Energy and protein feed-to-food conversion efficiencies in the US and potential food security gains from dietary changes
Feeding a growing population while minimizing environmental degradation is a global challenge requiring thoroughly rethinking food production and consumption. Dietary choices control food availability and natural resource demands. In particular, reducing or avoiding consumption of low production eff...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2016-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/10/105002 |
| _version_ | 1797748672222461952 |
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| author | A Shepon G Eshel E Noor R Milo |
| author_facet | A Shepon G Eshel E Noor R Milo |
| author_sort | A Shepon |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Feeding a growing population while minimizing environmental degradation is a global challenge requiring thoroughly rethinking food production and consumption. Dietary choices control food availability and natural resource demands. In particular, reducing or avoiding consumption of low production efficiency animal-based products can spare resources that can then yield more food. In quantifying the potential food gains of specific dietary shifts, most earlier research focused on calories, with less attention to other important nutrients, notably protein. Moreover, despite the well-known environmental burdens of livestock, only a handful of national level feed-to-food conversion efficiency estimates of dairy, beef, poultry, pork, and eggs exist. Yet such high level estimates are essential for reducing diet related environmental impacts and identifying optimal food gain paths. Here we quantify caloric and protein conversion efficiencies for US livestock categories. We then use these efficiencies to calculate the food availability gains expected from replacing beef in the US diet with poultry, a more efficient meat, and a plant-based alternative. Averaged over all categories, caloric and protein efficiencies are 7%–8%. At 3% in both metrics, beef is by far the least efficient. We find that reallocating the agricultural land used for beef feed to poultry feed production can meet the caloric and protein demands of ≈120 and ≈140 million additional people consuming the mean American diet, respectively, roughly 40% of current US population. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:08:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0b5b96de1bed4352ba2d472af502edfb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:08:09Z |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-0b5b96de1bed4352ba2d472af502edfb2023-08-09T14:13:26ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262016-01-01111010500210.1088/1748-9326/11/10/105002Energy and protein feed-to-food conversion efficiencies in the US and potential food security gains from dietary changesA Shepon0G Eshel1E Noor2R Milo3Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, IsraelRadcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USAInstitute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zürich, Auguste-Piccard-Hof 1, CH-8093 Zürich, SwitzerlandDepartment of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, IsraelFeeding a growing population while minimizing environmental degradation is a global challenge requiring thoroughly rethinking food production and consumption. Dietary choices control food availability and natural resource demands. In particular, reducing or avoiding consumption of low production efficiency animal-based products can spare resources that can then yield more food. In quantifying the potential food gains of specific dietary shifts, most earlier research focused on calories, with less attention to other important nutrients, notably protein. Moreover, despite the well-known environmental burdens of livestock, only a handful of national level feed-to-food conversion efficiency estimates of dairy, beef, poultry, pork, and eggs exist. Yet such high level estimates are essential for reducing diet related environmental impacts and identifying optimal food gain paths. Here we quantify caloric and protein conversion efficiencies for US livestock categories. We then use these efficiencies to calculate the food availability gains expected from replacing beef in the US diet with poultry, a more efficient meat, and a plant-based alternative. Averaged over all categories, caloric and protein efficiencies are 7%–8%. At 3% in both metrics, beef is by far the least efficient. We find that reallocating the agricultural land used for beef feed to poultry feed production can meet the caloric and protein demands of ≈120 and ≈140 million additional people consuming the mean American diet, respectively, roughly 40% of current US population.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/10/105002livestockfood securitysustainability |
| spellingShingle | A Shepon G Eshel E Noor R Milo Energy and protein feed-to-food conversion efficiencies in the US and potential food security gains from dietary changes Environmental Research Letters livestock food security sustainability |
| title | Energy and protein feed-to-food conversion efficiencies in the US and potential food security gains from dietary changes |
| title_full | Energy and protein feed-to-food conversion efficiencies in the US and potential food security gains from dietary changes |
| title_fullStr | Energy and protein feed-to-food conversion efficiencies in the US and potential food security gains from dietary changes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Energy and protein feed-to-food conversion efficiencies in the US and potential food security gains from dietary changes |
| title_short | Energy and protein feed-to-food conversion efficiencies in the US and potential food security gains from dietary changes |
| title_sort | energy and protein feed to food conversion efficiencies in the us and potential food security gains from dietary changes |
| topic | livestock food security sustainability |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/10/105002 |
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