Transportation can cancel out the ecological advantages of producing organic cacao: The carbon footprint of the globalized agrifood system of ecuadorian chocolate.

Under the hypothesis that organically managed cacao agroforestry systems report a lower global warming potential (GWP) and reduce other environmental pressure indicators compared with conventionally managed systems and monocultures, this work discusses how global transportation can cut back the ecological advantage of the production phase. For this purpose, the life cycle assessment (LCA) of 1 kg of dark chocolate manufactured with Ecuadorian cacao has been performed (cradle-to-retailer approach), including the indirect impacts of transportation and estimating the equilibrium distances beyond which organic chocolate would have a higher impact than chocolate manufactured from cacao grown in monocultures and/or conventionally managed systems. To articulate the discussion, the carbon footprint (CF) of cacao/chocolate was analyzed together with 10 additional LCA-related impact categories. Three management systems-conventional monoculture (CM) and agroforestry (CA), and organic agroforestry (OA)-and three different supply chain scenarios with different weights in the transportation phase were studied. Expanding on the concept of "food miles", the equivalent kilometers of the impact of emissions (km-eq) (or cumulated energy demand, eutrophication, etc.) were defined as the variable distance that a certain means of transportation can travel in relation to a fixed level of GHG emissions (or MJ, kg PO4-eq, etc.). The CF of the life cycle of cacao/chocolate was estimated at between 2.04 and 4.66 kg CO2-eq kg-1. The relative weight of transportation in relation to the total GHG emissions ranged between 8.9% and 51.1%, with cacao/chocolate traveling between 1380 and 9155 km-eq. The CF of chocolate made from cacao grown in OA systems was 22.7%-34.2% and 6.3%-10.7% lower than the CF of chocolate produced from cacao grown in CM and CA and manufactured and transported under the same conditions. The equilibrium distances between managements were estimated at 1213 and 5275 km-eq. Beyond those equivalent kilometers, organic chocolate would have a larger CF than chocolate manufactured from cacao grown, respectively, in CA and CM systems. Our results indicate that transportation would cancel out this and most other comparative ecological advantages of producing organic cacao analyzed in this work. Directly exporting chocolate from cacao-producing countries and relocating chocolate manufacture would help reduce GHG emissions and other environmental impacts of the supply chain.

Food Sustainability in the Context of Human Behavior.

The long-term goal of food sustainability is to produce enough food to maintain the human population. The intrinsic factors to guarantee a sustainable food system are a fertile land, water, fertilizers, a stable climate, and energy. However, as the world population grows, the volume of food needed in the future will not depend just on these intrinsic factors, but on human choices. This paper analyzes some of the human actions that may affect the sustainable future of the food supply chain, including diet, obesity, food miles, food waste, and genetically modified organisms.

Local food: benefits and failings due to modern agriculture

This paper aims to examine the issue raised by the consumption of locally produced food in all its various aspects, and in particular, addresses how this practice contributes to local and global sustainability. It analyzes the different definitions of local food, the strategies used, the implications of the distance traveled in the transportation of food to the consumer's table food miles, the relationships between local food consumption and sustainability, farming practices that reduce carbon emissions, contribution of urban agriculture to local food, local trading of food produced by rural farmers, as well as a number of relationships between the consumption of local food and human nutrition and health, local food protection and the ability to support local food production for humanitarian actions in disaster situations. The promotion of local food is a complex problem covering environmental issues, the economy and health. Transportation is not the only factor that determines how efficient it is to consume local food. Often, the technologies used for agricultural production are those most responsible for the degree of sustainability in the production and supply of food to the population. Local production does not always mean lower emissions of greenhouse gases. In general, the consumption of local foods, produced in ways adapted to the local environment using technologies with an ecological basis, is something beneficial and salutary for the environment, economy and society in general.(AU)

Local food: benefits and failings due to modern agriculture

This paper aims to examine the issue raised by the consumption of locally produced food in all its various aspects, and in particular, addresses how this practice contributes to local and global sustainability. It analyzes the different definitions of local food, the strategies used, the implications of the distance traveled in the transportation of food to the consumer's table food miles, the relationships between local food consumption and sustainability, farming practices that reduce carbon emissions, contribution of urban agriculture to local food, local trading of food produced by rural farmers, as well as a number of relationships between the consumption of local food and human nutrition and health, local food protection and the ability to support local food production for humanitarian actions in disaster situations. The promotion of local food is a complex problem covering environmental issues, the economy and health. Transportation is not the only factor that determines how efficient it is to consume local food. Often, the technologies used for agricultural production are those most responsible for the degree of sustainability in the production and supply of food to the population. Local production does not always mean lower emissions of greenhouse gases. In general, the consumption of local foods, produced in ways adapted to the local environment using technologies with an ecological basis, is something beneficial and salutary for the environment, economy and society in general.