Farming sustainable protein options is getting harder as the world's population increases. The meat and dairy industries have an extraordinary environmental impact, contributing 11% to 20% of global greenhouse gas pollution and more than 30% of global methane pollution. It's no surprise that environmentalists and farmers are working together to make these industries more sustainable.
Strategies to do so include addressing water usage and irrigation, reducing pollution, improving animal welfare, and growing more protein-rich plants.
Emanuele Zannini, a food science expert and professor at Ireland's University College Cork, said that growing more protein-rich plants will be essential for sustainably meeting the demand of a growing population. "We need to find alternative sources of protein to reduce the environmental burden," he said, as relayed by Phys.org.
Zannini led a four-year initiative called Smart Protein that brought together experts and scientists from nine countries around the European Union. It explored the production of three crops: lentils, fava beans, and chickpeas.
"There has been a tradition of consuming these legumes in Europe, particularly in the Mediterranean regions," Zannini said. Meat was added to many diets once people became more prosperous.
As consumers shift toward plant-based diets — which produce 75% less greenhouse gas pollution than those that include meat — demand for plants has risen once again. Smart Protein's goal was to encourage local farmers to meet that demand.
Animal agriculture occupies more than three-quarters of all agricultural land in use. By transitioning to growing more plant-based crops, we could significantly reduce the carbon footprint and land use.
It would also benefit farmers to transition to crops such as fava beans, as they are more resilient to unpredictable temperatures, the harvest would yield more crops, and farmers could sell the beans for more money than animal feed. Considering many farmers have lost crops to weather events, transitioning to protein-rich plants could help keep farmers in business.
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