How can the environmental impact of food be reduced?
Agroscope has calculated that the environmental impact can be improved if food is imported from countries of origin where agricultural production is particularly environmentally friendly. It is even more effective if food losses and waste are avoided.
Food imports have a significant impact on the environment. If Swiss agriculture reduces its production while consumption remains the same and therefore more has to be imported, the overall environmental impact increases. This is because the better environmental effects within Switzerland often lead to more negative ones in the countries of origin of the imports. This is especially true if the conditions for production in other countries are less favorable than in Switzerland, for example due to water scarcity or deforestation.
Two measures for improvement analyzed
However, there are ways to reduce undesirable environmental impacts of the Swiss basket of agricultural products. Agroscope researchers investigated two measures in more detail:
- First, the choice of specific import source countries where agricultural production is particularly environmentally friendly.
- Second, avoiding food loss and waste along the value chain to consumption, resulting in fewer imports.
In addition to literature research, the researchers used two scenarios to calculate the extent to which the environmental impacts would change as a result of these two measures. The first scenario continues the current ecological performance certificate (ÖLN) and the direct payment system until 2025. The second models a more extensive Swiss agriculture with lower production, in which pesticides are largely dispensed with and animal numbers are smaller than today. In both scenarios, the least favorable 25% of imported products were replaced by alternatives from other countries of origin, and food losses and waste were minimized.
Geographical conditions and laws are important for imports
The study confirms that both measures have a positive impact on the environmental impact of nutrition. However, their effectiveness differs. Optimization of the countries of origin of imports has a positive effect above all on location-dependent environmental impacts. Geographical conditions such as water availability or the extent to which biodiversity is endangered are particularly important. Here, depending on the scenario, pollution can be reduced by 16 to 27%. For other environmental impacts and especially for food of animal origin, this measure has a less significant effect. How environmentally friendly an importing country of origin is is also determined by its legislation. This regulates, among other things, which pesticides may be used.
Less foodwaste always has a positive effect
Avoiding food losses and waste, on the other hand, is a measure that always has a positive effect. It reduces the environmental impact of the Swiss basket of agricultural products by 11 to 38%, in the case of deforestation even by up to 87%, without undesirable side effects. Less foodwaste for animal products reduces the environmental impact more than for plant products. Thus, consumption patterns also have an impact on the environmental impact of our diets.
Politicians and consumers are called upon
The Agroscope study further shows: Even if the two measures are implemented, extensive agriculture with lower domestic production worsens most of the environmental impacts of the Swiss diet. And it is shown that possible improvements depend strongly on the political framework conditions and the behavior of consumers. Avoiding food waste, for example, is possible along the entire value chain: everyone can make a contribution here.
Press release Agroscope
Click here for the study: "Influence of import origins and food losses on the environmental impacts of the Swiss agricultural sector."
