Sustainable/ Alternative Food Production Case Study

Europe has many approaches to becoming more sustainable with their food

production, one example takes place in Northern Italy where they are becoming more

sustainable in their meat industry. Places in Northern Italy such as Milan, Brescia and

Cremona are creating facilities for their animals that ensure that fewer animals get diseases.

It’s estimated by the World Organisation for Animal Health that at least 20% of livestock

production worldwide is lost due to diseases. These facilities ensure that animals don’t have

to deal with intensive farming conditions that can cause these diseases to develop. In these

facilities, the animals have partially open-air pens and have plenty of space to move around.

The animals also get lots of straw which can help with reducing stress. Conditions inside the

farm are constantly monitored, including the air quality and temperature. Due to the

implementation of these procedures, the head of breeding at one of these facilities proclaims

that they “ have significantly reduced the use of antibiotics.” (Rosmino, 2021) Another

positive of farming with this method, besides an increase in healthy livestock, is that more

people are buying their product due to it being sustainable. Researchers have concluded that

people no longer buy just based on the taste of the product but also on other factors, “such as

the origin of the animal, its living conditions, and the possibility of having a fully tracked

system; that makes a difference on the market.” (Rosmino, 2021). A negative of producing

meat this way is that the final product is more expensive and not everyone can afford to buy

sustainable meat. It also takes a lot of manpower to keep an operation of this magnitude

running.

Another approach to sustainable farming that isn’t just prevalent in Europe is Vertical

Farming. Vertical Farming in theory is a very sustainable farming option, however, in

practice, it leaves something to be desired. Vertical farming as opposed to outdoor farming

allows for less natural gas fertilizer to be used, doesn’t use as much water, takes up much less

space, and doesn’t use pesticides. These are all positives when considering vertical farming

as these are all factors that help us fight climate change. The negative of vertical farming is

the amount of energy it requires. Professionals say that “indoor farms… would require every

megawatt of America’s current renewable energy production to grow just five percent of

America’s tomato crop.” (Grunwald, 2023). This makes vertical farming a much less

appealing option as sunlight is much cheaper than powering all the LED lights it takes to

power just one of these vertical farming facilities.

The Netherlands has become one of the biggest countries when it comes to

sustainable farming. This can be attributed to their greenhouse growing operations. Their

greenhouses can produce 20 times more crop yield compared to an open field located in

Spain and this is while using four times less water. The Netherlands also uses these

greenhouses as a way to test and implement all kinds of ways to optimize growth. They are

also using AI to learn plant behaviour and constantly adjust conditions without the help of a

farmer, something that is incredibly useful considering one of the biggest problems with

sustainable farming is the manpower it requires. A negative of running an operation like this

one is the limited use of land they have. They create large greenhouses and 100% of this

facility isn’t going to be used for farming but they require the areas that aren’t, so it becomes

a problem of land.

I think that potentially all of these sustainable farming methods could be helpful to the

Niagara Region. Despite the issues that vertical farming arises at the moment, I believe that

once renewable energy is a more robust resource vertical farming could be a good option to
explore. Especially since not much is known about this type of farming due to the energy it

takes costing too much to fully invest time to research it. I also believe that sustainable

livestock facilities as well as the greenhouses used in the Netherlands could be helpful to the

Niagara Region. Using similar greenhouses here would cost less water and produce a larger

crop yield than the one currently being produced by some of our open fields and greenhouses.

Finally, a sustainable livestock facility would produce more meat which is helpful as it means

more people will be fed and less livestock will go to waste.

I think that it’s possible to implement the greenhouses from the Netherlands in the

Niagara Region. The region already has many greenhouses for a plethora of crops, I don’t

see why it wouldn’t be possible to upgrade these facilities to be more sustainable or just

construct a new sustainable greenhouse. I believe that adopting this technique would

positively affect culture as if it produces desirable results it may lead to us adopting more

farming techniques from the Netherlands. They are the largest exporter of many different

kinds of produce, so they’re doing something that we could learn from. Environmentally,

these greenhouses are much better for the environment as they use no pesticides, less water

and fewer fertilizers. These greenhouses would also create more jobs for people as they need

a lot of manpower to function properly, which doesn’t affect the large income that

greenhouses like these ones are recorded to make which would help our economy. All these

attributes make me believe that having a greenhouse that emulates the ones located in the

Netherlands could be quite desirable for the Niagara Region.

 Works Cited

Rosmino, C. (2021, April 27). How sustainable farms in Italy are improving animal

welfare. euronews. https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/04/27/feeding-europe-a-look-at-

sustainable-farming-in-italy

Why vertical farming just doesn’t work. (2023, June 28). Canary Media.

https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/food-and-farms/why-vertical-farming-just-doesnt-

work

Freethink. (2019). The Futuristic Farms That Will Feed the World | Freethink | Future

of Food [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfB2sx9uCkI