. 3 This share is 97% when only land-based mammals are included.
• 71% of bird biomass is poultry livestock. This means poultry livestock outweigh wild birds by a factor of more than 3-to-1. 3

Tackling what we eat, and how we produce our food, plays a key role in tackling climate change, reducing water stress and pollution, restoring lands back to forests or grasslands, and protecting the world’s wildlife.

Half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture

Around half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture. Habitable land is land that is ice- and desert-free. This is what the visualization shows.

Agricultural land is the sum of pasture used for livestock grazing, and cropland used for direct human consumption and animal feed.

Agriculture is, therefore, the world’s largest land user, taking up more area than forests, or wild grasslands.

Three-quarters of this agricultural land is used for livestock, which is pasture plus cropland used for the production of animal feed. This gives the world just 18% of global calories, and 37% of its protein. The other quarter of land is for crops for human consumption, which provide the majority of the world's calories and protein.

More than three-quarters of global agricultural land is used for livestock, despite meat and dairy making up a much smaller share of the world's protein and calories.

What you should know about this data

• Other studies find similar distributions of global land: in an analysis of how humans have transformed global land use in recent centuries, Ellis et al. (2010) found that by 2000, 55% of Earth’s ice-free (not simply habitable) land had been converted into cropland, pasture, and urban areas. 4 This left only 45% as ‘natural’ or ‘semi-natural’ land.
• The study by Joseph Poore and Thomas Nemecek (2018) estimates that 43% of ice- and desert-free land is used for agriculture. 83% of this is used for animal-sourced foods. 1
• The difference in these figures is often due to the uncertainty of the size of ‘rangelands’. Rangelands are grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that are grazed by domestic livestock or wild animals. The intensity of grazing on rangelands can vary a lot. That can make it difficult to accurately quantify how much rangelands are used for grazing, and therefore how much is used for food production.
• But as the review above showed, despite this uncertainty, most analyses tend to converge on an estimate of close to half of habitable land being used for agriculture.

Food is responsible for one-quarter of the world’s emissions

Food systems are responsible for around one-quarter (26%) of global greenhouse gas emissions. 1

This includes emissions from land use change, on-farm production, processing, transport, packaging, and retail.

We can break these food system emissions down into four broad categories:

30% of food emissions come directly from livestock and fisheries . Ruminant livestock – mainly cattle – for example, produce methane through their digestive processes. Manure and pasture management also fall into this category.

1% comes from wild fisheries , most of which is fuel consumption from fishing vessels.

Crop production accounts for around a quarter of food emissions. This includes crops for human consumption and animal feed.

Land use accounts for 24% of food emissions. Twice as many emissions result from land use for livestock (16%) as for crops for human consumption (8%).

Finally, supply chains account for 18% of food emissions . This includes food processing, distribution, transport, packaging, and retail.

Other studies estimate that an even larger fraction – up to one-third – of the world's greenhouse gas emissions come from food production. 5 These differences come from the inclusion of non-food agricultural products – such as textiles, biofuels, and industrial crops – plus uncertainties in food waste and land use emissions.

Food production is responsible for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions

One-quarter of the world's greenhouse gas emissions result from food and agriculture. What are the main contributors to food's emissions?

How much of global greenhouse gas emissions come from food?

Estimates of food emissions can range from one-quarter to one-third. Where do these differences come from?

• The source of this data is the meta-analysis of global food systems from 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 calculated based on life-cycle analyses that consider impacts across the supply chain, including land use change, on-farm emissions, the production of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, food processing, transport, packaging, and retail.
• Greenhouse gas emissions are measured in carbon dioxide equivalents (CO 2 eq). This means each greenhouse gas is weighted by its global warming potential value. Global warming potential measures the amount of warming a gas creates compared to CO 2 . In this study, CO 2 eq and warming effects are measured over a 100-year timescale (GWP 100 ).

Emissions from food alone would take us past 1.5°C or 2°C this century

One-quarter to one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions come from our food systems. The rest comes from energy.

While energy and industry make a bigger contribution than food, we must tackle both food and energy systems to address climate change.

Michael Clark and colleagues modeled the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that would be emitted from food systems this century across a range of scenarios.

In a business-as-usual scenario, the authors expect the world to emit around 1356 billion tonnes of CO 2-we by 2100.

As the visualization shows, this would take us well beyond the carbon budget for 1.5°C – we would emit two to three times more than this budget. And it would consume almost all of our budget for 2°C.

Ignoring food emissions is simply not an option if we want to get close to our international climate targets.

