Food = Water

"It takes about 20,000 litres of water to produce one kilogram of coffee 11,000 litres for one quarter-pounder hamburger, between 2000 and 5000 litres for a kilogram of rice, and 2000 to 4000 litres for one litre of milk. We grow twice as much food today as we did a generation ago, but we use three times as much water to grow it. To quench the thirst of these crops, many are highly irrigated, and much of the water is being pumped from underground reserves, which take eons to replenish."

-David Suzuki, The Sacred Balance

Reducing food waste is one very positive step you can take towards conserving our precious fresh water resources!

Lunch rice becomes part of dinner

I tried this Thai Rice recipe for lunch the other day. However, there was a lot of rice left after our lunch so I decided to turn the rice into the filling for bell peppers in the oven for dinner. Easy and delicious!

Thai rice recipe (serves 4, or 2 if you want to have leftovers for dinner).

2 dl	rice
4 dl	vegetable stock
2	egg
0,5 tbsp	butter
10 cm	leek, finely chopped (I used normal onion though as we didn’t have leek at home)
1 tbsp	oil for frying
1 box/bag	bean sprouts
1	chili, finely chopped

Cook the  rice with the vegetable stock according to the instruction on the package. Fry the eggs in the butter in a frying pan on both sides and cut into pieces. Fry the leek or onion in another frying pan. When the rice is cooked mix it in with the onion together with the bean sprouts, chili and egg pieces. Serve.

As we were only two people there was some rice left so I decided to reuse the rice for dinner.  I filled some bell peppers that I had cut into halves with the rice and topped them with a sundried tomato and loads of cheese. Yammi!

Catarina Holmsten-Carrizo

 

What happens to biodegradable waste?

Waste is probably not something that is high on everyone's agenda. However, what happens to food waste or any biodegradable waste for that matter, is incredibly important.

Tiny little microorganisms that live in healthy soil are imperative in the decomposition process of organic matter and nutrient cycling. To put it simply, without these organisms soil virtually becomes a dead substance.

Every time crops are harvested, nutrients are removed from the soil. Without returning organic matter back to the soil, nutrient levels become depleted. When inorganic synthetic fertilisers are used, soil slowly becomes more acidic and more saline which is not conducive for flourishing microbes. When certain herbicides (such as those containing glyphosate) are used, soil life is wiped out altogether and the vicious cycle of synthetic fertiliser dependency ensues...

In order to create a sustainable 'closed loop' system, all we need to do is return biodegradable waste to the earth instead of burying it under tonnes of shit in landfill where it decomposes anaerobically, creating methane (which is over 20 times more toxic than CO2) and leachate (to join our lovely, pristine waterways). Whoever invented the flushing toilet will no doubt be remembered as the biggest dick in history.

Not only does returning organic matter to soil improve conditions for all-important nutrient cycling microorganisms, but it also reduces the need for chemical fertilisers and even some herbicides. In addition, increasing the organic matter content of soil improves its structure and water-holding capacity which means that less water is needed to maintain growth and plants fare much better in hot, dry summers.

Our current systems seem so.. illogical.

Yes, change will require some effort but why ignore science and stick with methods that we are well aware are not only damaging but also impossible to continue indefinitely? Sustainable practices that incorporate a holistic view of environmental preservation and longevity should be the norm and not the exception as they are today.

Cathy Xiao Chen

Convenience food, waste and polution

Famous Australian horticulturalist, Costa Georgiadis believes that the prevalence of convenience food is the bane of our existence. We're polluting the air when we drive to the shops, polluting the environment with non-recyclable packaging and slowly killing the earth by throwing away millions of dollars worth of food each year.

FAO predicts that 40 years from now, the world will need to increase food production by a whopping 60%. With our exponentially increasing global population, finite land and resources; it presents as a huge task to broaden the spectrum and adapt unconventional farming methods to urban landscapes.

By relying on big supermarket chains that care more about profit and quantity than quality, we're buying the short end of the stick. Our affluent society has become so engrossed with materialism and so far removed from the our origins. Sure my neighbour has a super expensive car and my cool friends all have the iPhone 4 but living this way is not sustainable. We're stripping the Earth of everything and giving only a minute portion back.

