Half of the UK’s annual wheat harvest – equivalent to 11 billion loaves of bread – is used to feed livestock, an “inherently inefficient” process that exacerbates climate change, WWF report reveal.
The report shows the extent of farmland used to grow crops that feed animals rather than humans. It explores the human, climate and nature benefits to people, climate and nature of using more of the UK’s arable land to grow crops for human consumption, such as addressing the climate and nature crisis and increasing the UK’s food resilience.
WWF latest report The future of feed The series highlights the fact that while livestock and their feed account for 85% of the country’s agricultural land use, dairy and meat products provide only 32% of the calories and less than half of the protein consumed in the UK.
Habitat
Growing crops such as grains to feed farm animals accounts for a significant portion of the land use footprint, according to the analysis in the report.
In the UK, wheat and barley grown for livestock use 2 million hectares – 40% of the UK’s arable land.
The wheat grown in the UK to feed livestock – mainly chickens and pigs – accounts for half of our annual wheat harvest, enough to produce nearly 11 billion loaves of bread.
The oats grown in the UK to feed livestock account for a third of our annual oat harvest, enough to produce nearly 6 billion bowls of porridge.
The UK imports large quantities of soybeans to feed pigs and poultry, exacerbating the destruction of precious habitats overseas, such as the Brazilian Cerrado.
Affordable
Replacing animal feed such as soybeans and grains with alternatives such as grass, by-products from the food supply chain, and innovative feed ingredients such as insect meal will free up land to grow food for people, including high-value crops such as fruits, vegetables and vegetables. nuts, and may be central to the transition to nature-friendly regenerative agriculture.
The report acknowledges that this method of feeding farm animals will require reducing the UK’s total livestock population.
Kate Norgrove, executive director of advocacy and campaigns at WWF, said: “We can no longer be locked into a food system that is not fit for purpose, with skyrocketing food prices.
“Too much of the food we eat is produced in a way that contributes to the climate crisis and causes catastrophic loss of nature, yet fails to provide affordable and healthy food for all.
biodiversity
“To make our food system truly resilient, we need to accelerate the transition to sustainable production, including rethinking the way we use vast amounts of the UK’s most productive land to grow food for livestock rather than humans.
She added: “The UK government can transform our landscape by increasing support for farmers, creating spaces for nature in farms and forests, fields and swamps, so that our food can be future-proofed, while bringing benefits to nature and the climate. Huge benefit.”
Focusing solely on the carbon footprint of food production may contribute to agricultural intensification and mask other negative environmental impacts, such as pollution from slurries used in chicken farming for feed production or land conversion, which may have a lower carbon footprint compared to pasture-raised beef, report status.
It also highlights the importance of studying wider measures to assess the environmental impacts of all aspects of food production, taking into account pressures on land, water and biodiversity before drawing conclusions.
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Brendan Montague is the editor ecologist. This article is based on a WWF press release.
