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12h
Justice
“Over half of the people who used to grow crops here can’t do it anymore”
Canyon de Chelly, part of Navajo Nation lands in Arizona, has been suffering from worsening droughts.
Read the Full Article on
newrepublic.com
16 October
Justice
It would cost just $330 billion to end global hunger by 2030
Looking at every intervention available to us, researchers have found the best combination of policies to feed everyone on the planet. And the price tag is quite low.
Read the Full Article on
www.fastcompany.com
15 October
Climate
Can the climate-friendly grain kernza finally hit the big time?
With $10 million in new funding, farmers, researchers, and restaurants aim to bring the perennial grain grown for bread, cereal, beer, and more to the masses.
Read the Full Article on
civileats.com
14 October
Justice
Pittsburgh Food Policy Council working to create a regional food economy that benefits all
The Pittsburgh Food Policy Council's newly-released Greater Pittsburgh Food Action Plan is an attempt to understand our local food system.
Read the Full Article on
www.publicsource.org
13 October
Originals
Exempt from inspection: States ignore lead-contaminated meat in food banks
Food banks in the U.S. are on course for a preventable collision between record-setting food insecurity and lead-contaminated meat.
<p>Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic hardships, <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/for-1-in-7-adults-with-children-household-lacked-sufficient-food-in-last-7-days" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">1 in 7</a> adults with children reported their households lacked sufficient food last month. Reliance on food banks has <a href="https://thecourier.com/news/277371/food-bank-official-facilities-still-see-record-demand/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">surged</a>. Each year, hunters donate over 2 million pounds of hunted meat to food banks across the U.S., providing critical nutrition for families in need. However, most states do not implement a lead-inspection program for the meat, even though most of it has been shot with lead bullets.</p><p>The implications for lead exposure are significant. According to annual lead inspection results that EHN obtained from Minnesota, other state agencies are likely exempting hundreds of thousands of lead-contaminated meals from inspection each year. Recipients include people who may be most at risk to experience health effects from lead, including children and pregnant women. </p>Earlier this year <a href="https://www.ehn.org/lead-ammunition-in-meat-2645108170.html" target="_self">EHN reported</a> on the absence of information for hunters about the health effects of lead, and the lack of recognition that eating lead-shot meat is a risk factor for lead exposure. Now, interviews with multiple state agencies have revealed a similar lack of recognition that lead-shot meat is at risk for lead contamination. Experts say that exempting lead-shot meat from lead inspection is a matter of science denial and environmental injustice.
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUwNjg0OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDgyNTU4Mn0.6Q6oidCuMkvep1XIOt3KEo0RGUuScQwnTTOQ4hdWNo4/img.jpg?width=980" id="75b5e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7c3f9e1c3f7b278d1d8fe331645037bc" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="lead bullets meat" />
Uninspected meat
<p>Each winter, after the last shot of Minnesota's hunting season has been fired, a refrigerated truck distributes hunter-harvested deer meat to food pantries. The driver stops at meat processors throughout the state, picking up packages of frozen venison. Within a week, the truckload is delivered to an X-ray facility, where an assembly line of staff from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) takes over.</p><p>The team unboxes the meat, placing packages on a conveyor belt of an X-ray machine. Inspectors watch for the unmistakable glowing specks of lead, left behind from lead bullets. Contaminated packages are discarded. Meat that passes inspection is loaded back on the refrigerated truck and redistributed to food banks in the region where it was harvested. The X-ray process for more than 10,000 pounds of meat takes approximately 3-5 hours. </p><p>The system works—people in need receive several tons of meat that has been screened for lead contamination.</p><p>According to the state's inspection results obtained by EHN, during the past 6 years, an average of 9 percent of packages were contaminated with lead and discarded. Last year alone, 946 pounds of lead-contaminated meat were prevented from reaching vulnerable people in Minnesota. </p><h3><em>Related: <a href="https://www.ehn.org/lead-ammunition-in-meat-2645108170.html" target="_blank">Lead in hunted meat—who's telling hunters and their families?</a></em></h3><p>The MDA provides meat processors with inspection results from their donated venison, along with suggestions of how to reduce lead contamination. Experts from the MDA have<a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2012/03/07/game-meat-donation-regulation" target="_blank"> testified</a> that before the inspection program was implemented, tests found lead in nearly 25 percent of donated venison samples. </p><p>The volume of venison donated in Minnesota is an order of magnitude lower than many other states, where lead inspection programs are nonexistent. According to the National Rifle Association's (NRA) Hunters for the Hungry initiative, the <a href="https://hfth.nra.