Almond, oat, and soy milk have a smaller greenhouse gas footprint than cow’s milk. Yet, there are caveats. 🐄🥛🌱 Almonds require much water to grow, posing challenges in areas with #WaterScarcity. Soy milk tends to be fairly low-impact, as long as the soy is sourced sustainably. When #farmers and processors team up within the plant-based value chain, it ensures that switching to #PlantBased alternatives doesn't mean sacrificing valuable products from the farm. 🌱 Take, for example: 👏 Lantmännen, a Swedish farming cooperative and Northern Europe’s agri-leader, which invested SEK 1 billion in a pea protein production hub in 2022. 👏 Valio, a Finnish company founded by 3,700 farmers in 1905, channels all payments to farmers through dairy cooperatives while also manufacturing plant-based alternatives to milk, dairy, and cheese. 👏 AXEREAL, a prominent French cereal cooperative, successfully converted over 200 farms to regenerative practices with support from the EIT Food alumni startup Soil Capital. In 2023, Axereal partnered with Intact, investing €55 million to establish a supply chain covering 65,000 ha of regenerative agriculture legume crops like yellow peas and Faba beans, combined with an innovative processing plant. What innovations do you see making waves in sustainable #DairyAlternatives? 💡 #ImprovingFoodTogether #FutureOfFood #PlantBased #ClimateChange #GHGemissions #FoodFacts #FoodInfo #SustainableFood #DairyFree #ClimateSolutions
Ulrich Pflaumann
1mo
How is the preservation of biodiversity through pasture farming compared to monocultural cultivation evaluated? Habitat Variety: Pasture farming typically supports a wider variety of plant species, which in turn provides habitats for different animal species. This leads to greater biodiversity in both flora and fauna. Soil Health: Diverse plant species in pastures improve soil structure and health, increasing its ability to support various forms of life, including microorganisms, insects, and larger animals. Pest and Disease Control: Biodiverse ecosystems are naturally more resilient to pests and diseases, reducing the need for chemical interventions that can harm biodiversity. Pollinator Support: A variety of plant species ensures the presence of different flowers throughout the growing season, supporting a wide range of pollinators. Sustainable Practices: Pasture farming often incorporates sustainable practices that enhance long-term biodiversity, such as rotational grazing and maintaining native vegetation. In contrast, monocultural cultivation tends to deplete soil nutrients, requires more chemical inputs, and supports fewer species, leading to lower overall biodiversity.
Good overview, however one parameter is missing: protein content. If that was added, soy would be the clear winner. Soy has an environmental footprint on par with the other plant based materials, but unlike them, its protein content is in line with that of cow's milk it has an essential amino acid profile that comes close to that of cow's milk.
This is a thought-provoking post! 🌍 It's inspiring to see such innovative strides in sustainable dairy alternatives. The investments and collaborations among farmers, processors, and startups highlight a promising future for plant-based options. 🌱 Considering the environmental impacts and the need for sustainable sourcing, what specific innovations or practices do you think could further reduce the greenhouse gas footprint and water usage of plant-based milks? 🚰 Also, how can consumers be better educated about the environmental benefits and challenges of different dairy alternatives to make more informed choices? 🌿✨ EIT Food
It would be interesting to see, what aspects are being referred to when we are talking about environmental impacts; is this just linked to production? Or we also including other elements like: land transformation or deforestation, transportation...?
Elmar Antoniak
1mo
and now compare the money the various (dairy vs plant-based) lobby-organizations throw into the policy-making process :-(
this 600 something litres of water per liter milk is quite outdated and ridiculous....
FoodEducators
1mo
this is a great resource for our lesson plans as well, Keren Dalyot
Nicole Martinez
1mo
I'll keep this in mind
Good overview, very informative EIT Food 👍.
M.R.EXPERT Food•Nutrition•Innovation
1moPlease, do not use these outdated data: since 2018 there is existing a method called nutritional Lifecycle Analysis, nLCA, looking also for critical nutrients. Comparing food items just by kilograms, kcal or protein without relevant micronutrients is missing the actual meaning of nutrition: providing the organism with all nutrients to stay healthy and maintain physical and mental performance. Transforming the data from Poore & Nemecek to an nLCA brings soy drinks to the same level as cow milk, see figure. In general, comparing food items only by functional units doesn’t allow conclusions for political or any system-decision since you always need to scale it up to total consumption levels and benefits for costs. For example dairy products might have a higher climate footprint than soy drink compared by kilogram (not nLCA), but it provides more than 10% of worldwide protein supply with a positive protein conversion rate of inedible low quality plant-protein to edible high quality-animal protein of 0,6 to 1. At a GHG-production of 2,5% of total human GHG-Production. Which is even better considering nLCA-methods. Show that for soy drinks…