Only One Country in the World Produces All the Food It Needs, Study Finds
- Reference: 0177709359
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/05/23/1912252/only-one-country-in-the-world-produces-all-the-food-it-needs-study-finds
- Source link:
> The study, [2]published in Nature Food , investigated how well each country could feed their populations in seven food groups: fruits, vegetables, dairy, fish, meat, plant-based protein and starchy staples.
>
> Worldwide, the study found that 65% of countries were overproducing meat and dairy, compared to their own population's dietary needs. It also found that Guyana, located in South America, was the only country that could boast total self-sufficiency, while China and Vietnam were close behind, being able to produce enough food in six out of seven food groups. Just one in seven of the tested countries were judged self-sufficient in five or more categories.
[1] https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/only-one-country-produces-food-it-needs-self-sufficient
[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-025-01173-4
Misleading (Score:5, Insightful)
While a balanced diet is good for health, its not strictly required. It also ignores that agricultural resources can be redirected if needed. As long as a country produced a sufficient amount of food to meet the *caloric* needs of its population (regardless of what groups those fall into), then I'd consider it self sufficient.
Re: (Score:1)
You would.. but lets also be honest... a meat only diet would kill the majority of people over time.. in fact, if you look at history..most of our "shorter" lifespans early on was the total lack of variety in the diet.. (some meat, some fruit, some veg, some starches in some manner).. Meat rich diets only really work with periods of extreme physical activity because its nutrient dense.. Modern lifestyles demands lower or more tailored diets.. or if you are aiming for a meat rich diet, then you scale back th
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, but "it's good enough" isn't a crisis, and without a crisis, nobody is going to give them grant money to lead the charge against it.
Re: (Score:2)
> While a balanced diet is good for health, its not strictly required. It also ignores that agricultural resources can be redirected if needed. As long as a country produced a sufficient amount of food to meet the *caloric* needs of its population (regardless of what groups those fall into), then I'd consider it self sufficient.
Given the political stranglehold the crop has, I’d say California is bound and determined to survive on almonds alone.
Re: (Score:2)
And raisins. You must never forget how much impact the [1]California Raisins [wikipedia.org] have had on the state's economy.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_California_Raisins
Stay away from the Flavoraid (Score:3, Funny)
Heard that drink mix used to be popular there for some reason.
Impossible math (Score:1)
> Out of 186 countries, only Guyana produces enough food to self-sufficiently feed all its citizens without foreign imports
So only one nation is exporting enough food to support the food needs of 186 countries? And that one country is Guyana? It seems like there is something wrong with their math here....
Re: (Score:1)
No, just something wrong with your reading comprehension.
Re: (Score:3)
Everybody likes a little ass. Nobody likes a smart ass.
Re: (Score:2)
> self-sufficient /slfs-fshnt/
> adjective
> Able to provide for oneself without the help of others; independent.
So those countries have enough food, they just choose to trade it for something else. If they all decided to stop trading, then they would still have enough food, right? That fits the definition of "self-sufficient" in my mind.
Re: Impossible math (Score:2)
Nothing wrong with the math. You're ignoring trade. If Mongolia produces meat and dairy, but insufficient fruits and vegetables, and Ukraine produces wheat, but insufficient meat and dairy, they enter into trade, they both get the food they need, and neither produces enough food for domestic consumption.
Re: (Score:2)
> You're ignoring trade. If Mongolia produces meat and dairy, but insufficient fruits and vegetables, and Ukraine produces wheat, but insufficient meat and dairy, they enter into trade, they both get the food they need
So you're saying that if they ate everything they made, instead of trading it, then they would be "self-sufficient"? In other words, they have enough food, just not all of the items people prefer to eat? I don't get why this is a story. Isn't that how everything works? I am "self-sufficient" but I don't literally grow my own food, I produce something the food grower wants, and then I trade them for food.
Re: (Score:2)
No, it's only saying that Guyana is not a net importer of any of the 7 specified food groups. For example, the USA and Canada are net importers of fruits, vegetables, and fish, and are self-sufficient in dairy, meat, legumes/nut/seeds, and starchy staples.
Guyana (Score:2)
Just looked it up to verify. Guyana is almost one of the world's wealthiest countries and is getting richer. Seems like only 20 years ago they were one of the poorest. Nowadays in terms of per-capita GDP purchasing power they rank higher than the USA. The secret -- they found oil just a few years ago. Reference: [1]https://www.statista.com/stati... [statista.com]
Random video of what it's like in Guyana: [2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
I havent been there, but looks worth checking out.
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1392310/gross-domestic-product-gdp-by-fiscal-year-guyana/
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGdMZr66sbk
Re: Guyana (Score:2)
Venezuela is on the verge of invading Guyana. Hold off on buying plane tickets.
Re: (Score:2)
> Just looked it up to verify. Guyana is almost one of the world's wealthiest countries and is getting richer.
Sort of. Large oil reserves were discovered in 2015. According to Wikipedia, Guyana "is now ranked as having the fourth-highest GDP per capita in the Americas after the United States, Canada, and The Bahamas. According to the World Bank in 2023, very significant poverty still exists and the country faces significant risks in structurally managing its growth." A case could be made that Guyana the country is rich, but it's certainly obvious that much of Guyana the people is poor.