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">top 5 states</a> for venison donations are Missouri, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Ohio. The states combined for nearly 1 million pounds of venison donated in 2019—all of it uninspected for lead contamination. </p><p>The majority of deer hunters use lead ammunition, and several variables influence the extent of lead contamination in hunted meat. These include choice of firearms, choice of bullet type, whether a bullet strikes the animal's bones, and whether the resulting meat is ground. Without X-ray inspection or chemical analysis, the extent of lead contamination in donated meat is unknown and can vary from year to year. In addition to Minnesota's ongoing inspection program, past efforts to X-ray samples of donated meat in <a href="https://www.jamestownsun.com/sports/1744064-nd-health-officials-find-lead-processed-venison" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">North Dakota</a>,<a href="https://www.kwqc.com/content/news/TV-6-Investigates-Lead-in-venion-Iowa-health-officials-actions-421225163.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Iowa</a>, and <a href="https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/environmental/venisonandleadhc.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wisconsin</a> have also found lead contamination.</p><p>"I'm really concerned about the amount of venison that's being donated unchecked, understanding that most of the ammunition that is used contains lead. I think it's a serious issue," Na'Taki Osborne Jelks, assistant professor at the Spelman College in <a href="https://www.spelman.edu/academics/majors-and-programs/environmental-and-health-sciences" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Environmental and Health Sciences</a>, told EHN."There should not be meat that is accepted and then distributed to families in need if it has not been screened. Especially given the fact that we know there's perhaps a high probability that some of this meat can be contaminated with lead, which we know to be a neurotoxicant. I'm just kind of blown away by this."</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUwNzYwMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjEwOTIxNH0.sul9RFHZenXTe84ZZbkVseyBB0snNscgbgyfnaFZLSk/img.jpg?width=980" id="63646" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7594e9a4aa0b2b68eac768869fa15a60" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Jennifer Stephes, meat inspection supervisor at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. (Credit: Isabelle Stephes)
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUwNzYwMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2Mjg5Mjc4Mn0.TcZUflclIeugSXb3duolUWNKZDdxo-jen_HhJbWg4_o/img.jpg?width=980" id="ff9fe" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="00ec47c3c89e8c41af767082ffc8c6fa" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Na'Taki Osborne Jelks, assistant professor at the Spelman College in Environmental and Health Sciences. (Credit: James Mills)
<p>There is no safe level of lead in the blood. In 2008, a <a href="https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/environmental/venisonandleadhc.pdf" target="_blank">study</a> in Wisconsin calculated whether the average level of lead detected in donated meat would influence the blood lead levels of children who consume it. They estimated that blood lead levels would rise above 10 micrograms per deciliter (ug/dL) in 80 percent of children who ate two meals of the contaminated meat per month. That level of lead in the blood is associated with a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4046839/" target="_blank">loss of 7 IQ points</a> in children. Even <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30836127/" target="_blank">levels below 5 ug/dL</a> put children at risk for decreased cognitive performance and behavioral problems.</p><p>For pregnant women, a blood lead level of 10 ug/dL has been estimated to nearly quadruple the odds of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10489998/" target="_blank">miscarriage</a>, and to increase the likelihood of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935117306448" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">preeclampsia</a>, a life-threatening high blood pressure condition, by 16 percent.</p><p>Osborne Jelks pointed out that the lack of inspection for lead undermines hunters' contributions. "I've heard of the Hunters for the Hungry program and I know that lots of folks are really proud of those programs. They should be proud for the contributions that folks are making to help alleviate hunger in our country. But we've got to be able to look at whether or not the food that is being supplied to families is safe."</p><p>In 2008, former Minnesota Department of Agriculture assistant commissioner Joe Martin released a statement making a similar case for inspection: "Minnesota sets the bar high when it comes to food safety. The donated venison program must meet the same standards we set for regulated food businesses.''</p><p>Since then, the inspection program has been paid for with the same funds that support the donation program itself.</p><p>"This is a program that is sponsored and funded by the DNR [Department of Natural Resources] here in Minnesota," Jennifer Stephes, the agency's meat inspection supervisor told EHN. "We administer the program, and our staff works on the logistics – the trucking, the distribution, the X-ray. MDA incurs those costs, and then we are reimbursed for that through the DNR."</p><p>The cost to inspect roughly 13,000 pounds of donated venison in 2019 was just over $100,000.