Identifying the safe operating space for food systems

Summary

This analysis quantifies planetary boundaries specifically for food systems, establishing safe operating space budgets across nine environmental domains. The findings demonstrate that global food systems currently exceed all nine boundaries, with particular dominance in driving biosphere integrity loss, land system change, freshwater alteration, and biogeochemical flow disruption. The authors propose concrete interventions—including substantial greenhouse gas emission reductions, halting agricultural land conversion, fertiliser redistribution, and pesticide/antibiotic use restraint—necessary to bring food systems within safe operating limits whilst maintaining yields.

UK applicability

The UK, as a high-income nation with intensive agricultural systems, is implicated in these transgressed boundaries through both domestic production and food imports. The findings suggest UK policy must address domestic agricultural intensification (particularly fertiliser and pesticide use), support transitions to lower-emission food production, and consider land-use trade-offs between agriculture and nature restoration in meeting national Net Zero and biodiversity commitments.

Key measures

Food system boundaries across nine planetary boundaries (biosphere integrity, land system change, freshwater change, biogeochemical flows, climate change, novel entities, and three others); magnitude of transgression for each boundary

Outcomes reported

The study calculated food system boundaries as proportional shares of planetary boundaries across nine environmental domains, and quantified the extent to which current global food systems transgress these safe operating spaces. It identified specific interventions required to move food systems into safe operating space, including greenhouse gas emission reductions, halting agricultural conversion of intact nature, fertiliser redistribution, pesticide and antibiotic use limitation, and freshwater preservation.

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