Fewer calories, higher awareness

• Research on food systems in metropolitan areas. Can cities provide for their own food needs?
• What do residents eat the most, and how much? Wrocław residents mainly eat eggs and milk.
• Poland ranked 21st in a report sharing data on global food security.

Dr. Marta Sylla and Dr. Małgorzata Świąder from the Institute of Spatial Management at the UPWr checked nine urban regions from different European countries: Athens, Avignon, Barcelona, Bari, Berlin, Brasov, Copenhagen, Ostend and Wrocław. They chose a combination of small, medium and large cities, located in varying terrains: by the sea, in the mountains, and in the lowlands. – These diverse areas represent the diverse conditions of northern, southern or central-eastern European countries – say the authors. They examined not only the cities themselves, but also the surrounding areas, so-called functional urban areas.

In the article 'Assessing food self-sufficiency of selected European Functional Urban Areas vs metropolitan areas', which appeared in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning, they look into whether the selected areas are able to fulfil the food needs of their inhabitants.

Privilege corridors

The pandemic, which cut off global markets and disrupted supply chains, followed by the war in Ukraine, further highlighted the importance of food security. – Even without these crises, it was already clear that cities could not feed themselves. However, in a very small number of cases, such as in Berlin or Milan, the capabilities of cities and their suburban areas to provide food for their residents were verified beforehand – says Dr. Małgorzata Świąder. 

The hostile Covid-19 period led the European Commission to publish a 'contingency plan for food supply and food security in times of crisis' at the end of 2021. In the event of a transnational crisis, the Commission will coordinate a specific mechanism involving Member States, with guidelines on privileged corridors to ensure the flow of goods within the single market. It is also important to provide income security for agricultural producers through direct payments, hence the enhancement of provisions on an agricultural reserve for additional support to promptly respond to crises affecting agricultural production or the distribution of agricultural products.

The pandemic has also resulted in solutions at the local level, including the development of platforms selling food from regional farmers.

– Residents of certain districts of Wrocław joined forces and worked together to plant gardens or adapt land to grow food. There have also been changes at the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences: together with the Department of Horticulture we have created a short supply chain, part of a community supported agriculture (CSA) type model. What is unique here is that the university is a food producer and its employees are consumers – says Dr. Sylla.

Since last April, during the warmer months university staff receive weekly deliveries of seasonal fruit and vegetables from the university's orchards and crops from the research stations in Psary and Samotwor, among others, which allows for better use of the station's potential, and with a greater educational value: it shows that it is both possible and worthwhile to eat food that is seasonal, as well as grown and delivered with minimal energy consumption and waste production. – This is the first university CSA in Poland and in Europe that is linked to the idea of food self-sufficiency - the authors point out.

The issue of resilience and food self-sufficiency, previously discussed mainly in scientific and professional circles, has become increasingly important after the pandemic, raised by local authorities and present in the media. An increasing number of cities are signing up to the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact: an agreement signed in 2015 committed to the development of sustainable food systems based on biodiversity, healthy and affordable food, and with reduced environmental impact.

Cities are creating food strategies and policies, with analyses of self-sufficiency and knowledge of the current state of the food system playing a key role, so the research of Dr. Sylla and Dr. Świąder is therefore part of an increasingly visible trend. They used the topics of their PhD theses in their research: Małgorzata Świąder wrote about the application of environmental capacity in spatial management, using spatial measures such as carbon footprint and nutrition zones, and Marta Sylla wrote about assessing the potential for providing ecosystem services in suburban areas.

They both joined forces in an international team, together with José Luis Vicente-Vicente from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research, and Gustavo Arciniegas and Dirk Wascher from SUSMETRO - Sustainable Design for Metropolitan Landscapes.

– We conducted the research in a team formed of scientists working on the FoodSHIFT2030 project. We are the leaders of a work package (WP) on food system research in metropolitan areas, which is why we invited people from our WP team to join us – says Dr. Marta Sylla.

FoodSHIFT2030 is an EU research project that brings together local governments and universities, and non-governmental institutions from nine countries, with an objective to develop innovative food system solutions. In Barcelona scientists are focusing on food-tech, in particular hydroponics, or growing food in water, and are also working on the potential of green roofs for growing food. In Braşov project activists are focusing on revitalising local markets and preparing a system to encourage local farmers to sell their products in the city. In Ostend the main focus is the agro-park and related short supply chain solutions.