</p><p>Minnesota's venison donation program is also unique in discouraging grinding meat during firearms season, because the vast majority of lead contamination has been found in ground venison. Typically, ground meat is the main kind of venison distributed by donation programs.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUwNjg1OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2NTgwOTQxMn0.wzYMYc5abVUdSfwfjdNujZJ7Icb-o_E9q8k3-lF9TeU/img.jpg?width=980" id="9408b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1ea43c2a5087c6cd59fc3b4d5a2db08f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="lead in meat venison" />A computed tomography (CT) image of the glowing fragments of lead in packages of donated meat. (Credit: William Cornatzer)<p>According to Stephes, "Lead is much more likely to be in ground product because grinding it can spread it into multiple packages. Lead is very soft as a metal, so even if there's one piece of lead, the steel grinding equipment can actually fragment the lead and spread it throughout the venison in the grinding process." As a result, processors in Minnesota are instead encouraged to donate cuts including small roasts and loin chops.</p><p>In states where agencies have not developed an inspection program, a lack of regulation of venison at the federal level has resulted in a lack of inspection at the state level.</p><p>The Ohio Department of Agriculture provided EHN with a statement indicating that since venison is not regulated on a federal level, "…it is exempt from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection and the Ohio Department of Agriculture Division of Meat Inspection inspection."</p><p>In Pennsylvania, the Department of Agriculture referred EHN to the USDA, who pointed out that venison is exempt from their inspections. The agency said the issue is instead in the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), who replied, "The FDA is available to our state partners for consultation, but we are not directly involved in establishing state policies for the donation of game meats to food banks."</p><p>The Virginia Department of Health provided EHN with a<a href="https://townhall.virginia.gov/L/GetFile.cfm?File=C:%5CTownHall%5Cdocroot%5CGuidanceDocs%5C601%5CGDoc_VDH_1775_v1.pdf" target="_blank"> Memorandum</a> from 1992 that states, "Venison which has been donated by the Hunters for the Hungry program is exempt from state and federal meat inspection."</p><p>While agencies in Missouri and Iowa have not provided EHN with an explanation of why lead-shot meat in their states is not inspected for lead, meat processors in both states confirmed that the donated meat they process is not required to be X-rayed for lead contamination. In the past, the Iowa Department of Public Health justified accepting uninspected lead-shot meat by pointing out that concerning cases of blood-lead levels in the state's children had no history of being attributed to lead in venison. However, it was<a href="https://www.kwqc.com/content/news/TV-6-Investigates-Lead-in-venion-Iowa-health-officials-actions-421225163.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> revealed</a> that the department had no history of asking families whether they ate hunted meat. Other factors add uncertainty to extrapolations from blood test results. Most children <a href="https://tracking.idph.iowa.gov/Health/Lead-Poisoning/Annual-Blood-Lead-Testing-Children-Under-6/Children-Tested" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tested</a> in Iowa's program are 0-3 years old, and blood-lead levels tested months after eating hunted meat can be deceptively low since the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC333178/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">half-life</a> of lead in the blood is about 30 days.</p><p>In response to questions about accepting lead-shot meat that is not inspected for lead, the Central PA Food Bank responded, "We trust the high standards set by the PA Department of Agriculture and the USDA and will take our cues from them on lead contamination in donated meat."</p><p>Food banks in Missouri, Virginia, Iowa, and Ohio did not respond to EHN's request for comment.</p>
Science denial and the NRA
<p>"Nobody can say that it's ok to distribute meat contaminated with lead – I don't think any official authority can say that. Not even in the U.S. It's a problem," Jon Arnemo, a wildlife veterinarian, professor at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, and a leading expert on lead-hunted meat around the world, told EHN.</p><p>"If you know that someone injected poison into a tomato, you don't want to eat that. Most likely nobody would want to eat that. But that's what's happening when you go hunting with lead," Dr. Arnemo said, adding that the lack of a policy for inspecting lead-shot meat for lead contamination is consistent with science denial pushed by organizations such as the National Rifle Association (NRA).</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUwNjg2My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2Mzc1NTcxNn0.D61Ota_kjnLsmaTsQzpj9WOeLxW_6Oe5RHaO67LJnKc/img.jpg?width=980" id="e4af9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6290bd97bdab6103b6c11eb3556ab51e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Joe Arnemo" />
Jon Arnemo, wildlfe veterinarian and professor at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, transports a moose that he hunted with non-lead ammunition. (Credit: Jon M. Arnemo)
