Cargando…

Assessment of the Environmental Impacts of a Localized Food System and Food Waste Reduction in a Water-Scarce Region Using Diet Optimization Models

Despite growing interest in fresh local produce across the United States, scaling up local agricultural development might impose new environmental pressures on increasingly scarce water and land resources in specific localities. Drawing upon the case of the Palouse of the US Inland Northwest, this s...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Liao, Felix Haifeng, Heinse, Robert, Saul, Darin, Newman, Soren, Huang, Li, DePhelps, Colette, Peterson, Steven
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10218037/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37239616
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20105890
_version_ 1785048678516391936
author Liao, Felix Haifeng
Heinse, Robert
Saul, Darin
Newman, Soren
Huang, Li
DePhelps, Colette
Peterson, Steven
author_facet Liao, Felix Haifeng
Heinse, Robert
Saul, Darin
Newman, Soren
Huang, Li
DePhelps, Colette
Peterson, Steven
author_sort Liao, Felix Haifeng
collection PubMed
description Despite growing interest in fresh local produce across the United States, scaling up local agricultural development might impose new environmental pressures on increasingly scarce water and land resources in specific localities. Drawing upon the case of the Palouse of the US Inland Northwest, this study evaluates land and water footprints of local foods along with food waste reduction in a water-scarce region. We used both non-robust and robust diet-optimization techniques to estimate the minimum amounts of irrigation water necessary to grow foods locally and to satisfy the local population’s caloric or nutrition needs. Our modeling results indicate that, on an annual basis, an increase of less than 5% of the current freshwater withdrawal on the Palouse could satisfy 10% of the local population’s aspirational demand for locally grown food products, while more than 35% of local foods (by mass) may be wasted. Furthermore, reducing food waste by 50% could simultaneously reduce water use by up to 24%, cropland use by 13%, and pastureland use by 20%. Our findings not only provide intriguing information for access to local food but could also be used to stimulate new efforts to increase consumers’ and retailers’ awareness of environmental benefits associated with food waste reduction.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10218037
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-102180372023-05-27 Assessment of the Environmental Impacts of a Localized Food System and Food Waste Reduction in a Water-Scarce Region Using Diet Optimization Models Liao, Felix Haifeng Heinse, Robert Saul, Darin Newman, Soren Huang, Li DePhelps, Colette Peterson, Steven Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Despite growing interest in fresh local produce across the United States, scaling up local agricultural development might impose new environmental pressures on increasingly scarce water and land resources in specific localities. Drawing upon the case of the Palouse of the US Inland Northwest, this study evaluates land and water footprints of local foods along with food waste reduction in a water-scarce region. We used both non-robust and robust diet-optimization techniques to estimate the minimum amounts of irrigation water necessary to grow foods locally and to satisfy the local population’s caloric or nutrition needs. Our modeling results indicate that, on an annual basis, an increase of less than 5% of the current freshwater withdrawal on the Palouse could satisfy 10% of the local population’s aspirational demand for locally grown food products, while more than 35% of local foods (by mass) may be wasted. Furthermore, reducing food waste by 50% could simultaneously reduce water use by up to 24%, cropland use by 13%, and pastureland use by 20%. Our findings not only provide intriguing information for access to local food but could also be used to stimulate new efforts to increase consumers’ and retailers’ awareness of environmental benefits associated with food waste reduction. MDPI 2023-05-20 /pmc/articles/PMC10218037/ /pubmed/37239616 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20105890 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Liao, Felix Haifeng
Heinse, Robert
Saul, Darin
Newman, Soren
Huang, Li
DePhelps, Colette
Peterson, Steven
Assessment of the Environmental Impacts of a Localized Food System and Food Waste Reduction in a Water-Scarce Region Using Diet Optimization Models
title Assessment of the Environmental Impacts of a Localized Food System and Food Waste Reduction in a Water-Scarce Region Using Diet Optimization Models
title_full Assessment of the Environmental Impacts of a Localized Food System and Food Waste Reduction in a Water-Scarce Region Using Diet Optimization Models
title_fullStr Assessment of the Environmental Impacts of a Localized Food System and Food Waste Reduction in a Water-Scarce Region Using Diet Optimization Models
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of the Environmental Impacts of a Localized Food System and Food Waste Reduction in a Water-Scarce Region Using Diet Optimization Models
title_short Assessment of the Environmental Impacts of a Localized Food System and Food Waste Reduction in a Water-Scarce Region Using Diet Optimization Models
title_sort assessment of the environmental impacts of a localized food system and food waste reduction in a water-scarce region using diet optimization models
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10218037/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37239616
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20105890
work_keys_str_mv AT liaofelixhaifeng assessmentoftheenvironmentalimpactsofalocalizedfoodsystemandfoodwastereductioninawaterscarceregionusingdietoptimizationmodels
AT heinserobert assessmentoftheenvironmentalimpactsofalocalizedfoodsystemandfoodwastereductioninawaterscarceregionusingdietoptimizationmodels
AT sauldarin assessmentoftheenvironmentalimpactsofalocalizedfoodsystemandfoodwastereductioninawaterscarceregionusingdietoptimizationmodels
AT newmansoren assessmentoftheenvironmentalimpactsofalocalizedfoodsystemandfoodwastereductioninawaterscarceregionusingdietoptimizationmodels
AT huangli assessmentoftheenvironmentalimpactsofalocalizedfoodsystemandfoodwastereductioninawaterscarceregionusingdietoptimizationmodels
AT dephelpscolette assessmentoftheenvironmentalimpactsofalocalizedfoodsystemandfoodwastereductioninawaterscarceregionusingdietoptimizationmodels
AT petersonsteven assessmentoftheenvironmentalimpactsofalocalizedfoodsystemandfoodwastereductioninawaterscarceregionusingdietoptimizationmodels