Exploiting multiple feedstocks, under new policies and accounting rules, to balance biofuel production, food security, and greenhouse-gas reduction.

Major models should make trade-offs more transparent

Can the world meet growing demand for food while sharply reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture – and without converting more forests into agriculture? In the World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future, WRI set forth a challenging, global five-course menu of actions to do so. How should a country adapt this menu to its own agricultural context? A Pathway to Carbon Neutral Agriculture in Denmark answers this question for Denmark, a country whose major agricultural organizations have committed to become carbon neutral by 2050. A number of lessons are noteworthy, including: The importance of investing in developing, deploying and continuously improving agricultural technologies to mitigate climate change; Nations can’t reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions just by producing less food—that would just shift emissions to other countries. Rather, the world will need to produce more food, but on the same (or less) amount of land as today; and Increased food production must be linked with progress on reducing emissions and restoring forests and peatlands. The report’s lessons can inform not only Denmark’s agricultural future, but also that of other advanced agricultural economies.

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