<p>In 2017, the NRA encouraged members to oppose a <a href="https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Downloads/ProposedAmendment/11232" target="_blank">proposed amendment</a> to a <a href="https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2525/Introduced" target="_blank">House Bill</a> under consideration by the Oregon Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. The amendment proposed to deem donated game meat "unfit for human consumption" if it contained visible lead ammunition. The NRA <a href="https://www.nraila.org/articles/20170522/oregon-vote-rescheduled-on-anti-hunting-amendment" target="_blank">claimed</a> the amendment was "anti-hunting", "an attempt to demonize the use of traditional lead ammunition", and said that "the myths surrounding the use of traditional lead ammunition are based on faulty science made by anti-hunting advocates."</p><p>"If you oppose lead ammunition, you are immediately regarded as anti-gun and anti-hunting. I am a hunter. I have been hunting all my life, for more than 45 years. So I'm not anti-gun. I'm not anti-hunting. I'm simply anti-lead because it's poisonous," Dr. Arnemo said.</p><p>The NRA's website, HuntForTruth, claims to debunk the 'myths' about lead in hunted meat. According to Dr. Arnemo, "The statements are unbelievable and parallel arguments used by The Flat Earth Society. There is an overwhelming scientific consensus—a huge majority of the scientific community that agree on the facts here. For lead ammunition, it's a 99 percent consensus – 99 out of 100 papers agree that the use of lead ammunition poses a risk to both humans and wildlife and the environment.To say there's no proof or no problem just denies 1,000 papers published over the past 30-40 years."</p><p>The NRA did not respond to requests for comment.</p><p>Dr. Arnemo said there are numerous peer-reviewed experiments on animals, epidemiological papers on humans, and case reports in human medicine showing that ingestion of lead from ammunition causes increased blood levels. And when it comes to lead, the impacts of exposure cannot be undone. "All the damage you see that lead causes to the nervous system, kidneys, to the cardiovascular system, is permanent. It's not reversible. So even if at some point in time if you completely stop lead exposure, the damage is there forever. You can't reverse it."</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUwNjg3My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNzY4ODc2OX0.KFz_os4ONRkbG1kNhUUKtMgX1IVrjJYKOSEoAzeK3GA/img.jpg?width=980" id="c5530" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a216c6b97a0faf96d5446260d47d48e4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="food bank insecurity coronavirus covid-19" />
Food distribution site set up by the Des Moines Area Religious Council at Carver Elementary School in March 2020. (Credit: Phil Roeder/flickr)
Environmental injustice
<p>Food insecurity has soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Black, Latino, and Native American people are more severely <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/black-and-latino-households-likelier-to-experience-food-insufficiency-during-pandemic-3" target="_blank">impacted</a> than White people. Osborne Jelks emphasized this racial disparity, and said that when people who cannot afford to feed their families are forced to sacrifice food safety, it is a matter of environmental justice.</p><p>"Given what we've seen in other situations where meat has been contaminated, it's an issue of justice with respect to there not being policies in place—with agencies not taking the responsibility for ensuring that this food supply is safe. I think about the families that are perhaps most in need of resources from food banks, I think about communities that are already impacted by a number of different stressors, whether they be environmental stressors in their community or these kind of social stressors inclusive of income, that complicate things and make these communities more vulnerable to environmental health risks." </p><p>Stephes said this has been part of the reasoning behind MDA's inspection program, "This venison provides a healthy protein source for an underserved part of the public that tends to struggle in many ways ... some may even have a greater risk of lead-associated problems. We do not know the effects of lead until years after the exposure—some of the health effects can be discovered down the road and may be significant. That's what's challenging and unique about lead. It's especially risky with children and pregnant women, as well as adults who have kidney and heart-related risks to their health." </p><p>Osborne Jelks sees a need for swift action to ensure that lead-hunted meat is screened for lead contamination. Dr. Arnemo pointed out that there is another option to keep lead out of food banks. "There is a very easy solution to this if the hunters switch to lead-free bullets," he said. "It's very easy. Lead-free are as good as the lead-based bullets. The killing efficiency is similar, the bullets behave in the same way, they kill the animals in the same amount of time."</p><p> As for food banks that plan to provide uninspected, lead-shot meat in the coming months, Osborne Jelks said, "I think it sends a message that certain parts of our population are expendable. That there isn't enough concern about making sure those families are safe, about making sure that the food being distributed is safe." </p><p>Meanwhile, this winter in Minnesota, Stephes will be overseeing the process of discarding lead-contaminated meat. "We are focused on public health; it is supported by multiple health agencies. That's our job." </p><p><em>Banner photo: Venison donation by the National Park Service to the DC Central Kitchen. (Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/9470628@N07/22013082849" target="_blank">DC Central Kitchen/flickr</a>) </em></p>
Keep reading...
