Assessing the biophysical capacity and natural resources required to increase and geographically diversify fruit and vegetable production in the United States
McCarthy, Ashley.
2021
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts
University, 2021.
Submitted to the Dept. of Agriculture, Food and Environment.
Advisor: Christian Peters.
Committee: Timothy Griffin, and Sumeeta Srinivasan.
Keywords: Agriculture, Nutrition, and Environmental science.
Background: Fruits and vegetables (F&Vs) are key components of a healthy diet and Americans are encouraged ... read moreto eat more of these foods. However, the production of many F&Vs is concentrated in a few key regions of the country and it may not be possible to maintain or increase output from these areas due to natural resource constraints and climate change. Rather, developing new and more geographically diverse production systems may be necessary to meet food needs and adapt to changing conditions. The objective of this research is to assess the biophysical capacity and natural resource requirements of increasing and geographically diversifying F&V production in the contiguous U.S. Methods: Geospatial models were used to identify and quantify land suitable for producing F&V crops based on biophysical constraints. Building on this suitability assessment, a net-balance analysis estimated the extent to which the U.S. could meet current and recommended F&V consumption through domestic production based on biophysical capacity at the national and regional levels. Statistical analysis of crop yield and water footprint data examined regional variability in land and water requirements and location-specific tradeoffs between these resources. Results: The analysis shows that the U.S. has enough suitable land and biophysical capacity to meet both the current and recommended F&V intake for all Americans. The U.S. would need to grow F&Vs on 14.4 million acres to supply the current diet and 29.8 million acres to supply the recommended diet from domestic production alone. However, there is not enough suitable land to meet the intake of tropical and sub-tropical fruits in either diet scenario, so consumers would have to substitute other fruits to eat a domestically produced diet. Regional self-reliance for F&Vs is biophysically possible in all regions but would require substantial changes in dietary patterns and cropland use in most regions. Finally, there is a statistically significant difference in both regional land requirements and regional water requirements for nearly all the F&Vs examined and there are location-specific tradeoffs between the resources for some crops. Implications: Biophysical potential exists to accommodate shifts toward healthier dietary patterns and geographically diversify the production of most F&V crops. Understanding where F&V production could occur in the future is a crucial first step toward identifying opportunities to expand production and reduce geographic concentration. Efforts to reduce geographic concentration should consider the regional differences and tradeoffs in land and water requirements to avoid burden shifting and promote sustainable use of natural resources.read less - ID:
- m900p8078
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