Land Consumption for Current Diets Compared with That for the Planetary Health Diet—How Many People Can Our Land Feed?

Abstract

Nowadays dietary habits in many countries are disconnected from the locally available resources and land. Current diets harm ecosystems and people’s health. (Re-)regionalising food systems and aligning diets with planetary boundaries can be one way to reconnect people to the food that they eat. Within academic discourse, there are numerous debates about the benefits and drawbacks of regional agriculture, and the circumstances that determine the viability of regional agriculture as a preferable approach. An argument that often merges is that feeding a whole population using local resources cannot be accomplished. However, is this true? To test this argument, we used statistical data and created a framework to calculate land consumption in square meters per capita according to different dietary habits, among other factors. This study will focus on scenario analyses for the region of Hesse, Germany—with an emphasis on the livestock sector—as land consumption for the production of meat, milk and eggs is relatively high there. Our results show that the region is far from being able to feed the current livestock population and that it does not have the land to support the livestock needed to sustain current consumption patterns. However, the region could support a smaller livestock population with the implementation of the planetary health diet, especially if farmers were to adopt crop rotation systems and (more) extensive husbandry.