Even if we stopped burning fossil fuels tomorrow – an impossibility – we would still go well beyond our 1.5°C target, and nearly miss our 2°C target.

Emissions from food alone could use up all of our budget for 1.5°C or 2°C – but we have a range of opportunities to avoid this

If we want to meet our global climate targets we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from food. What options do we have?

• The source of this data is the meta-analyses of global food systems from Michael Clark et al. (2020), published in Science . 6
• Their ‘business-as-usual’ projection makes the following assumptions: global population increases in line with the UN’s medium fertility scenario; per capita diets change as people around the world get richer (shifting towards more diverse diets with more meat and dairy); crop yields continue to increase in line with historical improvements, and rates of food loss and the emissions intensity of food production remain constant.
• This is measured in global warming potential CO 2 warming-equivalents (CO 2-we ). This accounts for the range of greenhouse gasses, not just CO 2 but also others such as methane and nitrous oxide. We look at the differences in greenhouse gas metrics at the end of our article on the carbon footprint of foods .

What we eat matters much more than how far it has traveled

‘Eat local’ is a common recommendation to reduce the carbon footprint of your diet. But it’s often a misguided one.

Transport tends to be a small part of a food’s carbon footprint. Globally, transport accounts for just 5% of food system emissions. Most of food’s emissions come from land use change and emissions from their production on the farm.

Since transport emissions are typically small, and the differences between foods are large, what types of food we eat matter much more than how far it has traveled. Locally-produced beef will have a much larger footprint than peas, regardless of whether it’s shipped across continents or not.

The visualization shows this.

Producing a kilogram of beef, for example, emits 60 kilograms of greenhouse gasses (CO 2 -equivalents). The production of a kilogram of peas, shown at the bottom of the chart, emits just 1 kilogram of greenhouse gasses. Whether the beef or peas are produced locally will have little impact on the difference between these two foods.

The reason that transport accounts for such a small share of emissions is that most internationally traded food travels by boat, not by plane. Very little food is air-freighted; it accounts for only 0.16% of food miles. 7 For the few products which are transported by air, the emissions can be very high: flying emits 50 times more CO 2 eq than boat per tonne kilometer.

Unlike aviation, shipping is a very carbon-efficient way to transport goods. So, even shipping food over long distances by boat emits only small amounts of carbon. A classic example of traded food is avocados. Shipping one kilogram of avocados from Mexico to the United Kingdom would generate 0.21kg CO 2 eq in transport emissions. 8 This is only around 8% of avocados’ total footprint.

Even when shipped at great distances, its emissions are much less than locally-produced animal products.

You want to reduce the carbon footprint of your food? Focus on what you eat, not whether your food is local

“Eat local” is a common recommendation to reduce the carbon footprint of your diet. How does the impact of what you eat compare to where it's come from?

• The source of this data is the meta-analyses of global food systems from 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.

Meat and dairy foods tend to have a higher carbon footprint

When we compare the carbon footprint of different types of foods, a clear hierarchy emerges.

Meat and dairy products tend to emit more greenhouse gasses than plant-based foods. This holds true whether we compare on the basis of mass (per kilogram) , per kilocalorie , or per gram of protein, as shown in the chart.

Within meat and dairy products, there is also a consistent pattern: larger animals tend to be less efficient and have a higher footprint. Beef typically has the largest emissions; followed by lamb; pork; chicken; then eggs and fish.

• This data presents global average values. For some foods – such as beef – there are large differences depending on where it is produced, and the farming practices used. Nonetheless, the lowest-carbon beef and lamb still have a higher carbon footprint than most plant-based foods.
• The source of this data is the meta-analyses of global food systems from Joseph Poore and Thomas Nemecek (2018), published in Science . 1 This dataset covers 38,700 commercially viable farms in 119 countries and 40 products.
• Greenhouse gas emissions are measured in carbon dioxide equivalents (CO 2 eq). This means each greenhouse gas is weighted by its global warming potential value. Global warming potential measures the amount of warming a gas creates compared to CO 2 . For CO 2 eq, this is measured over a 100-year timescale (GWP 100 ).

There are also large differences in the carbon footprint of the same foods

The most effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the food system is to change what we eat .

Adopting a more plant-based diet by reducing our consumption of carbon-intensive foods such as meat and dairy – especially beef and lamb – is an effective way for consumers to reduce their carbon footprint.

But there are also opportunities to reduce emissions by optimizing for more carbon-efficient practices and locations to produce foods. For some foods – in particular, beef, lamb, and dairy – there are large differences in emissions depending on how and where they’re produced. This is shown in the chart.

