Simple Changes to Animal Feed Could Supply Food for One Billion People



The production of feed for cattle and fish is using up limited natural resources that could be utilized to generate more food for people, despite the fact that millions of people around the world are threatened by hunger or starvation. Aalto University's new study, which was published in Nature Food today (September 19), demonstrates how changing the way fish and animals are fed could increase human food availability while maintaining productivity. With these relatively easy improvements, the amount of food available on the planet would grow dramatically, giving up to 13% more people with calories. Furthermore, it does so without requiring significant dietary adjustments or an increase in the utilization of natural resources.

Currently, around a third of cereal crop production is used as animal feed, and about a quarter of fish that are caught aren't used for human use. A team of researchers led by Matti Kummu, an associate professor of global water and food issues at Aalto University, looked at the possibility of employing crop leftovers and food byproducts in livestock and aquaculture production to free up the material that may be used to feed people.

"Nobody had ever merged the food and feed flows from both land and aquatic systems in such depth from around the world before. The first step in figuring out the untapped potential was to identify how much of the food by-products and residues were already being used, says Kummu.

Researchers looked into the possibility of using crop leftovers and food waste to produce livestock and aquaculture, freeing up resources that may be used to feed people.

The researchers looked at how food and feed moved through the world's food production system, as well as their byproducts and residues. They then determined how to change these flows for a better result. For instance, rather than feeding cattle and farmed fish ingredients that are suitable for human consumption, food system by-products such as sugar beet or citrus pulp, fish and animal by-products, or even agricultural residues, could be used.

With these straightforward adjustments, up to 10% to 26% of the world's cereal production and 11% of the present seafood supply, or 17 million tons of fish, might be diverted from animal feed to human consumption. The increases in the food supply would range between 6 and 13 percent in terms of calories and between 9 and 15 percent in terms of protein, depending on the specific scenario. That may not seem like much, but according to Vilma Sandström, a postdoctoral researcher at Aalto University and the study's first author, that is enough food to feed up to one billion people.

These results fit in well with past research from Kummu's team on reducing food loss along the entire supply chain, from production to consumer waste. "In that study, we demonstrated that a 50% reduction in food loss and waste would result in a 12% increase in the amount of food available. That would result in roughly a quarter more food when combined with the use of byproducts as feed, he claims.

Despite the fact that some of the adjustments, including feeding agricultural leftovers to cattle, would decrease livestock output, the researchers had previously taken that into account in their analysis. Another difficulty is that the human-edible food now employed in aquaculture and animal production differs from what people are accustomed to eating. For instance, the feed industry uses a distinct kind of maize, some of whose grains are of lesser quality. The fish used to make fishmeal are typically small, bony fish that are not currently well-liked by customers.

Though realizing these benefits would involve some changes in supply chains, overcoming these difficulties might lead to significant gains. "For instance, the food chain would need to be reorganized so that producers and companies with by-products may connect with livestock and aquaculture producers who require them. Additionally, some of the byproducts would require processing before being used as feed, according to Sandström.

"I don't see any significant issues with doing this. It wouldn't be necessary to start from scratch because what we're proposing is already being done to some extent and in certain places. Just change the system as it is now, and expand the scope of such activities," Kummu says.

By AALTO UNIVERSITY 

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