food's life cycle costs energy...

There's something terribly wrong with the US food system, says a new study of food's life cycle costs.

When all of the feedback loops are analyzed, this sustainability assessment concludes the best move is to change American consumer behavior.

Dontcha love that? Yeah, we could tweak the industrial farming system 'til the cows come home, reducing emissions all along the food chain.

Yet the most effective sustainability strategy is to change our relationship with food.

Changes in our purchasing behavior, says the study, will have "compounding benefits across agricultural production, distribution and food disposition stages."

 

Fact is, farming uses only 21% of the energy, while household storage and prep uses 32%, and 21% goes for packaging and transportation. The rest disappears in processing and retailing. Worse still, when calculated in terms of energy equivalents, only 14% makes it into our bodies. Read more from  SusHI