Browsing by Author "Wei, Dongyang"
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Item Culturally appropriate shifts in staple grain consumption can improve multiple sustainability outcomes(Environmental Research Letters, 2021-11-24) Wei, Dongyang; Davis, Kyle FrankelDiets exercise great influence over both human and environmental health. While numerous efforts have sought to define and identify sustainable diets, there remains a poor understanding of the extent to which such shifts are feasible when taking into account local dietary preferences. Accounting for 40% of dietary calories and 46% of global cropland, cereals offer an important food group by which culturally appropriate dietary shifts may achieve large sustainability benefits. Here we combine country-specific information on dietary cereal supply with nutrient content values, CO2 nutrient penalties, and environmental footprints to quantify the outcomes of adopting two feasible dietary shifts—maximizing the share of C4 cereals (e.g. maize, millet, sorghum) based on historical shares and increasing the share of whole grains. Our results show that increasing the share of whole grains can increase nutrient supply (+7% protein, +37% iron, +42% zinc) and overcome the nutrient-depleting effects of elevated CO2 (eCO2) and that maximizing the share of C4 cereals can substantially reduce environmental burden (−12% greenhouse gas emissions, −11% blue water demand), particularly in Africa and the Middle East. We also find that a combination of the two strategies would likely produce strong co-benefits between increased nutrient supply and reduced environmental impacts with mixed outcomes for offsetting the effects of eCO2. Such simultaneous improvements are particularly important for food insecure regions such as West Africa and Southeast Asia. These findings demonstrate important opportunities to identify sustainable diets that incorporate local preferences and cultural acceptability. Such considerations are essential when developing demand-side solutions to achieve more sustainable food systems.Item Key role of planted and harvested area fluctuations in US crop production shocks(Nature Sustainability, 2023-06-15) Wei, Dongyang; Gephart, Jessica A.; Iizumi, Toshichika; Ramankutty, Navin; Davis, Kyle FrankelFood production stability against climate variability and extremes is crucial for food security and is influenced by variations in planted area, harvested area and yield. Yet research has focused on yield responses to climate fluctuations, ignoring how planted area and harvestable fraction (that is, the ratio of planted area to harvested area) affect production stability. Here we apply a time series shock detection approach to county-level data (1978–2020) on seven crops in the United States, finding that shocks (that is, sudden statistically significant declines) in planted area and harvestable fraction co-occur with 51–81% of production shocks, depending on the crop. Decomposing production shock magnitudes, we find that yield fluctuations contribute more for corn (59%), cotton (49%), soybean (64%) and winter wheat (40%), whereas planted area and harvestable fraction have a greater role for others. Additionally, climatic variables explain considerable portions of the variance in planted area (22–30%), harvestable fraction (15–28%) and yield (32–50%). These findings demonstrate that crop production shocks are often associated with fluctuations in planted area and harvestable fraction. This highlights the (largely ignored) importance of producer decision-making about cropping patterns in stabilizing food production against climate variability and emphasizes the need to consider all three production components to improve food system stability.