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13 October
Justice
Let’s not waste this crucial moment: We need to stop abusing the planet
By making us more aware of the nature around us, COVID-19 lockdowns could inspire us to fight back against climate disaster.
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www.nationalgeographic.com
12 October
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Kenyan farmers pay dearly for fragmented food system
The leading cause of post-harvest losses in Kenya is the lack of preservation and storage facilities.
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09 October
Children
Pandemic threatens food security for many college students
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07 October
Justice
Hmong farmers are supporting the Black Lives Matter movement in Minnesota
When the people of Minneapolis rose up in anger over the murder of George Floyd, it exacerbated food insecurity, prompting these immigrant farmers to step up and feed their neighbors.
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06 October
Justice
Ensuring homeless Americans get enough food has never been easy. Now, it's next to impossible
The charitable food system wasn’t designed to handle the pandemic—and with the number of homeless and hungry people soaring, the crisis has just begun.
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06 October
Climate
Rooftop farming takes off in Singapore
Urban farms spring up in space-starved city-state as part of a drive to produce more food locally and reduce a heavy reliance on imports.
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02 October
Justice
Mapping the disparities of Chicago's unequal pandemic
Draw a map of Chicago and shade the areas with more poverty, pollution and coronavirus. It will start to look like being Black is a pre-existing condition.
Read the Full Article on
www.bloomberg.com
01 October
Climate
El cambio climático seguirá ampliando las brechas en la seguridad alimentaria, según un nuevo estudio
Con tormentas al Este e incendios forestales al Oeste, la crisis climática está actualmente en el foco de la conciencia pública. Pero además de estas catástrofes, existe otra amenaza perniciosa que viene con el calentamiento del clima: la disminución del rendimiento de los cultivos a nivel mundial.
<p>En un nuevo estudio publicado en Nature Food, los investigadores evaluaron los rendimientos globales de 18 de los productos agrícolas más cultivados: trigo, maíz, soja, arroz, cebada, remolacha azucarera, yuca, algodón, cacahuetes, mijo, avena, papas, legumbres, canola, centeno, sorgo, girasol y batata: cultivos que, en conjunto, representan el 70 por ciento de la superficie mundial de cultivos y alrededor del 65 por ciento de la ingesta calórica mundial.</p><p>Los autores descubrieron que el cambio climático no sólo obstaculizará la capacidad de los agricultores para mantener las cosechas actuales, sino que los países que ya enfrentan inseguridad alimentaria se verán afectados de manera desproporcionada. Los investigadores estudiaron las variaciones en la temperatura, pero no examinaron los impactos climáticos en los patrones de precipitación u otros fenómenos climáticos como inundaciones o sequías.</p><p>Sus modelos detectaron que los países más afectados negativamente en la mayoría de los cultivos, fueron los del África subsahariana y ciertos países de América del Sur y Asia del Sur como India, Brasil, Indonesia y Venezuela, entre otros.</p><p>"En general, los países con baja productividad existente también esperaban un alto impacto negativo en el cambio climático ... estos resultaron ser en su mayoría países no desarrollados", Paolo Agnolucci, economista medioambiental del Colegio Universitario de Londres y coautor del estudio, declaró a EHN.</p><p>Agnolucci y su equipo utilizaron datos de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación (FAO) sobre los rendimientos de los cultivos a nivel mundial y utilizaron modelos estadísticos para predecir cómo reaccionarían las tierras de cultivo actuales en todo el mundo ante el calentamiento climático. Los investigadores se aseguraron de controlar factores como el uso de fertilizantes y pesticidas, así como también las diferentes técnicas de riego.</p><p>Sus modelos estadísticos arrojaron resultados extrañamente simétricos: predijeron que los países con un alto rendimiento para el cultivo se beneficiarían, en promedio, de un aumento de 1 grado Celsius en la temperatura, mientras que los países que batallan con ese mismo tipo de cultivo lucharán aún más con su rendimiento. Agnolucci y su equipo encontraron la misma tendencia con el consumo calórico: los países con una ingesta calórica promedio más alta por persona por día tenían más probabilidades de beneficiarse de ese aumento de 1 grado Celsius en la temperatura global, que los países donde la ingesta calórica promedio es menor.</p><p>Los datos muestran que el tema del cambio climático también es uno de seguridad alimentaria, expresó Agnolucci, donde los beneficiarios de un calentamiento en el clima son los que no necesariamente necesitan más tierra cultivable o más calorías disponibles: "en promedio, los afectados son aquellos países que ya están en desventaja".</p>