Producing 100 grams of protein from beef emits 25 kilograms of carbon dioxide-equivalents (CO 2 eq), on average. But this ranges from 9 kilograms to 105 kilograms of CO 2 eq – a ten-fold difference.

Optimizing production in places where these foods are produced with a smaller footprint could be another effective way of reducing global emissions.

Less meat is nearly always better than sustainable meat, to reduce your carbon footprint

Plant-based protein sources still have a lower footprint than the lowest-impact meat products.

Explore data on the Environmental Impacts of Food

Interactive visualization requires JavaScript.

Research & Writing

‘Eat local’ is a common recommendation to reduce the carbon footprint of your diet. But transport tends to account for a small share of greenhouse gas emissions. How does the impact of what you eat compare to where it’s come from?

Hannah Ritchie

One-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions result from food and agriculture. What are the main contributors to food’s emissions?

Food production and climate change

What are the carbon opportunity costs of our food?

Food miles and transport.

Very little of global food is transported by air; this greatly reduces the climate benefits of eating local

Environmental impacts of meat and dairy.

Dairy vs. plant-based milk: what are the environmental impacts?

The carbon footprint of foods: are differences explained by the impacts of methane?

If the world adopted a plant-based diet we would reduce global agricultural land use from 4 to 1 billion hectares

Land use and deforestation.

Cutting down forests: what are the drivers of deforestation?

After millennia of agricultural expansion, the world has passed ‘peak agricultural land’

To protect the world’s wildlife we must improve crop yields – especially across Africa

Other articles on food impacts.

Food waste is responsible for 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions

Is organic really better for the environment than conventional agriculture?

More key articles on the environmental impacts of food, yields vs. land use: how the green revolution enabled us to feed a growing population.

Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers . Science , 360(6392), 987-992.

FAO. (2011). The state of the world’s land and water resources for food and agriculture (SOLAW) – Managing systems at risk. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome and Earthscan, London.

Bar-On, Y. M., Phillips, R., & Milo, R. (2018). The biomass distribution on Earth . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 115(25), 6506-6511.

Ellis, E. C., Klein Goldewijk, K., Siebert, S., Lightman, D., & Ramankutty, N. (2010). Anthropogenic transformation of the biomes, 1700 to 2000 . Global Ecology and Biogeography, 19(5), 589-606.

Crippa, M., Solazzo, E., Guizzardi, D., Monforti-Ferrario, F., Tubiello, F. N., & Leip, A. J. N. F. (2021). Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions. Nature Food, 2(3), 198-209.

Clark, Michael A., Nina GG Domingo, Kimberly Colgan, Sumil K. Thakrar, David Tilman, John Lynch, Inês L. Azevedo, and Jason D. Hill. “ Global food system emissions could preclude achieving the 1.5° and 2° C climate change targets .” Science , 370, no. 6517 (2020): 705-708.

’Food miles’ are measured in tonne-kilometers which represents the transport of one tonne of goods by a given transport mode (road, rail, air, sea, inland waterways, pipeline etc.) over a distance of one kilometer. Poore & Nemecek (2018) report that of the 9.4 billion tonne-kilometers of global food transport, air-freight accounted for only 15 million. This works out at only 0.16% of the total; most foods are transported by boat.

We get this footprint value as: [9000km * 0.023kg per tonne-kilometer / 1000 = 0.207kg CO2eq per kg].

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Food processing: understanding its methods, examples and importance

Walk into any supermarket and you can find a wide range of varied processed foods: from frozen fish filets in the freezer section, canned chickpeas over in the middle aisles, to freshly baked breads and pastries at the bakery counter. But what does the term food processing actually mean? And why do we process our food? This article explains food processing, different examples of food processing methods, and the positive and negative implications of food processing.

What is food processing ?

While definitions can vary, one common definition of food processing is any action or procedure that changes the initial food or raw materials used to produce food (such as crops, water and so on). 1 This can involve one or a combination of processes such as washing, chopping, pasteurising, freezing, fermenting, packaging, heating, milling, extruding, or adding ingredients to foods, for example to extend storage life. Processing can also refer to the transformation of ingredients into food products, for example making bread. Food processing can take place both at home, out-of-home (for example in restaurants and cafeterias), and at an industrial scale. By this definition, it becomes clear that the majority foods we eat in our day-to-day lives are processed to some extent.

What are examples of food processing methods?

