254_Food Scarcity and the Urban Diet Pressure Loop Part One

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast 

Episode 254 

Food Scarcity and the Urban Diet Pressure Loop

 Part One

When you live in a developed country where life tends to be stable, it is easy to get the impression that all is good in the world and there are no worries. Most of us calmly go about our daily business and much of the time the vast array of global issues are out of sight out of mind.  For example, we are oblivious to the fact that millions of people in the world go hungry everyday.

Furthermore, it is even more difficult to believe that what we eat everyday contributes to food scarcity and hunger. Who would have ever thought about that.

So join me for episode 254 and learn how the urban-diet pressure loop contributes to food scarcity,  environmental degradation and world hunger. 

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E254 How the Urban-Diet Pressure Loop Contributes to Food Scarcity and Environmental Degradation.

I truly think that if you were raised in developed, modernized country you can count yourself among some of the most privileged people in the world. We live a life of comfort. We have what we want when we want. We can even do our grocery shopping online and have that delivered as well. For the most part, life always seems good. The majority of us never stop to think that we may actually be contributing to some of the biggest challenges our time.

Good News Story of the Week

But before we get to that, let’s talk about the good news story of the week.

As you likely know by now I am a very active scuba diver. One of my favorite creatures to see are the sea turtles. They are often very curious and sometimes not very shy about approaching people. Additionally, they often take naps on the sandy areas during the day which mean you can get quite close to them and take some awesome photos.

For many decades sea turtle populations were on the decline due to hunting and habitat destruction. But thanks to new legislation protecting both habitats and the turtles themselves, turtle populations are increasing worldwide. More turtles are nesting and in some areas there is as much as a 500% increase in egg production. Many former hunters have now turned into tour guides working in the ecotourism industry and introducing people to this majestic species. It also helps that younger generations now view the turtles as a valuable species instead of something to be harvested.

This is yet another example of how humanity can work together to protect the environment and restore biodiversity.

Now let’s move on to this weeks episode.

Now, I stated above that most of us never stop to think that what we do every day, in fact many of the things we take for granted, may actually be contributing to some of the biggest challenges our world now faces. I am going to spend the next couple of episodes focusing on why that is true and why our daily diet is a significant contributing factor to food scarcity and world hunger.

For those of us in the developed world we rarely think about food scarcity. Yet on a daily basis nearly 800 million people face hunger. Furthermore, I am willing to bet that not a single one of us realizes that our every day diet actually contributes to food scarcity and world hunger.

More that likely few of us have ever heard of what is called the urban diet pressure-loop. Actually I had never heard of this concept until I started researching material for this episode. But this pressure loop explains why our daily diet choices actually contributes to food scarcity and hunger.

So, here’s the dilemma we face. We produce enough food to feed the entire planet. In fact, global agriculture currently produces about 1.5 times the amount of food that is needed to feed the world’s population. The underlying problem is not the lack of food, but how that food is produced, distributed, used, and wasted. Furthermore, our present diets exacerbate the problem. And the reason for this is the urban diet pressure-loop. Allow me to explain.

Although urbanization started long before the 19th century, the modern era of rapid urbanization can be contributed to the Industrial Revolution. Since that time, the percentage of people moving to urban areas has increased. At present, on a global basis approximately 56% of people live in urban areas. In the United States, that is as much as 83%.

This trend toward urbanization is driven by a combination of factors. People migrate from rural to urban areas primarily in search of better employment opportunities, improved access to healthcare and education, and a higher standard of living. But this tremendous trend also produces some additional consequences related to our food systems.

In general incomes are higher in urban areas. Workers in larger cities earn higher average wages than those in smaller cities, a phenomenon known as the urban wage premium. With a higher wage comes an increased standard of living which is what you would expect. With a higher standard of living there is a strong positive correlation between increased income and increased consumption of meat, dairy, and processed foods- a phenomenon known as the “nutrition transition.”

💰 1. The Nutrition Transition: What It Means

•  As countries industrialize and incomes rise, people’s diets and lifestyles change in predictable ways.
•  They move from traditional, plant-based diets (grains, legumes, vegetables) to Westernized diets rich in meat, dairy, fats, sugar, and processed foods.
•  This shift reflects both economic ability and social aspiration — meat and processed foods become symbols of prosperity and modern living.

👉 Term coined by nutrition scientist Barry Popkin, the “nutrition transition” follows income growth and urbanization worldwide.

🍖 2. Why Income Growth Leads to More Meat and Dairy Consumption

A) Affordability

•  Meat, dairy, and processed foods are more expensive per calorie than staples such as rice or beans.
•  As income rises, people can afford to eat foods they previously viewed as “luxuries.”
•  This happens both at the household and national level: countries with rising GDP per capita show parallel rises in per-capita meat and dairy consumption.