Cantidad de Calorías vs. Alimentos Saludables
<p>La carga desigual que enfrentarán los países más pobres no es una sorpresa, afirmó a EHN Ephraim Nkonya, un economista agrícola del Instituto Internacional de Investigación de Políticas Alimentarias que no participó en el estudio. Es bien sabido que el cambio climático afecta de manera desproporcionada a las naciones más pobres; y también afecta de manera desproporcionada a las comunidades más pobres dentro de las naciones. El cambio climático, al exacerbar las desigualdades de ingresos y riqueza, por supuesto ampliará las disparidades en la seguridad alimentaria, declaró Ephraim Nkonya .</p><p>Pero Nkonya cuestiona si la ingesta calórica debería usarse como una indicación de seguridad alimentaria. "El pensamiento actual es que realmente necesitamos enfocarnos en una dieta saludable". Dijo que la FAO ha cambiado su enfoque en los últimos años de aumentar la ingesta calórica en áreas con inseguridad alimentaria a fomentar sistemas que produzcan dietas accesibles y saludables. El simple hecho de aumentar la ingesta calórica promedio de una nación no se traduce necesariamente en una nación con mayor seguridad alimentaria, afirmó, y depender de una medida como la ingesta calórica perjudicaría el bienestar de la población.</p><p>Por ejemplo, Nkonya cita el informe "El estado de la seguridad alimentaria y la nutrición en el mundo 2020" de la FAO e indica que alrededor del 60 por ciento de la población del África subsahariana no puede permitirse una dieta saludable. Esa información se pierde si solo se observa la producción y el consumo calórico promedio, que han ido en aumento.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUwNjkxMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTU0ODkzM30.yWZ6mU0xA24qaommWh0zVUTclm7ywOFkzUBngpp7xOc/img.jpg?width=980" id="866d6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ea9625f9adc2c0e581459660170da200" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Agricultor en Indonesia, uno de los países que resulto mas afectado negativamente en el nuevo estudio. (Crédito: defika hendri/Unsplash)
Comparaciones de cultivos
<p>Independientemente de los países, el estudio muestra que hay cultivos que pueden tanto perjudicarse como también beneficiarse. Los modelos muestran que no todos los cultivos responderán por igual al aumento de las temperaturas, y que los rendimientos de cultivos como la cebada, el mijo y la canola reaccionarán de manera bastante volátil. Los cultivos más robustos fueron la yuca, la papa y la soja, para los cuales los modelos predicen que un aumento de 1 grado Celsius en la temperatura ayudará a los rendimientos casi universalmente.</p><p>Los resultados también mostraron simetría en el sentido de que los cambios dramáticos negativos en el rendimiento de los cultivos en algunos países para un cultivo en particular, también irían acompañados de fuertes cambios positivos en el rendimiento en otros países. Para el rendimiento de la producción del arroz, por ejemplo, un aumento de la temperatura de 1 grado Celsius predijo una disminución en el rendimiento de la producción de aproximadamente el 20 por ciento en India, pero un aumento de rendimiento de aproximadamente el 10 por ciento en Rusia.</p><p>Estos datos nos muestran dónde deben concentrarse los esfuerzos futuros y en qué cultivos deben enfocarse al planificar estrategias agrícolas teniendo en cuenta el cambio climático, indicó Agnolucci. En el caso de la India, el arroz es un alimento tan importante desde el punto de vista cultural, pero puede que no valga la pena invertir los recursos y tratar de mantener sus niveles de cosecha. Pero, "una sustitución en la producción no implica necesariamente que deba haber una sustitución del consumo", agregó. Por el contrario, es más probable que "la estrategia ganadora requiera una combinación de cosas, incluido cambiar la producción a un cultivo diferente y exportar ese cultivo mientras se importa arroz".</p><p>El estudio tiene sus limitaciones. Por ejemplo, no todos los países tienen datos completos y confiables sobre el rendimiento de los cultivos o las prácticas agrícolas estándar. Además, los modelos estadísticos no pudieron dar cuenta de los cambios dinámicos en las tierras agrícolas que ocurrirían a medida que cambie el clima. Su modelo sólo representa cómo reaccionará la tierra cultivable existente con las temperaturas cambiantes, cuando en realidad, un clima más cálido cambiará el área y la ubicación de la tierra cultivable con el tiempo. Por último, Agnolucci declaró que los datos que utilizaron eran números promediados entre países, lo que borró cualquier matiz o variabilidad en países grandes como Estados Unidos o China, etc.</p><p>Nkonya difiere con todas estas generalizaciones, y específicamente con una línea en el estudio: "En 10 de los 18 cultivos evaluados en este estudio, un aumento de 10 milímetros en la precipitación induce una disminución en los rendimientos, evaluados en la media global, mientras que en el resto de cultivos el impacto es positivo ".