Food processing includes traditional (heat treatment, fermentation, pickling, smoking, drying, curing) and modern methods (pasteurisation, ultra-heat treatment, high pressure processing, or modified atmosphere packaging). Some of the common methods are described below: 2

Cooking impacts the amount of nutrients in our foods. While in some cases it can help make some nutrients more available for absorption (e.g., beta-carotene in carrots or lycopene in tomatoes), it can also lead to some nutrients being lost. Particularly vitamin C is sensitive to heat and cooking. For example, when we boil vitamin C rich foods such as broccoli or kale, some of this vitamin is lost in the cooking water. To retain the most nutrients, the best cooking methods are those that use minimal water and heat and are relatively quick. Steaming, for example, is a great way to cook vegetables and retain their nutrients as it doesn’t involve submerging them in water. Microwaving also retains most nutrients as foods are heated relatively quick.

Baking, frying, or roasting starchy foods (e.g., bread, potatoes, biscuits, coffee) at high temperature can also lead to the formation of acrylamide . Prolonged exposure to high levels of acrylamide has been shown to cause cancer in animals. However, the evidence in humans is not as clear. Although humans are usually exposed to doses lower than those used in animal research, the general advice is to keep exposure low by taking care to avoid over-browning when cooking starchy foods, limiting acrylamide formation.

Canning allows us to preserve excess harvest. The food is heated to a high temperature. This process is called pasteurisation. Then, the food is packaged and stored in an air-tight can. Check our infographic showing the processing steps for canned tomatoes.

Canned fruits and vegetables are typically less expensive than both fresh and frozen produce. 3 However, canned vegetables can contain high levels of sodium and canned fruits can contain added sugar (syrup). Look for canned vegetables with ‘no added salt’ and fruit canned ‘in juice.’ Don’t buy cans or packages that are torn, damaged or disfigured in some way. Foods in dented cans or punctured wraps should not be eaten as it might have become contaminated with harmful microorganisms.

Drying/dehydration

Drying removes the water content of food. In the case of dried fruit, this means that the fruit sugar and calories end up concentrated in a smaller package. However, it contains the ‘whole fruit,’ and therefore a package of nutrients and bioactives. A 30-gram portion of dried fruit (max. once a day) contributes to one of your 5-a-day .

Juices are squeezed from the fruit or vegetable; their pulp is often removed so in the end they contain less fibre. Because juices are liquid, we tend to consume a high quantity quickly, which does not make us feel as full compared to eating whole fruit. Juice labelled ‘from concentrate’ goes through an extra process where the fresh juice is dehydrated, packaged for transport and then mixed with water.

Choose 100% fruit juice (with pulp), and limit to max. 150 ml in one day.

Fermentation

Fermentation is the breakdown of sugars by bacteria, yeasts or other microorganisms under anaerobic conditions. This means, no oxygen is needed for the process to take place (apart from oxygen present in sugar). Fermentation is used in the production of alcoholic beverages such as wine, beer, and cider, and in the preservation of foods such as sauerkraut, dry sausages, and yoghurt, but also for raising dough in bread production.

Freezing reduces food temperatures to below 0 oC to slow the loss of nutrients and prevent food spoilage, particularly when frozen soon after harvest. The process can be used to preserve the majority of foods including fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and ready meals. Do you know the steps needed to produce frozen peas? Check them out here !

Frozen vegetables provide a convenient way to help reach 5-a-day. Pre-prepared foods with a long shelf life can also be useful for people with limited time or food preparation skills.

Modified atmosphere packaging

During modified atmosphere packaging, air inside a package is substituted by a protective gas mix, often including oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen – gases that are also present in the air we breathe. They help to extend the shelf life of fresh food products - usually of fruits, vegetables, meat and meat products, and seafood.

Pasteurisation

Pasteurisation involves heating foods and then quickly cooling them down to kill microorganisms. For example, raw milk may contain harmful bacteria that cause foodborne illnesses. Boiling it (at home) or pasteurising (on a large scale) is crucial to ensure it is safe to consume. Apart from dairy products, pasteurisation is widely used in preservation of canned foods, juices and alcoholic beverages.

Smoking is a process of heat and chemical treatment of food to help preserve it by exposing it to smoke from burning material such as wood. Smoked foods usually include types of meat, sausages, fish or cheese.