Step 1... (Score:3)
Step 1: Create arbitrary definition of self-sufficiency.
Step 2: ...
Step 3: Publish stupid article and become famous for a day.
Re: (Score:2)
Your mom is sexy. Though a bit dry. Nothing lube can't handle, or a lick.
Why is importing food a bad thing? (Score:3)
Not every part of the world, can grow every crop. Oranges and bananas and rice don't grow in Canada, and countries in desert climates have trouble growing any kinds of crops. On the other hand, those countries can export other things, such as minerals. Trade is a benefit, not a harm. There is no reason countries should strive to grow all their own food.
Re: (Score:1)
Someone should explain that to Trump and Brexit supporters. As I had to ask to someone recently, "Where do you think fresh produce at the grocery store during the winter originates?" The US does not and cannot grow 100% of everything for practical reasons.
Re: (Score:2)
> There is no reason countries should strive to grow all their own food.
Other than wanting to eat, if they are cut off by war, or embargoed or sanctioned for some reason.
Re: Why is importing food a bad thing? (Score:2)
When there are world issues, preventing trade, then the countries that import food heavily risk famine.
The USA and France (two countries I'm familiar with) produce enough food for their internal need and export a lot of surplus food. They do import a lot of food as well but things that are less cost effective to produce locally such as some common fruits and vegetables. Bananas and oranges were luxury items in most of Europe 100 y ago.
Japan is one country that would be in trouble if they could not get food
Shortcuts (Score:2)
Not a great read. No table of the data by country. The only way to see how your country is doing is from the crap maps they have. Maps so crap they leave off New Zealand, a major food producer and a land mass bigger than the UK.
Clearly these guys missed this video [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] with a few famous faces. Wikipedia explains it [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] but really how much can take from a study which has clearly taken shortcuts.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjTLOh_zz1g
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omission_of_New_Zealand_from_maps
But what if I don't like (Score:2)
The taste of guyana?
wrong assumption leads to wrong conclusion (Score:2)
Meat and Dairy aren't being overproduced or overconsumed, even if they have risks, they are standing against the biggest problems facing world health. Dieticians might be asking people to replace meat and dairy with asparagus and quinoa but people are fat and malnourished because they're eating too much corn and other low nutrition density, high calorie foods.
This stands as a good reminder that if your assumption is that everyone else is wrong there's a good chance it's actually you.
Re: wrong assumption leads to wrong conclusion (Score:1)
What about examples such as Aristarchus whom everyone believed was wrong for proposing a heliocentric theory of the solar system? Or Ignaz Semmelweis who advocated washing hands before surgery when every other doctor (such as President Garfield's) thought that what you can't see can't hurt you?
Yet another map that doesn't have New Zealand (Score:2)
It is a conspiracy!
[1]https://youtu.be/HynsTvRVLiI [youtu.be]
[1] https://youtu.be/HynsTvRVLiI
"national self sufficiency" (Score:1)
in a global economy, are we assuming this should be the goal? I guess if we're gearing up for war, we care. Otherwise, why is this result interesting.
Re: (Score:2)
Look at the US and the EU. Or the US and the ASEAN countries. Or the US and Canada. Or the US and Mexico.
Sure, the US was always mercenary, but did you ever expect to see it go full evil? Threatening invasion or economic destruction to any nation that isn't rendering tribute? Just a little over a decade or so I'd have said it would never happen, but here we are.
That's why every nation should be able to support its own population. Even with a really great mutually beneficial partnership, you're one gen
Re: Stop eating animals (Score:4, Funny)
Soy bois count as plants.
Re: Stop eating animals (Score:2)
Ok, short king.
Re:Stop eating animals (Score:5, Insightful)
Why? The article is talking about countries producing their own food. Is importing food a bad thing? I mean, Canada isn't going to be able to grow oranges or bananas. And if importing is a bad thing, how does that lead to a conclusion that we shouldn't eat meat?
Re: (Score:2)
Considering that one of their groups is fish and there are lots of landlocked countries without massive fresh water sources for fish either. Importing is generally going to be a lot more logical than, for example, creating a massive indoor aquaculture operation to meet the self-sufficiency requirements for this research.
Re: (Score:2)
> And if importing is a bad thing, how does that lead to a conclusion that we shouldn't eat meat?
There are many arguments going back and forth about raising meat for food, but given the fact humans could get their protein from many sources, it’s not likely the most energy efficient food source.
And anything we’re overproducing that is also something we need to feed, is a problem being compounded.
And if you’re wondering why you shouldn’t eat meat, dare to audit an American CAFO. You’ll probably never eat meat again after you find out what classifies as “food”.
Re: Stop eating animals (Score:2)
As far as I know it is near impossible for humans to survive without some source of animal protein. India which has a large percentage of vegetarians who receive significant animal proteins through dairy.
Once you are old enough you can get by for a long time without animal proteins, but babies cannot survive without animal proteins (and yes mother's milk count as a source of animal protein).
[1]https://www.nbcnews.com/news/u... [nbcnews.com]
[1] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/vegan-mom-gets-life-starvation-death-18-month-old-son-rcna45498
Re: Stop eating animals (Score:1)
Are the rich more human than soi boys or are you cherrypicking?