</p><p>Esa línea es contradictoria, declaró Nkonya, probablemente porque la media global que usaron nuevamente oculta la realidad de los países más pobres. Es casi seguro que ese promedio no refleja la realidad de los países más pobres y secos, donde un aumento de las precipitaciones aumentará casi definitivamente el rendimiento de los cultivos. Tales generalizaciones no son útiles, afirmó, y posiblemente sean contraproducentes cuando se trata de iniciativas de seguridad alimentaria.</p><p>Agnolucci reconoce y considera que futuras investigaciones se desarrollarán y mejorará la precisión de los datos y mostrarán mayores matices. Es de esperar que estos datos, indicó, permitan a los países y las comunidades adaptar un conjunto de herramientas y estrategias para satisfacer sus propias necesidades y combatir los desafíos agrícolas relacionados con el clima. Después de todo, afirma, "aquí no hay una varita mágica".</p><p><em>Traducido del inglés al español por Katia Rodríguez Cabreja, Bronx, NY, 11 de octubre 2020</em></p>
<p><em>Foto de banner: Palacode, Tamil Nadu, India (Crédito: <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/palacode%2C-tamil-nadu%2C-india" target="_blank">Deepak kumar/ Unsplash</a>) </em></p>
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01 October
Originals
Climate change will continue to widen gaps in food security, new study finds
With storms to the east and wildfires to the west, the climate crisis is currently at the forefront of public consciousness. But aside from dramatic disasters there is another, pernicious threat that comes with a warming climate: diminishing global crop yields.
<p>In a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-00148-x" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">new study</a> published in <em>Nature Food</em>, researchers assessed global yields for 18 of the most farmed crops—wheat, maize, soybeans, rice, barley, sugar beet, cassava, cotton, groundnuts, millet, oats, potatoes, pulses, rapeseed, rye, sorghum, sunflower and sweet potatoes—crops that, all together, represent 70 percent of global crop area and around 65 percent of global caloric intake. </p><p>The authors found that climate change will not only hamper farmers' abilities to maintain current harvests, but that countries already facing food insecurity will be disproportionately affected. The researchers investigated temperature variations, but didn't examine climate impacts to precipitation patterns or other weather phenomena like flood or drought. </p><p>The most negatively impacted countries across most crops, their models found, were those in sub-Saharan Africa, and certain countries in South America and South Asia like India, Brazil, Indonesia, and Venezuela, among others. </p><p>"Generally the countries with low existing productivity also expected a high negative impact of climate change...these happen to be mostly non-developed countries," <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/sustainable/dr-paolo-agnolucci" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Paolo Agnolucci</a>, an environmental economist at University College London and a co-author of the study, told EHN. </p><h3><em><a href="https://www.ehn.org/el-cambio-climatico-seguira-ampliando-las-brechas-en-la-seguridad-alimentaria-segun-un-nuevo-estudio-2648176628.html" target="_blank">This story is also available in Spanish</a></em></h3><p>Agnolucci and his team used data from the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on global crop yields, and used statistical models to predict how current croplands across the globe will react to a warming climate. The researchers made sure to control for such factors as fertilizer and pesticide use, and differing irrigation techniques.<br></p><p>Their statistical models yielded oddly symmetrical results: they predicted that countries with already high yield for a crop will, on average, benefit from a 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature while countries that struggle with that same crop will struggle even more with their yield. Agnolucci and his team found the same trend with caloric consumption: countries with higher average calorie intake per person per day were more likely to benefit from that 1 degree Celsius rise in global temperature than countries where average caloric intake is lower. </p><p>The data show that the issue of climate change is also one of food security, said Agnolucci, where the beneficiaries of a warming climate are the ones who don't necessarily need more arable land or more available calories—"on average, the losers are those countries who are already losing."</p>
<iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-severe-food-insecurity-by-region" loading="lazy" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe>
Counting calories vs. healthy foods
