The rise in international food trade and the proliferation of heavily processed and packaged foods has distanced most people from what they eat, both geographically and psychologically. But because humanity devotes such a large share of the planet’s surface to food production—25 percent, more than the world’s forested area—it is impossible to separate the way farmers raise food from the health of rivers, wetlands, forests, and our living environment. According to a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, our food choices rival transportation as the human activity with the greatest impact on the environment.
