Food miles are the distance between when food is produced and when it is delivered to consumers. Food miles are a factor in assessing food’s environmental impact, including the impact of global warming. [1] bananas, apples, citrus fruits and grapes are traded around the world. Latin America is the world’s leading exporter. China is a huge and growing market for imports. The fruit market is also different from the vegetable market. Most fruits are processed and juice is the main industry.
However, in mature markets such as the United States, Europe and Oceania, the consumption of juice and canned fruit is under pressure. It is estimated that 80% of the world’s fruit is sold as fresh fruit. The fruit consumption target is directly related to the sustainable development goals within the UN framework: 2 “Eliminating hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition, promoting sustainable agriculture” and Goal 12 “Ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns”. “Official research has proven that the food supply chain is closely related to the complex and interwoven effects of the environment and socio-economics to determine the link between food miles, lifestyles, consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
Apple’s Production and Consumption Growth
Apple is commercially grown in 36 states. In 2013, approximately 824 million tons of fresh fruit were produced worldwide. The share of 81 million tons of apples has reached a considerable 12%. In the past decade, international fresh fruit exports have grown at an annual rate of nearly 7% and have been absorbed by major import markets such as the US, China and Germany. Therefore, apple is the most important fresh fruit after banana. This is followed by wines containing 77 million tons of wine and 71 million tons of oranges. Apple ranked 20th for all crops. The most important crop in quantity is sucrose, followed by rice, corn and wheat. China is the largest producer.
According to AMI’s research on apple consumption, there are also differences between apple producing countries and those without apple producing countries. In the apple-producing countries of Western Europe and North America, Apple’s consumption has fallen sharply, with Western Europe and North America dropping by 11% and 8% respectively. On the other hand, consumption in the southern hemisphere has increased by one percentage point. There is also a very significant growth in Asia. Production increased by 67% in 10 years. Apple is becoming more and more popular in Africa and Southeast Asia without apple production. West Africa’s consumption growth rate is the highest, reaching 175%. In East and South-East Asia, consumption increased by 70% and 70% respectively. These markets are competing and are causing constant changes in global commodity flows. In particular, South Africa is working hard to supply oil to the surrounding markets. Europe seems to be losing its central position in the world fruit and vegetable market.
Global apple production is dominated by China, with 49% of global production and about 40 million tons from China. China’s investment in this area is unique. Accounted for 48% of the total Apple market. At the same time, China (48% in 2016) dominates global consumption of apples, while other major consumer countries lag far behind: the United States (4%), India (3%), Turkey (3%), and Iran (3%). ), Poland (3%) and Russia (3%). From 2007 to 2016, Apple’s consumption growth rate was the highest, Poland increased by 15.2%, India and China increased by 7.2% and 5.4% respectively. India is likely to grow. India has huge growth opportunities, with total production accounting for 3% of the total population. In contrast: Austria’s global market share is 0.47%. and apple production is 375,000 metric tons (commercialized about 180,000 metric tons).
Different factors have contributed to the growth of fresh apple trade, especially for China: improving market access, changing consumer preferences, a more professional retail environment, increasing purchasing power and, last but not least, improving logistics, Controlled atmosphere) storage and cold chain facilities. Many fruits can be transported over long distances by sea. For Latin American countries like Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil, this opens up a world of opportunities.
Life Style and Consumption
Different lifestyles are hidden by increasing the consumption and production of fruits such as apples. Over the years, organizations such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) have emerged to help analyze supply chains to achieve environmental sustainability goals, and their work is improving agriculture, such as food production, making consumption more responsible and using energy to A more holistic approach to supporting sustainable solutions that identify global food challenges. The fact is that people’s lifestyles are changing over the years, the public tends to eat more healthy foods to control weight and avoid disease, and the rise of the first-class healthy and elegant lifestyle requires more fresh and expensive fruits. As a result, the demand for fresh fruit continues to grow, leading to increased production and increased productivity.
Formal research shows that when the middle class population increases, the market for perishable products such as fresh vegetables, fruits, and juices will also increase in the food economy, and the absolute level of consumption will also increase. More importantly, food imports from their countries will also increase. This has directly led to an increase in food miles, such as the limited availability of fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables, and the carbon footprint in everyday life. This forced more airlines to transport due to the demand for fast transportation. More importantly, in fact, according to the latest research by Carnegie Mellon University, the US Department of Agriculture, according to the recommendations of the US Department of Agriculture, consumes more fruits, vegetables, dairy products and seafood, which is more harmful to the environment because these foods have Relatively high resource utilization and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per calorie.
The study, published in the journal Environmental Systems and Decisions, measures changes in energy use, blue water footprints, and greenhouse gas emissions associated with US food consumption patterns. But in fact, many common vegetables require more resources per calorie than you think. Eggplant, celery and cucumber look especially bad compared to pork or chicken.
The government supports people to eat the recommended ‘heavy taste’ foods – a mixture of fruits, vegetables, dairy products and seafood – all of which add to the environmental impact: energy consumption has increased by 38%. Water use increased by 10% and greenhouse gas emissions increased by 6%. The fact seems to be the opposite of the 2015 study. After the end of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, the public was told that 28% of greenhouse gas emissions were caused by meat production and consumption. Studies have also shown that a healthy diet is better for the environment and the government should encourage it. Debate on healthy and sustainable diets. But the public’s lifestyle is most affected by personal preferences and health requirements.