👉 Example:

Between 1980 and 2020, as China’s income increased sevenfold, meat consumption rose more than fivefold.

B) Cultural and Social Status

•  In many cultures, meat and dairy are associated with wealth, status, and celebration.
•  As families climb the economic ladder, diets often shift to include more of these foods as a visible sign of prosperity.
•  Marketing by global food corporations also reinforces the idea that Westernized diets = success and modern living.

C) Urbanization and Convenience

•  Higher incomes often accompany urban lifestyles — less time for cooking, more reliance on ready-made, fast foods, and processed foods.
•  Supermarkets and fast-food chains expand rapidly in urban centers, making processed foods more accessible and desirable.
•  Traditional diets and cooking habits decline as convenience becomes a higher priority.

🧀 3. Processed Foods Rise Alongside Income

•  Wealthier consumers can afford packaged snacks, sugary drinks, refined grains, and oils.
•  These foods are heavily marketed, long-lasting, and convenient, fitting urban and modern lifestyles.
•  Global corporations target emerging markets with affordable processed foods — often cheaper than fresh fruits or vegetables in cities and large urban centers.

👉 Example: Between 2000 and 2020, ultra-processed food sales tripled in Latin America and Southeast Asia as middle classes expanded.

🐄 4. Environmental and Health Consequences

This shift has global ripple effects:

🌍 Environmental:

•  Increased meat and dairy demand → higher land, water, and energy use.
•  More greenhouse gas emissions from livestock.
•  Deforestation for grazing and feed crops (especially soy and corn).

🧠 Health:

•  Diet-related diseases like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease rise with income.
•  Ironically, as nations escape hunger, they enter an era of over nutrition and chronic disease.
•  Traditional diets (high in fiber, low in fat) are replaced with high-calorie, nutrient-poor foods.

👉 Example: Obesity rates in middle-income countries (such as Brazil, China, and Mexico) now rival those in wealthy nations.

📊 5. Global Data Patterns

•  Low-income countries: diets dominated by grains, roots, legumes.
•  Middle-income countries: rapid growth in animal protein and processed foods.
•  High-income countries: meat and dairy consumption plateaus — but remains high — while demand for plant-based alternatives is slowly growing.

👉 According to the Food and Agricultural Organization data:

•  In low-income countries, people eat less than 10 kg of meat per year.
•  In middle-income nations: 30–60 kg per year.
•  In high-income nations: 80–100+ kg per year.

That’s roughly a tenfold difference driven largely by income.

🔁 6. The Feedback Loop

As income rises → meat and processed food consumption rises → demand increases → production expands → prices fall → consumption rises further.

This creates a self-reinforcing global system that prioritizes high-impact foods — with major environmental and health costs.

✅ In Summary

The correlation between income and increased consumption of meat, dairy, and processed foods is strong because of:

Factor

Effect

💰 Higher income

Greater affordability of meat and packaged foods

🏙️ Urbanization

Less time, more demand for convenience foods

🧠 Social aspiration

Meat seen as a sign of success and modernity

🛒 Market availability

Global food corporations flood new markets

📈 Economic growth

Expands middle class, changing dietary patterns

➡️ Result: As people earn more, diets shift toward resource-intensive, high-calorie, and less sustainable foods — straining the environment and public health.

🍔 Changing Diets Increase Pressure on Land, Water, and Increases Emissions

🥩 A) Rise of Meat- and Dairy-Heavy Diets

•  As incomes rise, people tend to shift from plant-based diets to ones high in meat, dairy, and processed foods.
•  Producing animal-based foods requires far more land, feed, and water than grains or vegetables.

👉 Example:

•  It takes 15,000 liters (≈4,000 gallons) of water to produce 1 kilogram of beef.
•  Nearly 80% of global agricultural land is used for livestock grazing and feed — yet livestock provide less than 20% of the world’s calories.

This means more land and water are used to feed animals instead of humans, worsening food scarcity.

🌽 B) Crops Diverted for Animal Feed and Biofuels

•  A large share of global grain and soy production goes to animal feed or biofuel, not direct human consumption.
•  This reduces the amount of food available for people and raises prices for staple crops such as corn and wheat.

👉 Around 36% of global grain is fed to livestock, and about 10% goes into biofuel production.

🧂 C) Processed and Imported Foods

•  Urban diets are shifting toward highly processed, convenience foods, which require more energy and input of greater amounts of resources to produce and transport.
•  These foods often depend on global supply chains vulnerable to climate and even political disruptions.
•  This increases overall resource consumption while decreasing local food self-reliance.