Food additives play an important role in preserving the freshness, safety, taste, appearance and texture of processed foods. Food additives are added for particular purposes, whether to ensure food safety, or to maintain food quality during the shelf-life of a product. For example, antioxidants prevent fats and oils from becoming rancid, while preservatives prevent or reduce the growth of microbes (e.g. mould on bread). Emulsifiers are used for instance in improving the texture of mayonnaise, or stopping salad dressings from separating into oil and water. All food additives undergo a rigorous scientific safety evaluation before they can be approved for use. The safety of food additives is regularly evaluated by the European Food Safety Authority to ensure that any newly generated scientific evidence is taken into account, and if needed, measures are taken to protect consumers.

Pulsed electric fields technology

Pulsed electric fields (PEF) technology is an innovative mild food preservation technique that involves the use of short electricity pulses to destroy harmful bacteria in liquid products (e.g., juice, milk, smoothies, purees) and extends their shelf life while minimally affecting their fresh character. PEF technology is used and tested for different goals, such as to preserve juice or as pre-treatment before drying to enhance releasing water from fruit.

Compared to classical heat pasteurisation, benefits of PEF technology include a higher food quality and nutritional value, extended shelf life, preservation of the natural way of the product without the need to add preservatives, and a lower energy use.

Why is food processing important ?

Food processing methods can sometimes be considered essential, for example, for making food edible and safe to eat, making seasonal produce available all year, improving shelf-life and reducing food waste, preventing deficiencies through fortification, and producing products for special dietary or sustainability needs (e.g., gluten-free or plant-based alternatives). 1 Food processing can also cause some fibre and vitamins and minerals to be lost, for example, through excessive refining or heating. Research on the impact of different types and combinations of food processing on both foods and our health is still under investigation.

With so many ways available to process food , and combine ingredients, the resulting products can be very different. Products can contain different ingredients, such as fruits or vegetables, or wholegrains, and added ingredients such as fat, sugar, or salt. Compare the food labels and check your national food guidelines for more information or suggestions on how to include these products in a healthy and sustainable diet. Some products contain high levels of saturated fat, added sugar or salt, are calorie dense, and may contain less fibre, and are therefore best consumed only occasionally. When cooking at home, be mindful to limit added sugar, salt, and saturated fats.

Food processing is an integral part of our daily lives, transforming raw ingredients into the diverse array of foods we eat. From traditional methods like canning and freezing to modern innovations such as pulsed electric fields technology, each process plays a role in making food edible, safe, accessible, and convenient. However, food processing can also cause nutrient losses (e.g., fibre, vitamin C) or includes the addition of excess saturated fat, added sugar or salt, making the final product more calorie dense and better part of an occasional treat. Ongoing research continues to unravel the intricate connections between processed foods and health. As consumers, understanding  food labels and adhering to national dietary guidelines can help us make informed choices for a healthy and sustainable diet.

• Sadler C et al. (2021) Processed food classification: Conceptualisation and challenges. Trends in Food Science and Technology 112:149.
• Floros, J. D., Newsome, R., Fisher, W., Barbosa‐Cánovas, G. V., Chen, H., Dunne, C. P., ... & Ziegler, G. R. (2010). Feeding the world today and tomorrow: the importance of food science and technology: an IFT scientific review. Comprehensive Reviews in
• Miller, S. R., & Knudson, W. A. (2014). Nutrition and cost comparisons of select canned, frozen, and fresh fruits and vegetables. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 8(6), 430-437.

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• Review Article
• Published: 19 May 2020

Crop biotechnology and the future of food

• Michael A. Steinwand 1 &
• Pamela C. Ronald   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4107-1345 1 , 2 , 3  

Nature Food volume  1 ,  pages 273–283 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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• Agriculture
• Molecular engineering in plants
• Plant biotechnology
• Plant breeding
• Plant molecular biology

The global population continues to rise, as does the likelihood of reduced yields of major food crops due to the changing climate, thus making the development of genetically improved, stress-resilient crops a research priority. The convergence of low-cost genome sequencing with improved computational power and high-throughput molecular phenotyping technologies has accelerated the identification of genes underlying important agronomic traits relevant to food production and quality. Here, we discuss the evolution of plant improvement, and how researchers leverage genomic analyses and revolutionary new plant breeding technologies like site-directed nucleases to enhance food crop traits through agricultural biotechnology. Deployment of these products from the laboratory to the field remains hindered by biological and regulatory bottlenecks that require further development.

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Acknowledgements

We apologize to those authors whose research could not be cited due to space limits. We thank H. Bartram for a careful reading of the manuscript. M.A.S. was supported by the Corteva Agriscience Open Innovation programme grant entitled “Gene Editing for Organic Agriculture.” P.C.R. was supported by grants from the US National Science Foundation (award no. 1237975), the Crary Social Ecology Fund, the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (award no. 534683) and the National Institutes of Health (GM122968).

