Our global food system is surrounded by a paradox: we have never eaten as much meat as today and yet, from an energy point of view, it is cruelly inefficient to produce it. An observation that also applies to eggs and dairy products.
It is a team of Norwegian, Austrian and Swiss researchers who have just put their finger on this problem and precisely quantify this imbalance. Their study was published a month ago; December 17 exactly; In PNAS Nexus. A relatively recent online scientific journal, which entered the research landscape in 2022. It is the result of a collaboration between several prestigious institutions, including the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the Oxford University Press, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine.
The hidden side of our plate: excessive energy consumption
First point raised by the work carried out by the team of Professor Edgar Hertwich at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU): the asymmetry in the production of our food system. Analysis of data collected between 2015 and 2019 reveals that animal products eat up almost 60% of the global agricultural energy footprint. This colossal proportion contrasts violently with their nutritional contribution: these same foods provide only 18% of the calories consumed by humanity.
In question, the process of transformation, as explained by Professor Hertwich, which is at the heart of this paradox. We first cultivate edible plants to feed animals which will only return a paltry fraction in the form of food calories. This conversion, essentially fueled by fossil fuels, necessarily poses the question of the long-term viability of this production model.
Alternatives are being explored today, but they are still in an embryonic state : 3D printed meat (the company Cocuus or Steakholder Foods) or consumption of insects. However, the transition to these new sources of protein will require a profound adaptation of our eating habits and our production systems.
Global inequalities in food energy efficiency
To quantify this reality, the researchers relied on a methodology combining two complementary analysis models. The EXIOBASE model made it possible to assess the energy consumption of different economic sectors, while FABIO provided detailed data on food production, trade and consumption.
This approach, applied to 123 products grouped into 10 categories and 20 global regions, made it possible to calculate a ratio between energy invested / energy produced. The results are, at first glance, quite positive since they noted a clear improvement on a global scale. Between 1995 and 2019, this ratio increased from 0.68 to 0.91.
This means that in 1995, to produce one unit of food energy in the form of meat, it was necessary to invest 1/0.68 = 1.47 units of energy. In other words, we spent almost 50% more energy than we recovered. In 2019, it was necessary to invest 1/0.91 or 1.10 units of energy, so there is progress.
However, even if the figures are encouraging, they mask considerable geographical disparities. The least industrialized regions, notably West Africa with a remarkable coefficient of 2.70, demonstrate greater energy efficiency. These areas, which are home to 68% of the world’s population, maintain more energy-efficient food systems than their counterparts in industrialized countries.
The perilous interconnection between food and energy geopolitics
This production system, as we have built it, eminently dependent on gas and oil, suffers from a worrying systemic vulnerability. Recent history provides clear illustrations of this: from the oil crisis of the 1970s to the repercussions of the Ukrainian conflict, geopolitical upheavals cause simultaneous shock waves on the energy and food markets.
A close correlation, underlined by Rasul and his colleagues, which fundamentally transforms the problem of food security into an issue of energy security. In developed countries, the apparent improvement in energy efficiency could hide a more complex phenomenon: a simple shift in production towards more efficient regions, via food imports.
This phenomenon is often called “ relocation of pollution ” Or ” carbon leak “. Developed countries import a growing share of their food products, particularly agricultural products requiring a large amount of water and energy for their production (such as soya, beef or palm oil). These products are frequently grown in developing countries where production costs are lowerthanks in part to lower energy prices.
The production of these foods in countries with environmental standards, sometimes less strict, allows, ultimately, to externalize the environmental costs associated with production (deforestation, water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions).
A problem that was once perceived as a purely agricultural issue is now found closely linked to the energy issue. We cannot characterize our mode of food production as being resilientit’s even completely the opposite, he is extremely vulnerable and exposes us to multiple risks. Exogenous shocks (economic crises, conflicts, new pandemics, extreme climatic events), environmental changes (climate change, land degradation, loss of biodiversity and pollution) and social vulnerabilities. Ua profound overhaul of it has never been so urgent.
- Global food production consumes a lot of energy, especially for meat, which provides few calories in return.
- Less industrialized areas are more energy efficient, while developed countries externalize their environmental impacts.
- Our food system, dependent on fossil fuels, is vulnerable to geopolitical and climate crises, requiring urgent reform