🌍 D) Nutritional Inequality

•  In many developing countries, urbanization creates a dual food system:
•  The wealthy have access to imported, resource-intensive foods.
•  The poor struggle to afford even basic staples.
•  This worsens both malnutrition and obesity, and deepens economic inequality — a key factor behind food insecurity.

⚠️ 3. Combined Impact: The Urban–Diet Pressure Loop

Trend

Effect on Food Scarcity

Urban sprawl

Loss of farmland & local food supply

Long supply chains

Higher waste & vulnerability

Meat-heavy diets

Higher water & land use

Biofuel crops

Less food for people

Processed foods

More energy, packaging, and emissions

Consumer waste

Billions of tons of food lost annually

Together, these trends make the food system more resource-intensive, wasteful, and fragile — even as global demand keeps rising.

🏙️ Urbanization Concentrates Demand but Disconnects People from Food Production

🌾 A) Less Local Food Production

•  As cities expand, farmland is paved over for housing, roads, and industry.
•  Urban sprawl consumes fertile soil near cities — the very land best suited for feeding them.
•  This increases dependence on long-distance supply chains, which are more vulnerable to disruption and waste.

👉 Example: Every year, millions of hectares or acres of farmland are lost to urban expansion, especially in Asia and Africa.

🚚 B) Longer and More Fragile Supply Chains

•  Urban areas require vast logistics networks to transport, store, and distribute food.
•  Longer chains mean more energy use, packaging, and spoilage, especially for perishable foods.
•  When transport, energy, or trade are disrupted, urban centers — with little local food production — face immediate shortages.

💧 C) Higher Water and Energy Demands

•  Cities demand more processed, packaged, and imported foods — all of which use more water, energy, and resources.
•  Urban food systems tend to be more resource-intensive per calorie consumed than traditional rural diets.

🗑️ D) More Food Waste

•  In cities, much food waste happens at the consumer and retail levels — from supermarkets discarding “imperfect” produce to households throwing away leftovers.
•  Wealthier urban consumers waste more food, even as others go hungry nearby.
•  Globally, urban food waste contributes to nearly half of all post-harvest losses.

✅ In Summary

Urbanization and changing diets worsen food scarcity because they:

•  🏙️ Replace farmland with cities and lengthen food chains
•  🚚 Increase waste and dependence on distant production
•  🥩 Raise demand for resource-intensive foods
•  ⚖️ Deepen inequality in access to affordable nutrition

Let’s look at a couple of examples just to cement these thoughts in your memory because the resource demands and environmental impacts of animal vs. plant-based protein are vastly different.

🥩 1. Land Use

Protein Source

Land Required per 1 lb of Product

Explanation

Beef

🟤 ~30–50 square feet

Cows require large grazing areas and farmland to grow feed (corn, soy, alfalfa). About 80% of global agricultural land is used for livestock and feed, though it provides less than 20% of

calories.

Plant-Based Protein (e.g., Lentils, Peas, Soy, or Tofu)

🟢 ~1–3 square feet

Plant proteins are grown and consumed directly — no “middle step” of feeding an animal. This drastically reduces total land needed.

➡️ Beef uses roughly 15–20 times more land than most plant-based proteins.
Deforestation for grazing and soy feed (especially in the Amazon) is a major driver of habitat loss and biodiversity decline.

💧 2. Water Use

Protein Source

Water Required per 1 lb

Key Points

Beef

🟤 ~1,800 gallons (≈6,800 liters)**

Water is needed for animal drinking, cleaning, growing feed crops, and processing. “Virtual water” includes everything from irrigation to slaughterhouse cleaning.

Plant-Based Protein (e.g., Lentils, Tofu, Peas)

🟢 ~200–300 gallons (≈750–1,100 liters)**

Water is primarily used for irrigation; no extra water for feed or livestock upkeep.

➡️ Producing beef uses about 6–10 times more water than growing equivalent plant-based protein.

🌾 3. Feed Conversion Efficiency

Metric

Beef

Plant-Based Protein

Feed required per 1 lb of protein

🟤 6–10 lbs of grain/feed

🟢 1–1.5 lbs of crops (directly consumed)

It takes 6–10 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of beef, meaning most calories are lost converting plant energy into animal mass.
Plant-based proteins are direct energy sources — far more efficient for feeding people.

🌡️ 4. Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGs)

Protein Source

CO₂-Equivalent Emissions per 1 lb

Explanation

Beef

🟤 ~25–30 kg CO₂e (≈55–66 lbs CO₂e)**

Cows emit methane during digestion (enteric fermentation), and manure releases nitrous oxide — both powerful greenhouse gases. Beef also requires fossil fuels for transport and fertilizer.

Plant-Based Protein (e.g., Lentils, Soy, Peas)

🟢 ~1–3 kg CO₂e (≈2–7 lbs CO₂e)**

Plants emit much less CO₂ overall; nitrogen fertilizers and transport are main contributors.

