The environmental impact of fertilizer embodied in a wheat-to-bread supply chain
The environmental impact of fertilizer embodied in a wheat-to-bread supply chain
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DOI：
10.1038/nplants.2017.12
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发表时间：
2017-03-01
期刊：
影响因子：
18
通讯作者：
Horton, Peter
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Goucher, Liam;Bruce, Richard;Horton, Peter
粮食生产和消费约占温室气体排放总量的三分之一（1-3），因此，粮食安全不仅对我们农业系统的能力提出了挑战，而且对其环境可持续性提出了挑战（47）。如果农民、农业食品工业和消费者要分担减轻这些影响的责任，就必须了解特定食品供应链中环境影响发生在何处和何种程度（7、8）。在这里，我们提出了一个完整的供应链的分析，为全球饮食的主食，一条面包。我们获得了导致制造特定品牌800 g面包的农业，生产和运输系统中所涉及的所有过程的原始数据。使用先进的生命周期评估（LCA）工具（9）对数据进行了分析，得出了包括温室气体排放在内的环境影响指标。我们发现，生产面包对环境的影响有一半以上直接来自小麦种植，仅硝酸铵肥料的使用就占40%左右。这些研究结果揭示了面包生产对化肥不可持续使用的依赖，并说明了供应链中的行为者要为实现可持续粮食生产承担共同责任所需的细节。
Food production and consumption cause approximately one-third of total greenhouse gas emissions(1-3), and therefore delivering food security challenges not only the capacity of our agricultural system, but also its environmental sustainability(47). Knowing where and at what level environmental impacts occur within particular food supply chains is necessary if farmers, agri-food industries and consumers are to share responsibility to mitigate these impacts(7,8). Herewe present an analysis of a complete supply chain for a staple of the global diet, a loaf of bread. We obtained primary data for all the processes involved in the farming, production and transport systems that lead to the manufacture of a particular brand of 800 g loaf. The data were analysed using an advanced life cycle assessment (LCA) tool(9), yielding metrics of environmental impact, including greenhouse gas emissions. We show that more than half of the environmental impact of producing the loaf of bread arises directly from wheat cultivation, with the use of ammonium nitrate fertilizer alone accounting for around 40%. These findings reveal the dependency of bread production on the unsustainable use of fertilizer and illustrate the detail needed if the actors in the supply chain are to assume shared responsibility for achieving sustainable food production.