The transition towards sustainable human interaction with the surrounding ecosystem requires a change in the fundamental aspects of its behaviour. Food production is at the cornerstone of our survival and consequently it has the highest priority in the face of declining resources, increasing pollution and population.
Understanding the parameters to judge and quantify methods of food production alternative to the present mono-cultural, energy intensive and mechanized agricultural system is crucial to support, develop and improve new techniques and practices to transition to. Land surface use is one of the important parameters to derive for any given food system. The surface required for food production has strong impact on the care for the ecosystem (avoid soil erosion, impose energy and water efficient usage, set up balance with other living vegetable and animal species, close cycles, set up urban food schemes) and it is correlated with resource usage and feasibility of alternative approaches to deliver nutrition to communities.
The first goal of this study is to determine the typical land surface required in central and southern-Europe to produce the basic elements of the typical Mediterranean diet defined by the Italian Food Pyramid (www.piramideItaliana.it) in a few scenarios combining different diets, techniques and regions. The scenarios will range from food production for an omnivore diet to a vegetarian diet, both including or excluding typical cereal-based food and obtained by using both standard mechanized agriculture and examples of alternative agroecological techniques in specific regions (bio-intense, synergic, organic.. ). The second goal is to compare land surfaces obtained in the different scenarios.
The analysis method is to use the yields per surface and per year available in the FAOSTAT public database for food products and derive a robust estimate for surface yield for each product by averaging over space ( production in central and southern Europe countries) and time (over about 10 years of production data). Similar yields for alternative agroecological will be obtained by literature, small scale experimental setups and local organizations (particularly obtained from the center of Italy). Such yields derived for different techniques and regions will be combined with the different dietary requirements to provide the land surfaces to be compared.
The scenario comparisons allows to determine a first immediate, easily visualizable sustainability parameter to correlate with food production organization in communities and with the associated resource basis (fuel, fertilizer, water..).
