Abstract

The global impacts of food production Food is produced and processed by millions of farmers and intermediaries globally, with substantial associated environmental costs. Given the heterogeneity of producers, what is the best way to reduce food's environmental impacts? Poore and Nemecek consolidated data on the multiple environmental impacts of ∼38,000 farms producing 40 different agricultural goods around the world in a meta-analysis comparing various types of food production systems. The environmental cost of producing the same goods can be highly variable. However, this heterogeneity creates opportunities to target the small numbers of producers that have the most impact. Science , this issue p. 987

Keywords

BusinessNatural resource economicsAgricultural economicsEnvironmental scienceEconomics

MeSH Terms

Animal FeedAnimalsAquacultureCrop ProductionEnvironmentFeeding BehaviorFoodFood PackagingFood SupplyHumansLivestock

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Publication Info

Year
2018
Type
article
Volume
360
Issue
6392
Pages
987-992
Citations
5095
Access
Closed

Social Impact

Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions

Citation Metrics

5095
OpenAlex
226
Influential
4317
CrossRef

Cite This

Joseph Poore, Thomas Nemecek (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science , 360 (6392) , 987-992. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq0216

Identifiers

DOI
10.1126/science.aaq0216
PMID
29853680

Data Quality

Data completeness: 86%