Organic and conventional agriculture Land Food Footprint and diet nexus: the case study of Tuscany, Italy

Urban population growth has raised concerns about food security. Agricultural systems are asked to satisfy a growing demand of food while addressing sustainability issues and facing resource constraints. Ecological footprints are a widespread instrument for the study of human dependence on natural resources. Among these tools, Land Food Footprint (LFF) is used to measure the land actually used to produce the food needed to satisfy the demand of a specific region or country. Understanding the differences between alternative production methods and the gaps between available and needed land is crucial in order to integrate food security and sustainability into rural development programmes and urban planning. The objective of this study is to analyse the Land Food Footprint of Tuscany (Italy) both for organic and conventional production methods, taking into account the nexus of diet. In this aim, we assess Land Food Footprint for the considered production processes under four different diet scenarios with different levels of animal protein consumption. The study shows that the gap between organic and conventional land requirements varies considerably between vegetable and animal foods. It confirms that organic agriculture needs more land than conventional one, but the gap between land footprints shrinks as consequence of dietary changes. The most important finding is that, in the case study, organic agriculture could feed the population if the diet shifts towards reduced intake of animal protein. In fact with a 50% diet reduction in animal proteins, the organic land food footprint value is equal to the conventional land food footprint under the status quo scenario.