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Steinwand, M.A., Ronald, P.C. Crop biotechnology and the future of food. Nat Food 1 , 273–283 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-0072-3

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14.4 The Globalization of Food

Learning outcomes.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Describe the impacts of globalization on food and food diversity.
• Define food deserts and food oases.

Globalization of Food

Most people, when they think about food, consider it a local, individual choice based on personal preferences and economic possibilities. But food is a global commodity marketed by transnational corporations, health institutes, advertising campaigns, and subtle and not-so-subtle cultural messaging through global media such as movies, television, and online video. Most often, what people choose to eat is based on underlying structures that determine availability and cost. While there are now hothouse businesses growing year-round fruits and vegetables, affordability often prohibits everyone from having access to fresh, ripe foods. Instead, mainstream grocery stores most often stock foods imported across long distances. Most fruits and vegetables sold in the grocery store were harvested unripe (and often tasteless) so that they would last the days and weeks between harvesting and purchase.

In her work on food and globalization, anthropologist and food studies specialist Lynne Phillips points out the “crooked pathways” (2006, 38) that food takes to become a global commodity. Increasingly affected by transnational corporations, food today is marketed for endlessly higher profits. Food no longer goes simply from producer to consumer. There are many turns along the way.

Food globalization has numerous effects on our daily lives:

• The food chains from producers to consumers are increasingly fragile as a small number of transnational corporations provide the basic foods that we eat daily. Failures in this food chain might come from contamination during production or breaks in the supply chain due to climate crises, tariffs, or trade negotiations between countries. Our dependence on global food chains makes the food supply to our communities more vulnerable to disruption and scarcity.
• Our food cultures are less diverse and tend to revolve around a limited number of mass-produced meats or grains. With the loss of diversity, there is an accompanying loss not only of food knowledge but also of nutrition.
• As foods become more globalized, we are increasingly dependent on food additives to enhance the appearance and taste of foods and to ensure their preservation during the long journey from factory farm to table. We are also increasingly exposed to steroids, antibiotics, and other medicines in the meat we eat. This exposure poses health risks to large numbers of people.
• As plants and animals are subjected to ever more sophisticated forms of genetic engineering, there is an increasing monopoly on basic food items, allowing transnational companies to affect regulatory controls on food safety. As corporate laboratories develop patented seeds (such as the Monsanto Corporation’s genetically engineered corn) that are super-producers and able to withstand challenges such as harsh climate conditions and disease, growers become dependent on the seed sold by these corporations. No longer able to save seed from year to year, growers have little choice but to pay whatever price these corporations choose to charge for their genetic material.
• Factory farming of all types, but especially large-scale animal farms, are major contributors to global warming. Not only do they produce large amounts of water and air pollution and contribute to worldwide deforestation, but as more and more forest is turned into pasture, the sheer number of livestock contributes significant levels of greenhouse gases that lead to global warming. Worldwide, livestock account for around 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions (Quinton 2019).

Food has long been an international commodity, even during the 17th and 18th centuries, when traders sought spice and trade routes connecting Europe and Asia. Today, however, food has become transnational, with production sometimes spanning many different countries and fresh and processed foods moving long distances from their original harvest or production. Because these migrating foods must be harvested early or packaged with preservatives that we may not know or even be able to pronounce, there has been a parallel development in local food movements, organic food movements, and farm-to-table establishments as people see the dangers of food globalization. In the very popular The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006), American author and food journalist Michael Pollan advocates that people should know the identity of the foods they eat and should make every effort to eat locally sourced products. Shortly after the book’s publication, chef and author Jessica Prentice coined the term locavore to refer to those who eat locally and know the origins of their foods. In 2007, locavore was chosen as the New Oxford American Dictionary word of the year.

Food Deserts and Oases

Worldwide, access to nutritious and affordable foods is growing increasingly unequal. Areas with inadequate or unreliable access to nutritious foods are sometimes called food deserts . Food deserts present serious challenges to health and wellness in multiple ways and have been linked to eating disorders, obesity, and malnutrition. In Western nations, food deserts frequently correspond to other areas of social inequality, such as low-income and minority communities. Reduced availability of healthy and economical food often exacerbates many of the challenges these communities face.

