IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/gjagec/334250.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can Food Waste Reduction in Europe Help to Increase Food Availability and Reduce Pressure on Natural Resources Globally?

Author

Listed:
  • Jafari, Yaghoob
  • Britz, Wolfgang
  • Hasan, Dudu
  • Roson, Roberto
  • Sartori, Martina

Abstract

In recent years, reducing food waste and loss has become a policy priority in the European Union, but little is known about impacts of related measures in the EU and beyond. This study informs the debate on food waste reduction through a quantitative analysis. It considers adjustment costs for reducing food waste in food processing industries and impacts on food availability, pressure on land and water and other environmental consequences. The results suggest that the leakage effects of global trade may offset almost all benefits of food waste reduction in the EU. We thus conclude that costly efforts to reduce food waste in the EU cannot be motivated by larger contributions to global food availability and environmental benefits. This highlights the need for global coordination of such policies and/or more targeted actions in the EU which focus on specific production chains, where losses can be reduced and environmental gains obtained at a relatively low cost.

Suggested Citation

  • Jafari, Yaghoob & Britz, Wolfgang & Hasan, Dudu & Roson, Roberto & Sartori, Martina, 2020. "Can Food Waste Reduction in Europe Help to Increase Food Availability and Reduce Pressure on Natural Resources Globally?," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 69(2), May.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:gjagec:334250
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.334250
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/334250/files/827_org.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.334250?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rutten, Martine & Kavallari, Aikaterini, 2016. "Reducing food losses to protect domestic food security in the Middle East and North Africa," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 11(2), pages 1-13.
    2. Keeney, Roman & Thomas Hertel, 2005. "GTAP-AGR : A Framework for Assessing the Implications of Multilateral Changes in Agricultural Policies," GTAP Technical Papers 1869, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University.
    3. Ulrich Koester, 2014. "Food Loss and Waste as an Economic and Policy Problem," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 49(6), pages 348-354, November.
    4. Campoy-Muñoz, P. & Cardenete, M.A. & Delgado, M.C., 2017. "Economic impact assessment of food waste reduction on European countries through social accounting matrices," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 202-209.
    5. Brenna Ellison & Jayson L Lusk, 2018. "Examining Household Food Waste Decisions: A Vignette Approach," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(4), pages 613-631, December.
    6. Krishna Bahadur KC & Iftekharul Haque & Alexander F. Legwegoh & Evan D. G. Fraser, 2016. "Strategies to Reduce Food Loss in the Global South," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-13, June.
    7. Gibbs, Holly & Sahoko Yui & Richard Plevin, 2014. "New Estimates of Soil and Biomass Carbon Stocks for Global Economic Models," GTAP Technical Papers 4344, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University.
    8. Dominique van der Mensbrugghe, 2018. "The Standard GTAP Model in GAMS, Version 7," Journal of Global Economic Analysis, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, vol. 3(1), pages 1-83, June.
    9. Stephen F Hamilton & Timothy J Richards, 2019. "Food Policy and Household Food Waste," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 101(2), pages 600-614.
    10. Gibbs, Holly & Yui, Sahoko & Plevin, Richard, 2014. "New Estimates of Soil and Biomass Carbon Stocks for Global Economic Models," Technical Papers 283432, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    11. Britz, Wolfgang & Dudu, Hasan & Ferrari, Emanuele, 2014. "Economy-wide Impacts of Food Waste Reduction: A General Equilibrium Approach," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 186677, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    12. Wolfgang Britz & Hasan Dudu & Ilaria Fusacchia & Yaghoob Jafari & Roberto Roson & Luca Salvatici & Martina Sartori, 2019. "Economy-wide analysis of food waste reductions and related costs," JRC Research Reports JRC113395, Joint Research Centre.
    13. Morvarid Bagherzadeh & Mitsuhiro Inamura & Hyunchul Jeong, 2014. "Food Waste Along the Food Chain," OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers 71, OECD Publishing.
    14. Hertel, Thomas, 1997. "Global Trade Analysis: Modeling and applications," GTAP Books, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, number 7685, December.
    15. Koester, Ulrich, 2014. "Food loss and waste as an economic and policy problem," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 49(6), pages 348-354.
    16. Iman Haqiqi & Farzad Taheripour & Jing Liu & Dominique van der Mensbrugghe, 2016. "Introducing Irrigation Water into GTAP Data Base Version 9," Journal of Global Economic Analysis, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, vol. 1(2), pages 116-155, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jafari, Yaghoob & Engemann, Helena & Heckelei, Thomas & Hainsch, Karlo, 2023. "National and Regional Economic Impacts of changes in Germany's electricity mix: A dynamic analysis through 2050," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    2. Pilar Campoy-Muñoz & Manuel Alejandro Cardenete & María del Carmen Delgado & Ferran Sancho, 2021. "Food Losses and Waste: A Needed Assessment for Future Policies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-11, November.