Costa challenges us with the problem of poo. Its more endearing term in the field is humanure and, with proper composting and decomposition, can safely return rich organic matter to the soil where it is needed to replenish all the nutrients that are extracted by the plants and animals that we eat. 

"Nearly a third of all household drinking water in the US is used to flush toilets" writes Joseph Jenkins, author of The Humanure Handbook. Costa's challenge is for us to devise a better way to manage our sewerage. Since 2008 Thames Water has been burning poop and methane derived from sewage sludge to generate electricity to offset their bill at the sewerage treatment plant. Sydney Water captures methane and ships treated 'biosolids' to farms around the Western Slopes of NSW. 

The website lists 3 simple ways to "help improve the quality of biosolids. These include:

· don't wash paint, pesticides, medicines or other chemicals down the sink or toilet. Put them in the bin or take them to a chemical collection point 

· use low phosphorous or phosphorous-free detergents and pesticides, and only use the recommended amount of detergent for your washing machine and dishwasher

· don't pour grease, oil or milk down the sink.

By improving the quality of waste entering the wastewater, you ultimately improve what returns to the environment after treatment."

Although any steps towards sustainability are positive, I don't believe that it's enough to call it a victory for the human race any time soon. At a recent lecture in Stockholm organised by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, Richard China (Director of FAO Liason Office with the EU and Belgium) stated that reduced waste and loss by smallholders, producers, consumers, and entrepreneurs is imperative to sustainable and resilient food production and consumption. The cost of inaction is too great for this agenda to be ignored.

Cathy Xiao Chen

Lunch seminar: Toward zero hunger

Lunch Seminar: Toward zero hunger and sustainable food production? Global food security and nutrition in the post-2015 agenda

On Monday members of our group took part in a lunch seminar in Stockholm about global food security co-organized by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, FAO Nordic and UNDP.  

So what is food security?
According to Gordon Conway over 200 definitions exist.  Here is one common definition by UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO): “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”.

The three speakers at the seminar were:

Richard China (Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the European Union and Belgium)

Maria Elena Rebagay (Senior Policy Advocacy Officer with the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA), a regional federation of farmer’s organizations composed of around 11 million small-scale farmers across Asia).

Lennart Båge  (the President of the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development between 2001 and 2009, now a member of the boards of, i.a., Sida, KSLA and SLU.)

We all thought it was an interesting seminar and a great opportunity to see and hear some people who have worked on food issues for longer than we have. 

Some interesting facts that were raised by the speakers:

• There is already enough food for everyone; the problem is one of distribution and access. In some parts of the world there is also enough food in quantity but not in quality (the food is not nutritious enough) in other parts of the world we have too much food and obesity problems. Hunger has therefore more to do with economic and social systems than with agriculture

• FAO has predicted that 60% more food is needed by 2050, not so much because of growing population but because of the growing middle class that will most likely want to eat meat and vegetables more often

• Challenges for small scale farmers (especially in Asia) include; extreme climate variability, lack of access to resources and technology, lack of young people who wants to be farmers, lack of time to participate and understanding from farmers in political arena

• 12% of food that is produced today crosses borders (only 6% some years ago). In Sweden, the percentage of imported foods recently crossed the threshold of 50%

Why is this important?

Not only because of moral reasons but because of political stability: “A hungry man is an angry man”.'

What is needed for this to be achieved?

Different things were mentioned, among them: 

• Political commitment
• Small scale farmers are important, today they are already producing 70% of the world’s food in a more sustainable way than big scale agriculture, they need access to land
• Women’s role is also critical, in many developing countries women are the once who take care of the household, the gardening, feeding the animals as well as preserving food, saving food for possible crises and saving seeds. Unfortunately, women are often left without rights to own their own land, getting credits to buy land etc.
• Public and private investment in sustainable agriculture
• Meaningful participation for small farmers in political area
• A lively discussion on sustainable development: what does a rapidly changing world mean for food and sustainability?
• And of course: Reduced waste & loss!!!

Interesting initiatives:

UN’s Zero Hunger Challenge

Japan’s Table for two initiaitive