More Like this

1. Overview of cold chain development in China and methods of studying its environmental impacts

   https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/abd622  

   Dong, Yabin; Xu, Ming; Miller, Shelie A. (January 2021, Environmental Research Communications)

   Abstract The cold chain (refrigerated supply chain) is an important application of refrigeration technologies. The capacity of the cold chain industry is growing rapidly in emerging economies such as China, leading to significant environmental impacts, especially greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. By conducting the literature review, this study begins with presenting a comprehensive overview of the cold chain industry in China. We observed that China has a large total cold warehouse capacity but low capacity per capita. Then, we directly link the example of the cold chain in China to the methods of evaluating the GHG emissions from the cold chain industry. It is observed that existing studies either primarily focus on the lifecycle of food with less consideration on the cold chain facilities or primarily focus on the lifetime of a certain stage of the cold chain (e.g., refrigerated transportation) with less consideration on food. Neither frameworks capture the entire cold chain system. Moreover, we argue that existing studies lack investigations of the cold chain GHG emissions on the national scale. To evaluate the overall GHG emissions, we recommended that one can use the bottom-up approach. First, use the lifecycle assessment (LCA) to estimate the single-unit level (e.g., one kg food, one particular refrigerated warehouse) cold chain emissions. Second, aggregate up to the national scale by the distribution patterns of the cold chain networks. Finally, we identify the crucial future issues regarding collecting cold chain lifecycle inventory data, investigating the cold chain network and the overall environmental impacts in China, regulation and technology needs for expanding the clean refrigeration technologies, and the implications of the cold chain development to water, land, and society. 

   more » « less
2. Mapping local food self-sufficiency in the U.S. and the tradeoffs for food system diversity

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2022.102687  

   Bingham, D. R.; Rushforth, R. R.; Stevens, B.; Ruddell, B. L. (April 2022, Applied geography)

   The demand for ‘local food’ by U.S. consumers has grown markedly over the last several decades, accompanied by confusion over how to define local food. Is ‘local’ food defined by the location of the farm, food processing factory, distribution warehouse, or all three? Is ‘local’ food defined by geographic, political, or biophysical boundaries? Is ‘local’ solely farm-to-table or can it include factories? This study evaluates food commodity flow ‘localness’ using jurisdictional boundaries and physical distance to investigate the potential for food system transformation and the tradeoffs inherent to ‘localizing’ food production. We take a supply chain approach by making data-driven distinctions between farm-based flows of food and industrial, energy and nonfood (IENF) crops, and manufacturing/distribution flows of food and agriculturally-derived industrial inputs. We analyze the diversity, distance (a proxy for environmental impact), political boundaries, population, weight, and price (net selling value) of food commodity flows. The diversity of a community's food supply has an optimal range of zero to four-hundred miles. We find tradeoffs between food system diversity and local food sourcing, sustainability, and self-sufficiency. As communities look to improve food system resilience, they will need to balance food-miles and the other values associated with local food. 

   more » « less
3. Food flows between counties in the United States

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab29ae  

   Lin, Xiaowen; Ruess, Paul_J; Marston, Landon; Konar, Megan (July 2019, Environmental Research Letters)

   Abstract Food consumption and production are separated in space through flows of food along complex supply chains. These food supply chains are critical to our food security, making it important to evaluate them. However, detailed spatial information on food flows within countries is rare. The goal of this paper is to estimate food flows between all county pairs within the United States. To do this, we develop the Food Flow Model, a data-driven methodology to estimate spatially explicit food flows. The Food Flow Model integrates machine learning, network properties, production and consumption statistics, mass balance constraints, and linear programming. Specifically, we downscale empirical information on food flows between 132 Freight Analysis Framework locations (17 292 potential links) to the 3142 counties and county-equivalents of the United States (9869 022 potential links). Subnational food flow estimates can be used in future work to improve our understanding of vulnerabilities within a national food supply chain, determine critical infrastructures, and enable spatially detailed footprint assessments. 

   more » « less
4. Workflows for Knowledge Co-Production—Meat and Dairy Processing in Ohio and Northern California

   https://doi.org/10.3390/su15139991  

   Hollander, Allan D.; Hoy, Casey W.; Armstrong, Kevin S.; Dimock, Michael R.; Huber, Patrick R.; Jackson-Smith, Douglas; Quinn, James F.; Riggle, Courtney M.; Tomich, Thomas P. (July 2023, Sustainability)

   Solving the wicked problems of food system sustainability requires a process of knowledge co-production among diverse actors in society. We illustrate a generalized workflow for knowledge co-production in food systems with a pair of case studies from the response of the meat and dairy production sectors in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first case study serves as an example of a scientific workflow and uses a GIS method (location allocation) to examine the supply chain linkages between meat and dairy producers and processors in Ohio. This analysis found that meat producers and processors are less clustered and more evenly distributed across the state than dairy producers and processors, with some dairy processors potentially needing to rely on supply from producers up to 252 km away. The second case study in California adds an example of a stakeholder workflow in parallel to a scientific workflow and describes the outcome of a series of interviews with small and mid-scale meat producers and processors concerning their challenges and opportunities, with the concentration of processors arising as the top challenge faced by producers. We present a pair of workflow diagrams for the two case studies that illustrate where the processes of knowledge co-production are situated. Examining these workflow processes highlights the importance of data privacy, data governance, and boundary spanners that connect stakeholders. 

   more » « less
5. Balancing Non‐CO ₂ GHG Emissions and Soil Carbon Change in U.S. Rice Paddies: A Retrospective Meta‐Analysis and Agricultural Modeling Study

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2023AV001052  

   Zhang, Jingting; Tian, Hanqin; You, Yongfa; Liang, Xin‐Zhong; Ouyang, Zutao; Pan, Naiqing; Pan, Shufen (February 2024, AGU Advances)

   Abstract U.S. rice paddies, critical for food security, are increasingly contributing to non‐CO₂greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions like methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O). Yet, the full assessment of GHG balance, considering trade‐offs between soil organic carbon (SOC) change and non‐CO₂GHG emissions, is lacking. Integrating an improved agroecosystem model with a meta‐analysis of multiple field studies, we found that U.S. rice paddies were the rapidly growing net GHG emission sources, increased 138% from 3.7 ± 1.2 Tg CO₂eq yr⁻¹in the 1960s to 8.9 ± 2.7 Tg CO₂eq yr⁻¹in the 2010s. CH₄, as the primary contributor, accounted for 10.1 ± 2.3 Tg CO₂eq yr⁻¹in the 2010s, alongside a notable rise in N₂O emissions by 0.21 ± 0.03 Tg CO₂eq yr⁻¹. SOC change could offset 14.0% (1.45 ± 0.46 Tg CO₂eq yr⁻¹) of the climate‐warming effects of soil non‐CO₂GHG emissions in the 2010s. This escalation in net GHG emissions is linked to intensified land use, increased atmospheric CO₂, higher synthetic nitrogen fertilizer and manure application, and climate change. However, no/reduced tillage and non‐continuous irrigation could reduce net soil GHG emissions by approximately 10% and non‐CO₂GHG emissions by about 39%, respectively. Despite the rise in net GHG emissions, the cost of achieving higher rice yields has decreased over time, with an average of 0.84 ± 0.18 kg CO₂eq ha⁻¹emitted per kilogram of rice produced in the 2010s. The study suggests the potential for significant GHG emission reductions to achieve climate‐friendly rice production in the U.S. through optimizing the ratio of synthetic N to manure fertilizer, reducing tillage, and implementing intermittent irrigation. 

   more » « less