<p>The unequal burden poorer countries will face is no surprise, <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/profile/ephraim-nkonya" target="_blank">Ephraim Nkonya</a>, an agricultural economist with the International Food Policy Research Institute who was not involved in the study, told EHN. It is well known that climate change <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/116/20/9808" target="_blank">disproportionately affects poorer nations</a>; it also disproportionately affects <a href="https://www.un.org/esa/desa/papers/2017/wp152_2017.pdf" target="_blank">poorer communities within nations</a>. Climate change, by exacerbating income and wealth inequalities, will of course widen food security disparities, he said.</p><p>But Nkonya questions whether caloric intake should be used as an indication of food security. "The current thinking is that we really need to look at a healthy diet." He said the FAO has pivoted their focus in recent years from raising caloric intake in food insecure areas to fostering systems that yield accessible, healthy diets. Simply raising a nation's average caloric intake does not translate necessarily to a more food secure nation, he said, and relying on a measure like caloric intake obscures population well-being.</p><p>For example, Nkonya quotes the FAO's "<a href="http://www.fao.org/3/ca9692en/online/ca9692en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020</a>" report and said that around 60 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa cannot afford a healthy diet. That information is lost if you only look at average caloric production and consumption, which have been on the rise.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQ1MDg1MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODU5NjUzMH0.eM6QsYl9syqr_qjjCfKqbO8hqpe-o_sl9fFSDnq8bSE/img.jpg?width=980" id="e32fe" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="15efc2c05afe929a363f48dcb8d0999e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Climate change food insecurity" />
Farmer in Indonesia, which was one of the countries found to be most negatively impacted in the new study. (Credit: defika hendri/Unsplash)
Crop comparisons
<p>Beyond countries, the study shows that there are losing and winning crops, too. The models show that not all crops will respond equally to rising temperatures, with yields for crops like barley, millet and rapeseed reacting quite volatilely. More robust crops were cassava, potatoes and soybeans—those for which the models predict that a 1 degree Celsius raise in temperature will help yields almost universally.</p> <p>The results also showed symmetry in that dramatic negative crop yield changes in some countries for one crop would also be accompanied by strong positive yield changes in other countries. For rice yields, for example, a 1 degree Celsius temperature rise predicted an approximate 20 percent yield decrease in India, but an approximate 10 percent yield increase in Russia. </p> <p>These data show us where future efforts need to be concentrated, and which crops need to be focused on when planning agricultural strategies with climate change in mind, said Agnolucci. In India's case, rice is such a culturally important food, but it may not be worth the resources to double down and try to maintain their crop levels. But, "a substitution in production does not necessarily imply there needs to be a substitution of consumption," he added. Rather, it's more likely that "the winning strategy might take a combination of things, including shifting the production to a different crop and exporting that crop while importing rice." </p> <p>The study has its limitations. Not every country has comprehensive, reliable data on crop yield or standard farming practices, for one. Also the statistical models could not account for the dynamic changes in farmland that will occur as the climate changes. Their model only represents how existing arable land will react with changing temperatures, when in reality, a warming climate will shift the area and location of farmable land over time. Lastly, Agnolucci said that the data they used were numbers averaged across nations, which erased any nuance or variability across large countries such as the U.S. or China, and so on. </p> <p>Nkonya takes greatest issue with all these generalizations, and specifically with one line in the study: "In 10 of the 18 crops assessed in this study, an increase of 10 millimeters in precipitation induces a decrease in the yields, evaluated at the global mean, while in the remaining crops the impact is positive."</p> <p>That line is counterintuitive, said Nkonya, likely because the global mean they used again obscures the reality for poorer countries. That average almost certainly does not reflect the reality of poorer, drier countries where an increase in precipitation will almost definitely increase crop yields. Such generalizations are not helpful, he said, and possibly counterproductive when it comes to food security initiatives.</p> <p>Agnolucci concedes, and believes that further research will build upon and improve the accuracy of the data and show greater nuance. These data, he said, will hopefully allow countries and communities to tailor toolkits and strategies to meet their own needs and combat climate-related agricultural challenges. After all, he says, "there is no magic wand here." </p><p><em>Banner photo: Palacode, Tamil Nadu, India. (Credit: <a href="https://unsplash.com/@story_from_slowman" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Deepak kumar/Unsplash</a>)</em></p>
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