Environmental and Climate Impacts of Food Production, Processing, Packaging, and Distribution

• Author: Jason J. Czarnezki and Elisa K. Prescott
• Pages: 113-128

Page 113

Chapter 7

Environmental and Climate Impacts

of Food Production, Processing,

Packaging, and Distribution

Jason J. Cza rnez ki and Elisa K. Prescott

Getting the average mea l from farm to plate in the United States is no sma ll task; a great deal of

energy and material inputs goes into producing, processing , packaging, and distributing food. A

commodity crop like corn, for example, could be cultivated in one state, say a midwestern state

like Iowa, shipped to a processing plant in Tennessee to take on an entirely new form like high fructose

corn syrup, packaged in plastic in Pennsylvania, and nally distributed as ketchup to a supermarket chain

in California. e modern food system is fossil fuel-intensive and often environmentally damaging, mak-

ing the t rue cost of our food much greater than the price we pay at t he supermarket. Only recently have

environmentalists and environmental law scholars focused on the ecological impacts of food choices and

considered how industrial food production has been responsible for signicant greenhouse gases emissions.1

is chapter, focusing on produce and grain,2 discusses the environmental and climate change impacts

of food production, processing, packaging, and distribution, which ultimately contribute to both economic

and social costs.3 e chapter addresses environmental energy costs in the food supply. Figure 7.1 shows,

for example, the signi cant amount of energy used in various aspects of food production, transportation,

and processing.

1. See, e.g., J E. MW, J F 1 (Back Bay Books 2010); J J. C, E E: L, N 

I B (2011).

2. Although the product ion of live stock is a signicant contributor to the carb on footprin t and enviro nment impac ts, it will not be dis -

cussed h ere.

3. At the outset, we must recognize the diculty scientists have had in evaluating the environmental costs of the life-cycle of food, given the food

system’s geographic diusion, the inability to disaggregate all commodity production from food (e.g., ethanol), and the complexity of import

and export systems. Martin C. Heller & Gregory A. Keoleian, Assessing the Sustainability of the U.S. Food System: A Life Cycle Assessment, 76

A. S 1007, 1009 (2003); Karin Anderson & omas Ohlsson, Life Cycle Assessment of Bread Produced on Dierent Scales, 4 I’

J. L C A 25, 25 (1999).

Page 114 Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Law

Figure 7.1

Life-Cycle Energy Use in Supplying U.S. Food4

Note: KJ is a Kil ojoule and TJ is a terajoule. Bot h are measurements of energ y.

Much of this chapter’s focus will be on commodity crops. Along with wheat and rice, corn and soybeans

constitute the world’s most popula r planted and consumed crops.5 e United States is the leading pro-

ducer of corn, growing nearly 40% of the world’s total,6 with more than ha lf of that production coming

from only 20% of U.S. corn growers.7 In 2008 over 85 million acres of corn and more than 75 million acres

of soybeans were planted in the United States,8 and the crops “ have faced increasing demand in t he world

market over the past ten years as t hey are sources of both human and animal food.”9

is chapter illustrates the environmental impacts of the food system. It opens with a discussion of

the industria l food system, exploring both conventional and organic models. It then looks at the carbon

footprint of food production, as well as the environmental impacts of production, specic ally soil, water,

and air pollution. e next section discusses food processing and associated greenhouse gas emissions and

environmental impacts. e chapter then considers the environmental and climate change impacts of

packaging from creation to disposal. e nal section addresses food distribution and the distance food

travels to get to our plates, also known as food miles.

A. Food, Agriculture, and the Environment

ere is a closed-loop relationship between the current agriculture system and the climate crisis. With

changing temperature a nd rainfa ll patterns, climate change may have a dra matic impact on food produc-

tion and agricultural geography. Completing the circle, current agricu ltural practices are fossil fuel-inten-

4. Heller & Keoleian, supra note 3, at 1025.

5. M P  Z W, F S C: E, S  E P 64 (2011). See also

C, supra note 1, at 75-77 (2011).

6. Kimbrell, Andrew, A Blow to the Breadbasket: Industrial Grain Production, in F H: T T  I A 100

(Andrew Kimbrell ed., 2002).

7. Id.

8. Darrel Good, Weekly Outlook: Corn and Soybean Acreage, ACES N (Jan. 20, 2009), http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/news/stories/news4630.html.

9. P  W, supra note 5, at 67.

Agricultural production

Transportation

(raw and processed products

Processing

(food and kindred products)

Packaging material

Food retail

Commercial food service

Household storage and preparation

TOTAL energy consumed

Food energy available for consumption

(equivalent to 15900 KJ

per capita per day)

0 2,000,000 4,000,000 6,000,000 8,000,000 10,000,000 12,000,000

TJ (1012 J) per year