As the world population continues to grow ( currently at around 7.9 billion people ), climate change accelerates, and food production becomes more and more concentrated in the hands of a few corporations, access to food will become increasingly critical to our survival. The story of progress embraced by Western society tells us that globalization and agricultural developments have stabilized and secured our food chains, but anthropological studies of foragers suggest otherwise. Agricultural production is tied to access to arable land, clean water, stable climate, and a reliable workforce. Periodically, crops (and animals) fail due to disease, drought, and even disruption from warfare and extreme weather, leading to scarcity and famine in many parts of the world. In addition, as families and communities produce less and less of their own food and become more and more dependent on intermediaries to gain access to food, their vulnerabilities increase. While there are many differences between state societies and foragers, there are valuable lessons we can learn from them. Foragers, facing the same unstable conditions that we all face worldwide, have a more varied and flexible diet and are able to adjust their needs seasonally based on local availability. They eat locally, and they adjust their needs to what is available.

There are also food oases , areas that have high access to supermarkets and fresh foods, and these are growing in number. Some are in urban or suburban areas, and some are in rural areas where sustainable farming supports a local community or restaurant. In Harrodsburg, Kentucky, the Trustees’ Table serves food from the nearby Pleasant Hill Shaker gardens. Visitors to the Shaker site, a historic cloistered religious community, learn about the Shaker seed industry, plant varieties, and sustainable gardening techniques at Shaker Farm, then walk down to the Trustees’ Table to have a farm-to-table meal. The seasonal menu features local Kentucky dishes that would have been common fare during the period of Shaker occupation (1805–1910), such as garlic potatoes, warm or cold salads, vegetable pot pies, and apple pie. By utilizing the foods raised in the nearby gardens, the Trustees’ Table serves as a legacy restaurant that helps preserve and sustain Shaker research and farming on-site.

In Richmond, Virginia, an organization called Real Local RVA was founded in 2014 as a grassroots local food movement to support businesses and residential areas in the downtown area of the city. It expresses its core value as “collaboration over competition.” The group sponsors monthly meetings, local farm tours, and community events highlighting businesses and prominent figures in the local food movement. The participants are all farmers, independent grocers, or local restaurants that source local ingredients and products as part of their mission. Besides advocating for small farms and independent businesses, Real Local RVA also sponsors workshops and education on sustainable farming, does joint marketing and “storytelling” about its partnership and the values of local food networks, and provide a recognizable brand to identify participating members for the wider urban community.

Although local food movements are increasingly popular, most still primarily operate in more affluent areas. As we develop more of these healthy initiatives, we also must expand the zones in which they operate, especially in cities, to include all of our neighbors and neighborhoods. Food and sociality go hand in hand. As Michael Pollan writes, “The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fueling the body to a ritual of family and community, from mere animal biology to an act of culture” (2008, 192).

The study of food in anthropology is important for many reasons. Food reveals cultural identities and physical vulnerabilities, and it helps build social networks and mark important life events. How often eating is prescribed, what foods are considered appropriate, who cooks, who serves whom, and what foods are most and least valued all vary across cultures. As anthropologists seek to understand human cultures, food is often a centerpiece ingredient in knowing who we are.

Mini-Fieldwork Activity

Food memories.

Food plays an important role in long-term memory, as it is linked to smell, taste, and texture and often is a central feature of social functions, whether they be family dinners or holiday feasts. In this project, you will interview two individuals who are likely to have different food memories than you; they may be older, they may be living in a different part of the country (or world), or they may have lived part of their lives in a specific environment (rural or urban) that is different from yours. Ask each person to share with you stories about special holiday meals prepared and served as part of their family life, whether as a child or an adult. What foods do they most identify with specific holidays? How did they prepare and consume those foods? Were there specific gender roles during the preparation and holiday meals? After collecting and writing up what you have learned, what conclusions can you make about the role of food in human social and cultural life?

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shifting agriculture

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shifting agriculture , system of cultivation that preserves soil fertility by plot (field) rotation, as distinct from crop rotation . In shifting agriculture a plot of land is cleared and cultivated for a short period of time; then it is abandoned and allowed to revert to its natural vegetation while the cultivator moves on to another plot. The period of cultivation is usually terminated when the soil shows signs of exhaustion or, more commonly, when the field is overrun by weeds. The length of time that a field is cultivated is usually shorter than the period over which the land is allowed to regenerate by lying fallow.

One land-clearing system of shifting agriculture is the slash-and-burn method, which leaves only stumps and large trees in the field after the standing vegetation has been cut down and burned, its ashes enriching the soil. Cultivation of the earth after clearing is usually accomplished by hoe or digging stick and not by plow .

