Abstract
Feeding the world's growing population, while producing economic benefits with limited environmental effects, is a major challenge faced by global food supply chains. This is especially apparent when the production stage is predominated by smallholders as they each face varying economic and environmental demands, making it difficult to mobilize them on the ground. This study investigated how the environmental and economic sustainability of wheat supply chains could be improved by analyzing the performance of all stakeholders, especially the smallholders. Results showed that 77% of GHG emissions came from wheat cultivation, and less than 8% of the total economic benefits were recouped during this stage. In contrast, smallholders in the Science and Technology Backyards, reduced their GHG emissions by 16.4% and improved their economic benefits by 1.3- fold. Furthermore, a 2.6-fold increase in profit (1808 USD) with GHG emission reduction was achieved simultaneously by integrating all individual stages as a whole. This study found that the sustainability of the wheat supply chain was mainly affected by wheat cultivation. It also demonstrated the potential efficacy of empowering smallholders and integration of all individual stages as a whole to improve the sustainability of food supply chains.
Highlights
The global food supply chain will face significant challenges in the 21st century
Crop production is responsible for the majority of anthropogenic environ mental effects (Kulak et al, 2015), and in the UK wheat-to-bread supply chain, it was found that most greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were primarily attributable to wheat production, with 56% coming from synthetic N fertilizer use (Goucher et al, 2017)
Data was collected by three tech niques: farmer surveys (n = 265 farmers, those who carried out con ventional farmer practices, or “FP”), farmer monitoring (n = 59 farmers engaged in STB programs, hereafter “STB farmers”), and long-term field experiments under optimal management conditions
Summary
The global food supply chain will face significant challenges in the 21st century. To meet the needs of a growing population by 2050, it will need to provide more food and reduce its effect on the environment (Tilman et al, 2011). In rapidly developing countries, the components of the supply chain are highly fragmented (Roth et al, 2008) This fragmentation has caused repercussions such as low N use efficiency (NUE) and high environmental risk, contributing to dimin ishing profits, and the reduced sustainability of the world’s food supply chain (Jiao et al, 2019). Crop production is responsible for the majority of anthropogenic environ mental effects (Kulak et al, 2015), and in the UK wheat-to-bread supply chain, it was found that most greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were primarily attributable to wheat production, with 56% coming from synthetic N fertilizer use (Goucher et al, 2017) This will increase environmental risks related to N loss (ammonia volatilization etc.) (Ju et al, 2009; Vitousek et al, 2009). Improving NUE in crop production is an effective approach for achieving sustainability
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