The strong three

The Wrocław study looked at the potential of local food systems to provide a plant-based diet. Food self-sufficiency was calculated according to a model by Dr. Zasada, which is based on a comparison of demand and supply of food in a given region. Demand is estimated on the basis of the annual diet of the inhabitants of a region, i.e. the average consumption of specific product groups per kilogramme per person, with a demand analysis also providing information on the daily calorific requirements for specific product groups. The amount of crops needed to supply these products is also calculated, in order to check whether there is enough farmland.

– We wanted the data for the analyses to be comparable with results from other countries, regions or cities, so we decided to use data from the CORINE programme (COoRdination de l'Information sur l'Environnement / CO-oRdination of INformation on Environment), within the Land Cover sub-programme. CORINE Land Cover (CLC) represents land cover across Europe on a regular cycle and indicates variations between the cycles. The European Environment Agency (EEA) is responsible for coordinating CLC projects at the European level (from the CLC2000 project upwards). In addition to the CLC, we also used the COICOP product classification of individual consumption prepared by the United Nations Statistics Division, which allows for replicability and comparability of results in a spatial and temporal context. In the future we might want to carry out analyses using data that better reflects local conditions, particularly in terms of land use – say the authors.

Food items are divided into seven categories: bread and cereal products; dairy and eggs; vegetables and fruit; legumes and roots; nuts and oilseeds; sugar crops and sweeteners; and alcoholic beverages.

Average annual food consumption per inhabitant was analysed in terms of weight, calories and the area needed per person in 2018. The biggest amount of food is consumed in Braşov, with the highest share of vegetables, fruit and cereals. People in Berlin, Wrocław and Ostend drink the most beer, while the most sugar is eaten in Ostend and Copenhagen. Berlin and Copenhagen have the lowest consumption of fruit and vegetables.

– These dietary differences are due, among other things, to climatic conditions and culinary culture – say the researchers.

The total daily calorie intake on a vegetarian diet ranges from 2448 kcal in Copenhagen to 3248 kcal in Braşov, meaning that with the currently available area of agricultural land only three of the nine urban regions under study are able to meet the demand for food. These are different types of urban areas: the heavily-inhabited city of Berlin, the capital of a rich and highly-developed country, the small coastal city of Ostend, surrounded by intensive cultivation, and Wrocław, a medium-sized city set in a highly diverse agricultural landscape.

– Wrocław has a lot of potential, as it is mainly surrounded by fields, orchards and arable land. This is mainly high-grade land with high productivity per acre. The results show that we could feed twice as many people with a vegetarian diet, and three times as many people if we limited ourselves to eating no more than 2,500 calories a day – says Dr. Sylla. – This figure represents an appropriate calorie intake, and a diet that is also accessible for the majority of people, not just the wealthy.

Among the surveyed cities the capital of Lower Silesia has the highest number of fields per person: 2,000 sqm for every inhabitant of Wrocław's FUA. The eating habits of the inhabitants of a given area play an important role in the self-sufficiency analysis. According to the authors of the article, the eating habits of the inhabitants of Wrocław are relatively environmentally friendly, compared, for example, to Copenhagen, where they eat much more beef. The diet in Wrocław (which is in the group of cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants) is mainly composed of eggs – almost 130 eggs per year, milk – more than 30 litres per year, and almost 23 kg of potatoes per year. There is no information on the consumption of certain products in larger cities, such as malt beer or pork, but the national average is 100 litres of beer and more than 40 kg of pork per year.

Food mantra

The popularity of the topic of food self-sufficiency has been influenced not only by the pandemic and the war, but also by the growing greater degree of environmental awareness. Increasing food security is also necessary due to climate change, which is causing more and more extreme events such as floods and droughts. The current food model, rich in meat and dairy products, has a damaging effect on the environment: animal-based foods, especially red meat, are large carbon footprint contributors, responsible for an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, land use and a decrease in biodiversity. Population growth and dwindling resources make changing eating habits a necessity. The Wrocław scientists conducted their research in terms of vegetarian food, because it is recommended by, among others, the World Health Organisation (WHO).

