By Steve Gillman
Using European plant and dairy waste as an alternative to soy-based animal feed could see a big drop in agricultural emissions and prevent deforestation.
Every year around a third of all food produced for human consumption is wasted, according to the United Nations. That equates to 1.3 billion tonnes of food down the drain and huge amounts of avoidable greenhouse gas emissions.
"Food loss and waste also amount to a major squandering of resources including water, land, energy, labour and capital," said Professor Montse Jorba Rafart, an expert in agrifood technologies from Leitat, a Spanish technological centre.
Instead, this waste could become a sustainable solution for another resource-heavy agricultural sector – animal feed.
Prof. Jorba coordinated the NOSHAN project where researchers from seven European countries investigated turning fruit, vegetable, cereal and dairy waste into pork and poultry feed. They found the most nutrient-rich sources of waste came from pumpkins, rapeseed, cheese and yoghurt production, barley, mushrooms and olives.
This could take a climate-friendly chunk out of livestock's environmental impact. Currently, a third of total farmland is used to grow animal food, while producing, processing and transporting this feed contributes to about 45% of the sector's emissions.
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