Sustainability lab Name:
ANSC 1111/SAAS 113
Due Sunday, 2/5 11:59pm via HuskyCT
Goal: Explore issues related to food for human or animal use and sustainability. Work
together with your group to determine the answers to the questions below.
1. How much energy is used to produce food? Animal products? Fruits/vegetables?
- Agriculture uses about 2.1 quadrillion Btu of energy each year. 7.3 units of primarily fossil
energy for one unit of food energy. About 107,482 Btu per single pound of beef… bout 42,992 Btu
per lb of pork, and 15,013 per pound of chicken.
2. How much water is used for food production? (Recall from previous lab)
- 52.8 million gallons of water/second. 66% of total water usage.
3. How much land is used for food production in the US? In the world?
- 895.3 million acres. 5 billion hectares
4. Define a “food mile”.
- The distance food is transported from the time of its making until it reaches the consumer.
- Can mean farm to table, etc.
5. How much food is wasted? Where are the biggest losses?
- Varies per household, about 30%-40% of all the food we grow/ make is lost. About 1 lb per
person daily. Biggest loss occurs in production stage (eg. ugly produce, Misfit Market)
6. How does food packaging affect the amount of energy needed for food production? What
can be done to reduce this energy usage?
- Packaging uses lots of energy: water, chemicals, wood; most of the packaging is discarded
and goes to landfills. Recycling and changing type of packaging material used or supported
can help to reduce energy usage.
7. Compare and contrast the energy footprint of organic vs. conventional food production.
- (No pesticides, antibiotics, grazing rules, chemical usage = organic). Organic use 45% less
energy due to lack of chemical usage. Organic farms typically will compost, etc.
8. Do you think that we are eating sustainably?
- Not overall as a country- one of highest amounts of released greenhouse gases, very
modern meaning more cities, more people, larger emissions. Convenience tops
sustainability, so more water and energy goes into things that we could make to eat with the
use of less chemicals and other materials.
- College dining halls= definitely not, tons of food waste.