In their study they refer to a diet that does not include meat or fish, but instead contains dairy products and eggs. It is also important that the products are local, so products that are not grown in Europe, such as coffee or tea, were excluded from the analysis.

– We wanted to see if self-sufficiency was possible if we became vegetarian. Participants of the FoodSHIFT2030 project are promoting a shift to a more plant-based diet, which is less harmful to the environment – says Dr. Świąder, privately a pescatarian (she eats fish and eggs, but does not eat meat and limits her dairy intake). - For example, as calculated by Poore and Nemecek, the so-called surface footprint, i.e. the average area of land needed to produce a kilogramme of beef, is 326 sqm, while for a kilogramme of cheese it is approx. 88 sqm. In addition to the surface footprint, the ecological footprint includes the carbon footprint and the water footprint. The research involves verifying how much we consume and how much agriculturally useful land there is to meet these needs, allowing us to determine to what extent we are self-sufficient.

– A vegetarian or meat-restricted diet, with a lower calorie intake, not only reduces the adverse environmental impact, but is also healthier for us, reducing the risk of diet-related diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity – says Dr. Sylla, a flexitarian (she eats meat occasionally). 

According to the authors, the results of their study can be used practically. – We know from our experience in the project that spatial or indicator analyses used to assess the food system help to determine where we are, what our options are, and the food security for a given city or functional area. These can form the basis for strategies and food policies, which is already happening in the cities we are working with as part of the FoodSHIFT2030 project. For example, a provision can be made for land for agriculture that should not be developed. Without specific knowledge we are not able to create scenarios for the future, determine the levels of change of this system, etc. This is knowledge-based policy-making - say the Wrocław-based scientists. – We see rising interest in the topics of food policy and food security, so there are opportunities to continue research in this area.

The self-sufficiency of a city or a country is influenced, among other things, by the type of terrain (cities by the sea or surrounded by mountains have fewer fields nearby), the climatic zone (in Poland we have favourable conditions for cultivation) and land use: the increase in urbanised areas reduces the extent to which agricultural land is available, with resources shrinking. Good quality agricultural land should not be taken over by developers, as this compromises self-sufficiency.

– The reasons for limited food self-sufficiency can vary. In our approach we took into account spatial aspects, such as land cover and terrain. Analysing food systems from the perspective of landscapes is key for developing a management system to support food production – says Dr. Sylla.

In addition to the spatial structure around cities, another aspect determining self-sufficiency are local eating habits. Research shows that a high proportion of agricultural land does not guarantee food self-sufficiency - for example, because we eat too much, especially meat.

Dr. Świąder: – On the one hand, food self-sufficiency takes into account our consumption and, on the other, the areas and their potential for food production. The more inhabitants the higher the demand for raw materials, and therefore the areas that are able to provide this food. There are several scenarios. There are areas with a relatively small population combined with a high proportion of agricultural land, in which case self-sufficiency is high. The situation is different in areas with many inhabitants and a low proportion of agricultural land, with low self-sufficiency. There are also combined situations: many residents and a high proportion of agricultural land, few residents and a low proportion of agricultural land, and in these cases we will also get different results in terms of self-sufficiency. In Poland we have a lot of small farms, and therefore diversity, which improves self-sufficiency but also reduces vulnerability, i.e. susceptibility to social, political or environmental crises.

Poland ranked 21st in a report showing data on global food security (Global Food Security Index, 2022). The report, titled 'Where does our food come from? The Largest Agri Producers and Exporters', prepared by the University of the POTOMAC and based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, listed Poland among the largest exporters of the 20 most traded agricultural commodities for beef (we eat little beef, but were the largest exporter in 2020–- 196,000 tonnes) and eggs (third largest exporter – 198,000 tonnes). On the other hand, Poland was not mentioned among the seven largest agricultural commodity-producing countries such as China, the United States of America, Russia, Brazil, India, Spain and Ukraine.

– The aspect of eating habits should be mentioned again. This might sound like a mantra, but if we want to improve food self-sufficiency we need to reduce consumption of high-impact products, i.e. move towards a more plant-based diet based on local products, and reduce household food waste. On the other hand food-tech, smart and precision agriculture and sustainable supply chains are also important – says Dr. Sylla.

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