Over the next (and possibly last) few decades of human population growth, there will be a need for more food and particularly for more protein. As much as possible this needs to happen without converting any more wild lands to agriculture because doing so would contribute to climate change and diminish biodiversity. Fortunately, there are solutions to meet this need without land-use change. This will require sustainable versions of both land-based and ocean-based farming and a connection between the two.
Rational Intensification of Farming
For decades, land-based farmers have been producing more and more of our key food, feed, fiber and fuel crops on each acre or hectare of farm. This has been enabled through “rational intensification” based on genetic improvements, use-efficiency gains for water and fertilizer, and integrated pest management (IPM). The sustainability of this production can be documented through tools like the Fieldprint® Calculator developed by the Field-To-Market multi-stakeholder organization. Animal production efficiency has also been showing steady gains over time on a per-animal or per-feed-ton basis. Thus, land-based plant and animal production will probably be able to meet a major part of our increasing protein needs, although climate change is the “wild card” here.
Oceans and other bodies of water are also a source of a significant part of the human food supply. Seafood is an excellent source of high-quality protein, health-promoting omega-3 fats, vitamins B and D, and the necessary element, Selenium. The ocean-based food chain begins with tiny algae that capture the sun’s energy and cyanobacteria that capture nitrogen. That nutrient base feeds a progression of larger and larger organisms and eventually makes its way into the finfish, shellfish and crustaceans we enjoy (e.g. salmon, clams, shrimp…). Humans have essentially “hunted” a substantial part of the global protein supply for millennia, using various catch methods that tap into wild populations of sea-dwelling creatures. With appropriate “fisheries management,” this sort of harvest can be sustainable, but care must be taken to avoid overfishing these stocks beyond what their respective environments can support. There isn’t much (if any) more room for responsible increase for many species and regions. But there is a great deal of potential for the expansion of the food supply through “aquaculture”. Even in ancient China, Egypt and Rome, humans “farmed” seafood, but this has become far more sophisticated in the last century. This seafood category is much better suited for expansion to help meet growing global protein needs. Aquaculture in the ocean and in some land-based systems is a rapidly growing segment of the global food supply.
Because the aquaculture industry is truly global and conducted in environmentally sensitive settings, it has been important for the industry and its customers to work together to research, define and then certify sustainable aquaculture practices. An award-winning fishery scientist, Emily De Sousa and Brand Ambassador for Secret Island Salmon helped to provide the following perspective. The Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) is a multi-stakeholder organization which has been working on this for ten years, cooperates with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as well as with SSCI (Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative). GSSI has developed a list of 175 “Essential Components” of what it means to do sustainable aquaculture. Compliance with these guidelines is then third-party certified through programs such as BAP (Best Aquaculture Practices). This certification process grants retailers and consumers the confidence to enjoy farmed seafood.
There are also various myths and unfounded concerns about “farmed seafood.” For instance, even though these items come from around the world, the “food miles” involved are not a major carbon footprint issue because ocean transport is extremely efficient. Mercury from coal burning plants does bio-accumulate in the ocean food chain, but the main species we eat are not long-lived enough for that to be a real issue. Antibiotics can be used therapeutically in aquaculture, but as with other animal systems, there is a withdrawal period to eliminate those prior to harvest. The trimmings generated when making something like a skinless/boneless filet product are employed as a circular feed product for some different seafood species. Well-run and carefully sited aquaculture installations are not a water pollution problem – in fact, they act like a natural reef and support an enhanced population of wild organisms in the neighboring waters.
Aquaculture’s most important sustainability challenge is its remaining connection to wild fisheries through the need for “fishmeal” – a feed ingredient made by processing small, ocean-caught fish like anchovies and sardines that are caught using nets. Fishmeal provides protein and also fish oil which is an essential source of omega-3 fats. At least some of that protein can be supplied by land-based agriculture. For instance, protein-rich crops like soybeans can be processed to make a fishmeal feed substitute, and there are even specialized soybean varieties that have been bred to have digestibility and amino acid profiles that are optimized for aquaculture. Insects can be another source of high protein feed. The “sidestreams” from various agricultural commodities can be fed to something like larvae of the Black Soldier Fly which can be processed to make feed suitable for animals on land and sea.
These options are helping to reduce dependency on ocean-caught fishmeal, but as mentioned earlier the fish oil is also the source of health-promoting omega-3 fats that are a key part of the good nutrition package that seafood has to offer.
There are two strategies being pursued to solve the omega-3 fat role now fulfilled with fishmeal. One is to grow tanks of the same ocean algae that are at the foundation of the natural seafood chain and use that to generate oil to incorporate into a feed mixture. Thus far the economics of that approach have been a challenge, but the work is continuing.
The omega-3 fat limitation might also be addressed using a land/sea connection. Researchers at the Rothamsted Research Institute in the UK used genetic engineering to move key genes from ocean algae into land-based oilseed plants including Canola and Camelina. The Camelina lines they developed produce a particularly good balance of EPA and DHA which are the key omega-3 fatty acids that come from fishmeal. Research studies have shown the Camelina oil to be an effective drop-in replacement for fish oil in salmon feed. Another Camelina line from this program makes an attractive fish oil substitute for direct human consumption because it is high in ALA which is good for joint health. A company called Yield10 Bioscience has secured an exclusive option to license these traits and is in the process of doing regulatory and agronomic work to prepare them for commercialization. The connection to Camelina is particularly attractive because it can be grown as a “relay crop” following wheat or Canola in places like the Northern US or Canada. Therefore its production does not require the use of more land or displacement of an existing crop.
In fact, that scenario fits the “keep something green growing as much of the year as possible” principle of regenerative agriculture. The cold-pressed Camelina oil no longer has any “GMO” content, so at least in a rational world it should not cause trade issues for markets like the EU. Additional drivers for the adoption of crop-based sources of omega-3 oils include the recent approval for aquafeed in Norway, the largest salmon producer, and the recent cancellation of the anchovy harvest in Peru2 the largest source of omega-3 fish oil.
In conclusion, the rising global demand for protein is very likely to be satisfied through a multi-pronged strategy involving land-based crops, animal agriculture, and aquaculture.
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