Risks
The food industry’s supply chain highly depends on regulating services like water supply, climate and pollination. Therefore, if such regulating services fail, the supply chain can be affected until the point of collapse. The magnitude may be illustrated by the following facts:
- About 85 % of the global arable land is threatened by erosion, salinization, soil compaction, nutrient depletion or pollution. Every year, 10 million hectares of agricultural land are lost to desertification - roughly equivalent to the land area of Iceland.
- The annual cost of global soil erosion is estimated at EUR 300 billion - more than EUR 40 per capita of the world's population.
- More than 75 % of the world's important food crops rely to some degree on animal pollination. In 2016, the UN World Biodiversity Council IPBES estimated the annual market value of animal pollination at USD 235 - 577 billion. A more recent study by the University of Hohenheim from 2020 even assumes 1 trillion USD; in Germany alone, bees, butterflies and co. would generate a value of 3.8 billion EUR every year.
By species extinction the genetic pool and therefore the possibility of investigating specific genetic features, e. g. heat or coldness adaption, is limited. Since such qualities could be important for the development of cultivars or products, they are also called ‘values of an option’.
- According to the IBV, of the total of around 6,000 crop species worldwide, only about 25 are currently cultivated for food production in Germany. Wheat, barley, corn, rapeseed and rye grow on 75 % of Germany's total arable land. According to the FAO, more than 90 % of crop varieties have become extinct in Europe since 1900.
In the digital age, news goes viral particularly quickly via social media and reaches many potential customers. The media are looking for scandals and are increasingly reporting critically, e. g. on the clearing of the rainforest for palm oil and soy plantations, which destroy the habitats of countless animal and plant species. The Fridays for Future movement, active since 2019, is also contributing to public criticism of biodiversity loss through agriculture. This has greatly increased the risk of loss of reputation and image for companies in the food industry.