Animal products like beef and lamb are major drivers of greenhouse gas emissions, while the feed required to sustain these livestock also drains limited land and freshwater resources. Deforestation, alongside biodiversity and habitat loss, is a direct consequence of agricultural practices as well, according to Sustainable Fisheries UW, part of the University of Washington.

Improvements in farming practices, developing technology, or new seafood or plant-based diets all pose alternatives that could be friendlier for the planet. In the process, researchers are looking into the trade-offs involved in such a switch and what would convince the average person to take the leap in the first place.

Read More: Climate Change Threatens Global Milk Supply, Even On Cooled Dairy Farms

Environmental Costs of Environmentally Friendly Foods

Aquaculture is the controlled breeding and harvesting of organisms in water environments, according to the National Ocean Service, and can be used to both restore habitats and contribute to replenishing previously endangered populations. Moreover, seafood emits markedly less carbon compared to conventional land animals, with most of the emissions deriving from the fuel used in the transportation or fishing process.

Meanwhile, plant products such as nuts and legumes also have a lower environmental footprint. Bacteria in the roots of legumes reduce the need for nitrogen fertilizer, while tree nuts can cut through the carbon in the air, according to a study in Nutrients.

Even sustainable alternatives, however, have their own trade-offs. Researchers at Our World in Data have found that nuts require more than 4,000 liters of freshwater per kilogram of product, which surpasses even beef herds. A 2018 study published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment found that the energy required for livestock production was less than that needed for aquaculture, with farmed catfish, shrimp, and tilapia being more energy-intensive than pork, for example.

Still, by most counts, meat and dairy products still have these alternatives beat in carbon and environmental footprints. When it comes to changing policy for a healthier route, however, part of the impetus lies not in federal regulations, but also in the average grocery shopper.

“A lot of the work on sustainable agriculture focuses on what the government can do to support farmers to adopt something, and that is good for the transition,” Shadi Atallah, associate professor in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, told Discover. “But we cannot rely on government support for the longer term, which is where the importance of consumer studies comes into [play].”

Consumer Behavior Impacts Sustainability, Too

Consumer choices can start with the decision to forgo beef in favor of seafood, or with the adoption of more plant-based alternatives at dinner.

Atallah studies the influence of information on how consumers choose their products. He has previously participated in research under the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, investigating how alternative syrups might improve forest resiliency in the maple syrup industry.

Atallah looked into how telling consumers about the environmental benefits of their alternative choices impacted their willingness to go for non-maple syrup. In this case, the researchers found consumers were open to alternatives when provided with information about the ecological advantages of diversification.

Likewise, Atallah is currently conducting a similar preprint study on the kinds of concessions consumers are willing to make on their groceries — namely, lettuce — and at what prices. Lettuce farmed through hydroponics or aquaponics costs extra in cents and energy use. So far, among reduced nitrogen fertilizer, land use, and water use, the latter has emerged as a key factor, making consumers willing to put aside higher energy and price costs in favor of sustainable production.

Consumer studies like this, Atallah explained, can clue producers into what the average person is willing to pay more for.

“It provides information, both for the private sector who might voluntarily want to provide information, and for policymakers who are considering that kind of labeling to become mandatory, so consumers know the impacts of their choices,” he said to Discover.

What Kinds Of Agriculture Are Sustainable?

Various researchers are looking into farming techniques that would require less land, fertilizer, and water. Hydroponic farming, for example, requires no soil, only nutrient-rich solutions. Aquaponics takes those basic principles, but combines them with simultaneous fish rearing, utilizing the fish waste as a nutrient source for plants.

“There’s an interesting side to it. People are now looking into investing in renewable energy systems to run these systems,” Jawad Khan, co-author and environmental economist at UIUC, told Discover. “If you are installing an aquaponic or hydroponic system, you would use, let’s say, solar grids or energy which are coming from renewable sources. If you come up with those systems, they would reduce all the footprints caused by the high energy use.”

Researchers have also posited regenerative agriculture as another farming technique that can reduce ecological impacts, according to a study in Frontiers. This is farming that minimizes synthetic agrichemicals while integrating components like livestock, ground covers, and composts to uphold soil health.

The Challenges of Sustainability

The big move to sustainable agriculture requires many moving parts: funding, incentivization, and even technological skills.

Regarding hydroponic or aquaponic techniques, for example, Khan told Discover, “It’s not like a typical person is just going and starting these things. You need, first of all, the skills. And this is a new technology that people are still looking into, and they are seeing if they can do it or not.”

But the greatest barrier to widespread adoption, Atallah said, is economic.

“Unless a farmer is environmentally motivated, they are not going to adopt sustainable practices because they’re environmentally sustainable, as long as it has not been proven to be economically sustainable as well,” he said. “The economics of sustainable practices is the bottleneck.”

There isn’t one solution to economically viable sustainability, Atallah told Discover. This might look like breeding more resilient crop varieties or developing resources such as semi-autonomous robots that can weed without herbicides.

The good news is, however, that consumers seem to be willing to foot the bill when they know where their food comes from.

“There is consumer care about the reduction of negative environmental footprints. It shows that there is a demand for all these things,” Khan said to Discover. “Now knowing the demand, it will be on the producers’ side to adopt these technologies or not. Once this information is out there, this information asymmetry will be reduced.”

Read More: Manure Makeover: How Cow Dung Could Be the Future of Sustainable Manufacturing

Article Sources

Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:

• This article references information from Sustainable Fisheries UW: The Environmental Impact of Food
• This article references information from the National Ocean Service: What is aquaculture?
• This article references information from a study published in Nutrients: Legumes: A Vehicle for Transition to Sustainability
• This article references information from Our World In Data: Environmental Impacts of Food Production
• This article references information from New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station: Alternative Syrups: What Are They and How Can They Improve Resiliency of Maple Syrup Industry?
• This article references information from a study published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment: The environmental cost of animal source foods
• This article references information from a study published in Frontiers: Regenerative Almond Production Systems Improve Soil Health, Biodiversity, and Profit