Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Products in the Iranian Food Basket

Ensuring food security is one of the most important global concerns of national and global policies. The agriculture is important sector in the country economy due to the supply of food for society, and appropriate developmental measures must be taken to ensure the sustainable security of this sector. On the other hand, agricultural production has a significant impact on the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to provide people's food basket while maintaining the principles of sustainability with minimal environmental effects. In this study, the life cycle assessment method was used to evaluate the environmental effects of the Iranian food basket. The investigated products in this basket included: red meat, white meat, rice, milk, vegetable oil, eggs, potatoes, onions, wheat, sugar, beans, oranges, apples, tea, tomatoes and vegetables. The results showed that the biggest environmental burden is related to animal products (chicken and beef, respectively), followed by the production of wheat, which is consumed in the form of bread and pasta in the food basket. Edible oil is also in the next place. After identifying the products with high environmental load, two strategies have been presented to reduce the environmental effects. First, changing the food basket and forming an optimal food basket by considering environmental issues, and the second, increasing the efficiency of production systems and reducing the waste at different stages of the supply chain it is then up to policymakers to provide the bases for practical measures.