The booming market for the processed food and beverage industry is driving the global market for fruit and vegetable ingredients. In addition, as people’s income levels increase, consumers’ awareness of health and health continues to increase, and the sale of vegetables and fruit ingredients as coloring agents, flavor enhancers, etc. is promoted. This has led to a rapid increase in the trend of snacks and has driven the market for nutrition bars, fruit snacks, RTE cereals and related markets, flavored with fruit and vegetable ingredients. Apple, According to the 2018 European Statistical Manual, apple production decreased from 2014: 12,648 tons to 2017: 9,300 tons. Import and export did not change much.
In fact, exports exceeded imports. In addition, Europe is a large producer of fresh fruits and vegetables, accounting for about 12% of global production. For several products like Apple, Europe has changed from a net importer to a net exporter in the past few years. Trade flows and consumption habits are constantly changing, but not all trends are consistent. While European exporters are looking for further destinations, consumers are looking for sustainable produce of fruits and vegetables in their own regions. But the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions do not seem to fall, although Apple’s food mileage has declined. The same thing happened in the United States, and it turns out that even with the unrealistic assumption of zero food miles, only a relatively small average household diet change can achieve localized greenhouse gas reductions. Food mileage is actually not important, but food is wasted.
Food Waste Really Matters
In fact, according to the United Nations environment programme (UNEP), global food production accounts for 25 per cent of all habitable land, leading to 80 per cent of deforestation and 30 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. It is the single largest driver of biodiversity loss and land use change. In addition, about 1,000 litres of water are needed to produce one litre of milk, and about 16,000 litres of beef. You get another surprising statistic: global food production accounts for 70 percent of fresh water. Food means that all resources and inputs used in the production process are lost. This year’s campaign hopes to mobilize us to reduce the amount of food wasted, save our money and minimize the impact of food production. This means that the most important part is how we make choices to help increase the efficiency of the food production process.
This concept applies to research and policy to help address another aspect of food waste. About two-thirds of food waste in developing countries is wasted near farms, compared with ‘close-up’ waste in Canada, Europe, Australia and the United States, according to the United Nations environment programme. This is mainly due to poor infrastructure and inefficient production, harvesting, storage and transportation, often by small farmers or other local actors who often find it difficult to earn a living. In fact, according to a new United Nations report released today, helping small farmers play a greater role in food production and natural resource management is the fastest way to lift one billion people out of poverty and sustainably end support for a growing world population. This also means reducing food waste and economizing on the process of production.
If food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the United States, with emissions of 3 billion tons. The United Nations sustainable development goal 12(SDGS 12) on ‘ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns’ includes a specific goal to reduce food waste: ‘by 2030, global per capita retail and consumer consumption will halve food waste, reduce food losses and production supply chains, including post-harvest losses.’ Spain’s 12 targets for reducing food waste by 50% combine feasible assumptions to calculate possible scenarios for the rate of food reduction for each commodity group.
The proposed plan will reduce carbon emissions from food waste by 38%, or 1.4 gtco2e1 per year (see figure below); this is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions of the Japanese economy. Considering that it is feasible to achieve post-harvest treatment reductions in developing countries by improving their food systems (e.g. using improved technologies, better treatment methods, efficient markets), investments that reduce post-harvest losses are an important climate mitigation strategy. Despite the uncertainties in data and models, the magnitude of these figures suggests that reducing global, regional and national food losses and waste will have a substantial positive impact on social resources, especially climate change.
One of the main causes of food waste is the imbalance between supply and demand. Crops are often planted and left in the fields. Retailers often reduce orders at the last minute. Consumers often buy more products at home than they need. The waste from overproduction alone could amount to 56 percent of a company’s total production. This usually happens when the supermarket pre-generates a large number of forecast orders, but the order cannot be confirmed until 24 hours before the delivery date usually the last minute order quantity will be reduced. If the manufacturer mass-produced the product in advance, there would be surplus and no one could sell it.
In this case, not only is food lost, but the energy and resources of the products are also lost (FAO). One way manufacturers can address this problem is by partnering with retailers who are willing to buy excess inventory, such as grocery stores. Products sold this way are inherently cheaper, but it’s better than losing sales altogether.
Better supply chain communication would also help. Building stronger relationships with buyers and understanding their buying decisions is a way for suppliers to reduce risk. Another thing food chains can do is work with farmers’ cooperatives or professional associations. This could lead to better understanding of markets and more effective planning (FAO).
Between harvest and consumption, food must pass through a complex supply chain, often in and out of processing or storage facilities, and eventually reach retailers and later consumers. Many problems have arisen in the transportation of food because it is perishable. Damage or contamination is a major problem, and because of the FDA’s food safety modernization act (FSMA), food safety regulations in the food industry are more stringent than ever.
Because many companies do not accept or reject standards for temperature-controlled goods, food-loss temperature violations have been a major problem for trucking companies. Being able to identify potential locations where violations may occur in advance, devices and environments increase the likelihood that your product will remain in good condition. The shipper shall also ensure that the carrier cooperates with him and has reliable equipment to avoid problems arising from poor insulation or poor air circulation. By avoiding road problems, transport efficiency is improved while negative environmental impacts are reduced.
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