    3. Boysen-Urban, Kirsten & Philippidis, George & M'barek, Robert & Ferrari, Emanuele, 2021. "Impacts of Changes Towards More Sustainable Food Production and Consumption at the Global Level," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315275, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pilar Campoy-Muñoz & Manuel Alejandro Cardenete & María del Carmen Delgado & Ferran Sancho, 2021. "Food Losses and Waste: A Needed Assessment for Future Policies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-11, November.
    2. Wolfgang Britz & Hasan Dudu & Ilaria Fusacchia & Yaghoob Jafari & Roberto Roson & Luca Salvatici & Martina Sartori, 2019. "Economy-wide analysis of food waste reductions and related costs," JRC Research Reports JRC113395, Joint Research Centre.
    3. Erwin Corong & Thomas Hertel & Robert McDougall & Marinos Tsigas & Dominique van der Mensbrugghe, 2017. "The Standard GTAP Model, version 7," Journal of Global Economic Analysis, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, vol. 2(1), pages 1-119, June.
    4. Aino Friman & Nina Hyytiä, 2022. "The Economic and Welfare Effects of Food Waste Reduction on a Food-Production-Driven Rural Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, March.
    5. Britz, Wolfgang & Li, Jingwen & Shang, Linmei, 2021. "Combining large-scale sensitivity analysis in Computable General Equilibrium models with Machine Learning: An Example Application to policy supporting the bio-economy," Conference papers 333285, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    6. Sarah Rohr & Stuart Mounter & Derek Baker, 2024. "Implications for Economic Sustainability of Food Systems from Reductions in Household Food Waste: The Case of the Australian Apple Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-14, January.
    7. Nelson Villoria & Rachael Garrett & Florian Gollnow & Kimberly Carlson, 2022. "Leakage does not fully offset soy supply-chain efforts to reduce deforestation in Brazil," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Roberto Ruggieri & Giuliana Vinci & Marco Ruggeri & Henry Sardaryan, 2020. "Food losses and food waste: The Industry 4.0 opportunity for the sustainability challenge," RIVISTA DI STUDI SULLA SOSTENIBILITA', FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(1), pages 159-177.
    9. Sands, Ronald D. & Malcolm, Scott A. & Suttles, Shellye A. & Marshall, Elizabeth, 2017. "Dedicated Energy Crops and Competition for Agricultural Land," Economic Research Report 252445, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    10. Haddad, Salwa & Escobar, Neus & Bruckner, Martin & Britz, Wolfgang, 2019. "Global land use impacts from a subsidy on grassland-based ruminant livestock production in the European Union," Conference papers 333082, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    11. Henseler, Martin & Piot-Lepetit, Isabelle & Ferrari, Emanuele & Mellado, Aida Gonzalez & Banse, Martin & Grethe, Harald & Parisi, Claudia & Hélaine, Sophie, 2013. "On the asynchronous approvals of GM crops: Potential market impacts of a trade disruption of EU soy imports," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 166-176.
    12. Grant, Jason H. & Hertel, Thomas W. & Rutherford, Thomas F., 2006. "Extending General Equilibrium to the Tariff Line: U.S. Dairy in the DOHA Development Agenda," 2006 Annual Meeting, August 12-18, 2006, Queensland, Australia 25305, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    13. Palatnik, Ruslana R. & Kan, Iddo & Rapaport-Rom, Mickey & Ghermandi, Andrea & Eboli, Fabio & Shechter, Mordechai, 2011. "Land transformation analysis and application," Conference papers 332155, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    14. Glyn Wittwer & Mark Horridge, 2018. "SinoTERM365, Bottom-up Representation of China at the Prefectural Level," Centre of Policy Studies/IMPACT Centre Working Papers g-285, Victoria University, Centre of Policy Studies/IMPACT Centre.
    15. Mun Ho & Wolfgang Britz & Ruth Delzeit & Florian Leblanc & Roberto Roson & Franziska Schuenemann & Matthias Weitzel, 2020. "Modelling Consumption and Constructing Long-Term Baselines in Final Demand," Journal of Global Economic Analysis, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, vol. 5(1), pages 63-108, June.
    16. Hertel, Thomas W. & Tyner, Wallace E. & Birur, Dileep K., 2008. "Biofuels for all? Understanding the Global Impacts of Multinational Mandates," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6526, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    17. Henning TARP JENSEN, 2009. "General Equilibrium Impact Evaluation of Road Sector Investment Projects in Ghana," EcoMod2009 21500087, EcoMod.
    18. Ernesto Valenzuela & Kym Anderson & Thomas Hertel, 2008. "Impacts of trade reform: sensitivity of model results to key assumptions," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 4(4), pages 395-420, February.
    19. Alexandre Gohin, 2019. "General Equilibrium Modelling of the Insurance Industry: U.S. Crop Insurance," Journal of Global Economic Analysis, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, vol. 4(2), pages 108-145, December.
    20. Francesco Bosello & Lorenza Campagnolo & Raffaello Cervigni & Fabio Eboli, 2018. "Climate Change and Adaptation: The Case of Nigerian Agriculture," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 69(4), pages 787-810, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:gjagec:334250. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iahubde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.