Cultivating a regenerative food system

发布时间由艾伦·麦克阿瑟基金会，"A New Dynamic 2: Effective Systems In a Circular Economy"汇集了18个重点思想家，商业领袖和学者谁超越各自学科的界限，并建立必要的连接重新思考我们目前的发展道路。本卷有助于进一步了解和参与实现循环经济模式。betway必威体育手机版

20世纪的农业故事是空前的成功之一：由于更深入，更专业的种植，农民显着提高生产力和保持粮食价格低。然而，这个产业已经建立了自己的问题，并可能 - 不变 - 蒸汽不多了。在2010年，一个世纪以来首次全球粮食产量的增长跌破了全球人口的增长。

这就是为什么现在是时候离开了become a "linear food system": a take, make, dispose system in which, too often, synthetic inputs go into the land; the land gets overused, and a huge proportion of the food produced is wasted and ends up in landfill. In addition, many nutrients never make it back to the field, stacking up in contaminated sludge. The goal should be to move toward a regenerative model in which land is restored as it is used and in which nutrient and material loops provide much-needed inputs, resulting in a healthier food supply.

In terms of how to get started on the circular path, there are a number of promising approaches.

Retain and restore natural capital

Restoration of large, damaged ecosystems is possible and the commercial potential is already proven. One famous example is the Loess plateau in China, where 3.7 million acres of degraded land have been restored since the mid-1990s. This project lifted more than 2.5 million people out of poverty, almost tripling their income, by replacing low-value agricultural commodities with high-value products. Per capita grain output rose 60 percent and the perennial vegetation cover doubled from 17 percent to 34 percent. In addition, flood control, water use, employment, biodiversity and carbon absorption all improved.

咸味研究所，总部设在科罗拉多州，促进了模仿自然的过程。由于研究所所描述的那样，管理者控制牲畜，这样的条件模仿人存在时，草原上发展而来的捕食关系。这涉及到土地分割成更小的牧场，把牛大群，和整个财产频繁移动它们。从使用和休息的周期，土地的好处 - 在天然草地生态系统放牧动物中观察到相同的模式。这种方法再生超过6100000英亩。

返回回收资源

There is great potential to recover nutrients from various waste streams and either put them to work into new systems or return them to where they came from as inputs. That is what we mean by "closing the loop," a cycle of use and reuse.

例如，欧盟在回收来自污水污泥，肉，骨粉和生物可降解的固体废物磷取得的进展;这种材料占该区域合成磷肥使用的近30％。

在瑞典，两市已规定所有新的厕所必须分开粪便尿液;尿中仅占1生活污水量的百分比，但包含了大部分的营养。当地农民可以收集尿液用作液体肥料。

在意大利，4000多个城市开展的食品和花园生物垃圾密集的分离。这些努力约40万对居民的影响;480万吨的生物垃圾被收集用于堆肥或厌氧消化工厂处理。

Various sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices return the recovered resources and use them in organic production systems that preserve natural capital and optimize long-term yields. Organically cultivated land area in Europe is expanding 6 percent a year.

推进城郊和城市粮食生产

当地，新鲜的和相对未加工食品的需求正在不断增长。美国温室运营商光明农场已与连锁超市巨人食品公司的合同，从位于地铁区域100,000加平方英尺的温室，每年提供450吨生产的30华盛顿区的商店。这有望成为世界上最大的城市温室操作的任何地方。

In Europe, Barcelona has announced a goal of producing half its food in the metropolitan region. Establishing shorter supply chains between farms and retailers or consumers reduces the waste associated with transport. Doing so can also help to create local jobs and strengthen rural-urban links.

On a smaller scale, urban farming is also emerging, in the form of vertical, hydroponic and aquaponic farms. Vertical farms grow produce inside or on top of buildings. Typically, these farms use 70 to 90 percent less water and fertilizer than conventional ones because they keep unabsorbed water and nutrients in the system.

It needs hardly be said that cities are not going to supplant traditional farms. But given that more than half the world’s population lives in urban areas (a percentage that is growing), the idea that cities have a role to play in food production makes sense.

Create digital supply chains to reduce food waste

20 percent of food gets wasted on its way from the farm to the store in developed economies. Big data and IT can help to improve inventory management and thus shrink that figure.

SAP，德国软件巨头，为零售商提供一个动态的消费定价系统，实时改变项目价格的基础上，产品的可用性和到期日期。COOP，欧洲食品零售商，拥有自动化的新鲜食物补给系统来管理的废物的最大来源之一。数字化解决方案，如智能冰箱，按需电子商务交付和可穿戴式显示器可以帮助消费者买到合适的数量和食品质量在正确的时间。这将有助于减少食物的人们扔掉的量。

在$ 346十亿机会

A circular food system would combine all these approaches, while also incorporating the best of traditional agriculture, to improve both the quality of the food produced and the health of the land that produces it.

在生产方面，圆形系统将使用较少显著合成肥料，农药，能源，土地，和水，同时发射更少的温室气体。

圆形的情况可能还会产生比其他更多的就业机会，因为有机农业和废物管理是相对劳动密集型的活动。总而言之，我们估计，如果欧洲实现上述四种方法中，直接和间接的经济效益可达到$ 346十亿（相比目前的发展路径）。

无处是在农业和土壤我们的模型使用的长期经济活力和相关资产为明显的健康之间的关系。无处是我们从再生，补水的，圆的概念，离开这么明显。构建新的食品的制度，使我们的生物系统的长期生产力为中心并不容易，它需要新的政策和优先事项，但是适当的时候启动。