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Food and Farming Information Sheet

The food and farming industry is estimated to account for 34% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Around one quarter of these come from developed countries (like those in Europe) and the other
three quarters come from developing countries.

Every person must be able to access

enough healthy food. Without this, 9 2024: 8 billion

Global Population in Billions

people may suffer from malnutrition 8
or starve. In many countries the 7 2012: 7 billion

birth rate is increasing and therefore 6

5 1999: 6 billion
the population continues to grow.
4
To provide enough food for the 3 1960: 3 billion
increasing population, around 38% 2 1804: 1 billion
of the world’s land is used 1
for farming.
1700 1800 1900 2000
Year

What Are the Problems?

Impact of Global Warming on Food Production

One effect of climate change is unpredictable weather. When there is less rain, drought occurs. This
means that crops cannot grow and animals die. Extreme rainfall increases flooding. This causes crops
to fail or rot in the flooded fields. If countries cannot grow enough food to feed their populations,
then people may starve.

Some crops are more able to survive droughts and floods, but their seeds are more expensive.
The countries that need these seeds the most may be unable to afford them. Developments in
farming practices and machinery aim to increase food production. However, these can also have
consequences for the environment.

Intensive Farming Methods

Food production from animals can be made more efficient by restricting energy transfers from the
animals to their environment. This can be done by housing large numbers of animals in barns where
their movement is limited and the temperature of their surroundings is controlled. Some people have
ethical concerns about restricting the movement of animals in this way.

Intensive farming is used to meet the high demand for cheaper food because it leads to a greater
output than would be achieved using natural farming methods. However, intensive farming often
creates problems for other communities now and in the future. This cost is not taken into account
when we focus only on the output of intensive farming.

Some animals are also fed high protein diets to increase growth. When animals spend time indoors
instead of grazing, their food needs to be grown somewhere else and brought to them. The crops
used to feed them may be grown where the land is cheaper to buy and farm.

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Half of the crops grown in the UK are used to produce feed for animals. Some grain is also imported
from overseas, where land is cleared of forest to make space for crops. This causes a loss of
biodiversity and contributes to climate change through deforestation. In addition, transporting the
food to the animals releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This contributes to global warming.

Intensively farming lots of the same crop throughout

the year can damage soil health and reduce biodiversity.

Intensive livestock farming increases the risk of diseases

spreading between animals and therefore increases the
need for antibiotics to treat them. It is recommended
that the use of antibiotics in farming is restricted
because excessive use can lead to the emergence of
resistant strains of bacteria, which are harmful to our
health. Tractors for conversion of grasslands into crops, north of
Pierre, South Dakota. © Day’s Edge / WWF-US is licensed
under CC BY
Furthermore, large amounts of methane (a greenhouse
gas) are released by cows as they digest their food. An intensive farm leads to a large amount of
greenhouse gases being produced in a small area. This directly contributes to climate change.

Soil Health
Humans depend on soil. 95% of the food that we eat either grows in soil or eats plants that grow in soil.
Unfortunately, over half of the world’s soils are degraded due to farming and natural processes. We
cannot undo this degradation in a human lifespan, so we
need to protect the remaining soil.

Ploughing, unsuitable agricultural practices, deforestation

and overgrazing are the main ways that humans cause
soil degradation. Degraded soils contain less nutrients,
which can cause half the number of crops to be produced.

Degraded soil stores less carbon and therefore contributes

to increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Soil
degradation also makes ecosystems less stable and
Plough by © Kari Schnellmann is licensed under CC BY
causes a reduction in biodiversity.

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What Are the Solutions?

Agrichemicals
Agroecology promotes farming in natural ways. These
When the soil is poor, farmers need to use expensive
methods encourage farming of local, seasonal foods,
pesticides and fertilisers to increase the yield of crops
which reduces the distance that food needs to be
grown. These chemicals can be washed into local
transported (food miles) and lowers greenhouse gas
waterways, causing them to become polluted.
emissions.
• Nitrogen fertilisers are made by burning fossil fuels.
These practices
Their include:
production releases one of the most harmful
• greenhouse gases. of trees and plants that take
Planting a variety
carbon out of the air and return it to the soil,
• Pesticides do not just target the pests that harm
reducing
crops, but all of the insects in the fields. With fewer A farmer sprays cotton plants with pesticides in Rahim
the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
insects, there is less pollination, and less food for Yar Khan, Punjab, Pakistan by © Asim Hafeez / WWF-UK is
• birds
Grazing
andanimals
animals.outdoors to reduce the need to grow
licensed under CC BY

and import animal feed. Their manure and

grazing benefits soils and wildlife.
Diet
• Growing a wide range of crops, including more fruit, vegetables, nuts and beans.
In developed countries, such as the UK, people’s diets have been changing. People now expect to eat
a variety of different foods and to have them available throughout the year.

Many of these foods cannot be grown in the UK, or are out of season at certain times of year,
so need to be imported from other countries. These countries transport food resources to us,
increasing greenhouse gas emissions. This can leave them without enough food for their own
populations. Only 17% of the fruit and 53% of the vegetables that the UK population consumes are
grown in the UK.

To address the impact that the food and farming industry has on climate change, we need to change
how we farm, the food that we produce and the diet that we eat.

What Are the Solutions?

Agroecology promotes farming in natural ways. These methods encourage farming of local, seasonal
foods, which reduces the distance that food needs to be transported (food miles) and lowers
greenhouse gas emissions.

These practices include:

• Planting a variety of trees and plants that take carbon out of the air and return it to the soil, reducing
the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
• Grazing animals outdoors to reduce the need to grow and import animal feed. Their manure and
grazing benefits soils and wildlife.
• Growing a wide range of crops, including more fruit, vegetables, nuts and beans. This creates a more
natural, biodiverse ecosystem than a farm growing a single crop.

Farmers and communities are in the best place to understand their land and the natural systems
that work there. They can adapt farming techniques to their area to reduce deforestation, protect
wildlife habitats and make sure they earn a fair living. Farmers should have the power to drive
change and be supported to use farming methods that support a healthy climate.

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Glossary
Key Word Definition

agrichemical A chemical used in farming.

agroecology A sustainable method of farming that works with nature.

A drug that helps to cure bacterial disease by killing infective bacteria inside
antibiotic
the body.

antibiotic resistant
Strains of bacteria that are no longer killed by specific antibiotics.
bacteria
The variety of all the different species of organisms on Earth or within an
biodiversity
ecosystem.
A change in the average temperature and cycles of weather over a long
climate change
period of time.

deforestation The process of clearing a large area of trees.

The interaction of a community of living organisms and the non-living parts

ecosystem
of their environment.

fertiliser A chemical that promotes plant growth.

greenhouse gas The release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide and
emissions methane are examples of greenhouse gases.
The lack of a healthy diet, caused by not having enough to eat or not eating
malnutrition
enough of the right nutrients.

pesticide A chemical used to destroy insects or other pests.

soil degradation A decrease in soil quality.

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