Optimizing food supply for nutrition and environmental sustainability—The potential of plant-based foods to improve nutrient supply and reduce environmental externalities in China

The goal of a food system is to ensure that everyone has access to enough healthy, nutritious food, now and in the future. This thesis explores how China can improve its food supply to better meet people’s nutritional needs while also reducing environmental impact, with a focus on plant-based foods.

This thesis determines the consequences for nutrient provisioning of making better use of farmland (for example by growing maize and soybeans together or reallocating crop areas), reducing food loss and waste, increasing whole grains consumption. By consuming less meat, farmland currently used for animal feed can be used to grow crops for direct human consumption instead. The findings show that these changes could significantly improve both nutrition and environmental sustainability in China. However, making this happen requires change across the entire food system, from farming and food processing to trade and consumption. By considering all these steps together, policymakers and stakeholders can build healthier and more sustainable food systems.