➡️ Beef produces 10–20 times more GHG emissions than most plant proteins.

🧪 5. Energy and Fertilizer Use

Aspect

Beef

Plant-Based Protein

Energy Use

🟤 High – feed production, transport, heating barns, processing

🟢 Moderate – mainly farming and processing

Fertilizer Use

🟤 Heavy – for growing feed crops

🟢 Lower – legumes fix nitrogen naturally, reducing fertilizer need

➡️ Growing legumes such as lentils or soybeans enriches the soil with nitrogen, improving fertility for future crops — while feed crops for cattle deplete it.

🗑️ 6. Pollution and Waste

Type

Beef

Plant-Based Protein

Manure Waste

🟤 Large volumes produce methane and water pollution

🟢 Minimal waste, mostly compostable plant residues

Water Pollution

🟤 Runoff from feedlots and manure contaminates rivers

🟢 Lower nutrient runoff and no livestock waste

Deforestation

🟤 Major driver (Amazon rainforest cleared for cattle/feed)

🟢 Minimal land clearing, especially in rotation systems

🌍 7. Overall Environmental Footprint Summary

Impact Category

Beef

Plant-Based Protein

Difference

Land Use

🌋 Very High

🌱 Very Low

~20× higher for beef

Water Use

💧 Very High

💧 Low

~10× higher for beef

GHG Emissions

🌫️ Very High

🌤️ Very Low

~20× higher for beef

Energy Use

⚡ High

⚡ Moderate

~4× higher for beef

Pollution & Deforestation

🏭 Severe

🌳 Minimal

Major gap

✅ In Summary

Producing 1 pound of beef vs. 1 pound of plant-based protein:

Resource

Beef

Plant-Based

Beef Uses…

Land

30–50 sq ft

1–3 sq ft

~20× more

Water

~1,800 gal

~250 gal

~7× more

GHG Emissions

25–30 kg CO₂e

1–3 kg CO₂e

~15× more

🌍 Conclusion:

Beef production is among the most resource-intensive and environmentally damaging forms of protein. Shifting even part of our diets toward plant-based proteins dramatically reduces land use, water demand, pollution, and greenhouse emissions — while freeing up resources to feed more people globally.

🔁  The Self-Reinforcing “Urban Diet Pressure Loop”

Here’s how the cycle perpetuates itself:

1.  Urbanization → more people concentrated in cities.
2.  Rising incomes → demand for meat, dairy, and processed foods.
3.  Industrial agriculture expansion → monocultures, deforestation, high resources inputs.
4.  Long, global supply chains → higher emissions, more loss and waste.
5.  Environmental degradation & climate change → less resilient production.
6.  Food price shocks & inequality → urban demand for cheap, processed foods grows even more.
7.  Back to Step 1: Urban growth and consumption rise again, amplifying the loop.

👉 Result: Each cycle increases resource intensity, waste, fragility of our supply chains and increased environmental damage.

Now there is a lot more to this concept of urban diet pressure loop than what I can present in one episode. So, next week I am going to cover some additional concepts just to reinforce why we need to change so many of the things we are doing. It all starts with our personal choices.

But there is another thing you should consider. We live in an environment where we are constantly pelted with advertisements. Everyone wants your money. Everyone wants you to purchase THEIR product. However, no one actually cares about your health. Safeguarding your health and wellbeing is up to you and only you.

Big corporations, the oil industry, the plastics industry and the food industry will all say the same thing. “We are only providing consumers with the products and services that they want, the very things they are asking for.” What they means is that we have to change what we are asking for. Our personal choices drive the market place and consequently our choices do make changes.

More often than not, the most sustainable choices you can make are in fact the least expensive and the healthiest options. Contrary to popular belief it does do not take that much time or effort to purchase basic ingredients and whole foods and cook from scratch.

This urban diet pressure loop all started with the rapid urbanization following the Industrial Revolution. Now in the U.S. as much as 83% of people live in urban areas. You would think that concentrating more people in a small area would reduce our environmental impact. But, the opposite is true.

In a way this trend toward urbanization makes me laugh. I am not at all a city person and I think that all these people crowded together in a small space leaves more rural areas for me to enjoy. Additionally, in the unlikely event of a major crisis the last place I would ever want to be is in an urban area with a high concentration of people.

Well folks, I truly hope you have enjoyed this episode and I also hope it will encourage you to make choices that are much more sustainable. Next week, I am going to dive into more detail about how our diet choices contribute to environmental damage, food scarcity and world hunger. But I also want to discuss how we can change that. Until then, this is your host Patrick signing off. Always remember to live sustainable because this is how we build a better future.