European Union in the context of the current model of production and consumption: food self-sufficiency from a photosynthetic energy perspective

Abstract

For their effective management, food systems need to have an understanding of their capacity for self-sufficiency in a sustainable environment, not only to achieve goal 2 (zero hunger) of the 17 United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but also considering all the interrelationships between them. The European Union (EU) can be considered a complex food system due to the territorial identity of regulations that define it from production to consumption, so it makes sense to study the balance of food energy produced and consumed in its different forms. The complexity of this system requires to have detailed data for its study; The available official data often lacks these details, so it has been necessary to carry out an extensive additional search for complementary data. In this work, the EU is considered as a closed system both in population and in exchanges of valid products for its food and refers exclusively to food energy, its production and consumption, without taking into account the consumption of energy corresponding to the operation of all the agri-food chain. Food consumption, intake plus waste, has been calculated considering as intake not only basic energy consumption, but also extra consumption due to cultural, social or behavioral causes. The availability of real food energy has been evaluated from the initial value obtained from all sources and from there the photosynthetic energy dedicated to intensive livestock and equivalents and that destined to other non-food uses has been deduced. Apart from the partial data (see comments and conclusions), the global results of this study show a dietary energy deficit of the order of 17%, due to an excess of consumption, waste and the allocation to collateral uses of a part of the available energy. The information and knowledge provided by the results obtained have to be valid in order to contribute to the analysis of food strategies in the EU and provide solutions.