Shifting agriculture has frequently been attacked in principle because it degrades the fertility of forestlands of tropical regions. Nevertheless, shifting agriculture is an adaptation to tropical soil conditions in regions where long-term, continued cultivation of the same field, without advanced techniques of soil conservation and the use of fertilizers, would be extremely detrimental to the fertility of the land. In such environments it may be preferable to cultivate a field for a short period and then abandon it before the soil is completely exhausted of nutrients. See also slash-and-burn agriculture .

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Integrated nutrient management of fruits, vegetables, and crops through the use of biostimulants, soilless cultivation, and traditional and modern approaches—a mini review.

1. Introduction

2. conceptual basis and principles of inm, 3. progress of inm technology in fruits, vegetables, and crops, 3.1. biostimulants, 3.2. nutrient management and soilless cultivation systems, 3.2.1. hydroponics.

• Macronutrients: Carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) are available in nature/the atmosphere. Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and sulfur (S) are required in large quantities.
• Micronutrients: Manganese (Mg), boron (B), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), molybdenum (Mo), chlorine (Cl), nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), sodium (Na), and silicon (Si) are required in very small quantities.

3.2.2. Aeroponics

3.2.3. aquaponics, 3.3. inm effects on the performance of fruits and vegetables, inm effects on the performance of tomato, 3.4. inm effects on the performance of field crops, 3.4.1. inm effects on the performance of rice, 3.4.2. inm effects on the performance of wheat, 3.4.3. inm effects on the performance of different crops, 4. potential constraints in inm, 5. conclusions and future perspectives on inm, author contributions, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Ali, A.; Niu, G.; Masabni, J.; Ferrante, A.; Cocetta, G. Integrated Nutrient Management of Fruits, Vegetables, and Crops through the Use of Biostimulants, Soilless Cultivation, and Traditional and Modern Approaches—A Mini Review. Agriculture 2024 , 14 , 1330. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14081330

Ali A, Niu G, Masabni J, Ferrante A, Cocetta G. Integrated Nutrient Management of Fruits, Vegetables, and Crops through the Use of Biostimulants, Soilless Cultivation, and Traditional and Modern Approaches—A Mini Review. Agriculture . 2024; 14(8):1330. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14081330

Ali, Awais, Genhua Niu, Joseph Masabni, Antonio Ferrante, and Giacomo Cocetta. 2024. "Integrated Nutrient Management of Fruits, Vegetables, and Crops through the Use of Biostimulants, Soilless Cultivation, and Traditional and Modern Approaches—A Mini Review" Agriculture 14, no. 8: 1330. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14081330

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Writing on Preservation and Distribution of Food Essay (Article)

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

The world today is facing a significant increase in population thus the inability to provide an adequate diet for the expanding population, due to improper distribution of food. A food essay on food preservation is important to address this issue. In this food essay, I will address fundamental requirements a writer can consider.

When writing food preservation essays an individual is required to address several key points. These help to extensively tackle the given food essay topic.

The key points are:

• Provide information on the different types of foods available globally and their importance to the community in the food preservation essay. This is because the methods used in food preservation differ depending on the food to be preserved and the duration of preservation.
• The food essay should tackle the problems associated with food, for example, food spoilage, the causes of these spoilages and their long term solutions. Such a food essay can help create awareness on the subject in the community.
• To address the several different methods used in food preservation in the food essay and the effects of preservation on food appearance, taste and its quality.
• How food preservation affects our health, in terms of nutrition.

Researching a little on the subject is advisable for the food essay to be relevant, credible, and to be taken seriously by the readers. Food preservation being a subject affecting all ages, use of simple language and a broad explanation of the subject is crucial. There are several sources of information a writer can use to come up with a good report on the given food essay.

Therefore, addressing preservation as a food essay can help reduce post-harvest wastage and improve the food condition in the world.

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IvyPanda. (2021, November 26). Writing on Preservation and Distribution of Food. https://ivypanda.com/essays/food-essay-writing-on-preservation/

"Writing on Preservation and Distribution of Food." IvyPanda , 26 Nov. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/food-essay-writing-on-preservation/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'Writing on Preservation and Distribution of Food'. 26 November.

IvyPanda . 2021. "Writing on Preservation and Distribution of Food." November 26, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/food-essay-writing-on-preservation/.

1. IvyPanda . "Writing on Preservation and Distribution of Food." November 26, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/food-essay-writing-on-preservation/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Writing on Preservation and Distribution of Food." November 26, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/food-essay-writing-on-preservation/.