Chapter 2

Agriculture and the Environment

Cheryl J. Baldwin

Cheryl J. Baldwin

Pure Strategies, Gloucester, MA, USA

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First published: 23 January 2015

Summary

The food supply contributes significantly to climate change, responsible for up to one-third of global greenhouse gases (GHGs). Climate impacts, land and biodiversity damage, and water and pollution issues have been growing challenges. Existing best practices offer the opportunity to reduce the overall burden and have demonstrated to improve yields and decrease costs. Additional advancements can shift the relationship between food production and environment to be beneficial and more sustainable. Each player in the food supply can facilitate this progress, even if a company is not directly engaged with agricultural production. Sustainable sourcing efforts are a growing practice for food manufacturers, retailers, and food services. With effective sustainable sourcing programs, the entire supply chain can collaborate to make the needed changes in agricultural production to avoid the environmental damage with the current system and work to rebuild the land and protect biodiversity and water.

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