Page 50 - Farm and Food Policy Strategies for 2040 Series

GHG globally, rather than the livestock sector’s GHG reductions based on per unit of food
production.

Two climate-change fighters, Ceres and FAIRR (Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return),
recently went behind corporate lines and recruited more than 80 jumbo global investors (with
over $6.5 trillion in assets) to jointly send letters in January strong arming fast food giants to set
tough requirements on their meat and dairy product suppliers to slash their greenhouse gas
emissions and water pollution.

The letter — to Domino’s Pizza, McDonald’s, Restaurant Brands International (Burger King),
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Wendy’s Co. and Yum! Brands (KFC, Pizza Hut) — says animal
agriculture is one of the world’s highest-emitting sectors without a low-carbon plan, and the
investors expect the fast food giants to demand specific plans and metrics from their meat and
dairy suppliers and expect an initial response by March 1 on executing such plans.

The letter also suggests damage to the companies’ future profits if they don’t join the
Ceres/FAIRR campaign, saying their suppliers’ environmental impacts “are associated with
increasingly material reputational, operational and market risks for the companies buying and
selling animal protein-based products.”

Count on a long tug of war

Whatever the level of blame thrown at the livestock sector for climate change, the issue surely
feeds what will be a long, escalating debate.

A recent wave crashing on the shores of agricultural sustainability: the first report of the EAT-
Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health, an international team of scientists’ worldwide
recommendations for healthy and sustainable diets. Posted in January, it is a little like the U.S.
Dietary Guidelines (now heading toward a 2020 update). But instead, it is heavily focused on
global eating habits that must change to sustain both the Earth’s food production and
environment.

The Lancet report does recognize that local and regional cultures, established food systems and
environments make livestock a necessity, so future changes must be “carefully considered in
each context and within local and regional realities.”

Nonetheless, the report echoes recommendations by other nutrition groups and environmentalists
in past years and calls for “doubling in the consumption of ... fruits, vegetables, legumes and
nuts, and a greater than 50% reduction in ... added sugars and red meat (i.e. primarily by
reducing excessive consumption in wealthier countries).”

Another analysis addressing human diet needs and food production to 2050 — by University of
Illinois agricultural economist Gerald C. Nelson and others — declares experts are too focused
on agricultural production and instead should concentrate much more on consumption and access
to healthful nutrients, including protein rich foods. With so many millions both starving, on one
hand, and obese on the other, this report says, the greatest need is “increasing availability and
affordability of nutrient-dense foods and improving dietary diversity.”

Ana Islas Ramos, FAO nutrition specialist in Rome, takes a similar view. Humans’ protein needs
are greatest as children. She says breast milk takes care of infants’ protein needs, and she
48 www.Agri-Pulse.com