Food and nutritional security requires adequate protein as well as energy, delivered from whole-year crop production

Global potential of sustainable single-cell protein based on variable renewable electricity

The environmental impacts of the food system exceed several planetary boundaries, with protein production being a major contributor. Single-Cell Protein (SCP) is a protein-rich microbial biomass that offers a sustainable alternative when derived from renewable energy and sustainable feedstocks. We evaluate the global potential for SCP production utilising electrolytic hydrogen and oxygen, atmospheric carbon dioxide and nitrogen, and hourly-optimised hybrid PV-wind power plants at a 0.45° × 0.45° spatial resolution. We outline a roadmap for industrial-scale production, commencing in 2028, targeting an annual capacity of 30 million tonnes of protein by 2050. Here we show that the cost of renewable electricity-based protein (e-protein) could decline at optimal sites from 5.5-6.1 € kg-1 in 2028 to 4.0-4.5 € kg-1 by 2030, and further to 2.1-2.3 € kg-1 by 2050. Consequently, e-protein production can mostly decouple protein supply from water and arable land constraints, substantially mitigating the environmental impacts of food production.

An agroecological approach to preparation and use of a milk protein production baseline

Commercial dairy production occurs in a complex management environment, but increasingly, the dairy manager is expected to provide detailed reporting of productivity and environmental outcomes, for which conventional research methods double-blind crossover or case:control trials are inappropriate. This paper demonstrates the development of a milk protein production monitoring tool using a temporal (baseline) control in longitudinal, census-type investigations of modulation of system performance in response to factor change. It utilises farm-derived current and historical data, and contrasts seasonal responses with those achieved on neighbouring farms in a 2 × 2 contingency table. The approach is then shown to be useful in assessing the effect of two approaches to moderating milk urea concentration. Firstly, milk urea content can be monitored as it falls due to reduced feed protein content, and this fall can be arrested when milk protein content starts to decline relative to the value expected for the herd at any lactation stage. Secondly, by providing a dietary intervention aimed at increasing the availability of metabolic energy in the last month before calving, udder development can be augmented, leading to greater protein secretion capacity, meaning greater utilisation of circulating amino acids, and thus more limited substrate for urea synthesis. Thus, the changing impact of differing nutrition practices on dairy herd nitrogen excretion to environment can be followed with daily precision. In principle this approach can provide useful insights into a wide range of practical management interventions.

Improving Human Diets and Welfare through Using Herbivore-Based Foods: 1. Human and Animal Perspectives

Human health and diet are closely linked. The diversity of diets consumed by humans is remarkable, and most often incorporates both animal and plant-based foods. However, there has been a recent call for a reduced intake of animal-based foods due to concerns associated with human health in developed countries and perceived impacts on the environment. Yet, evidence for the superior nutritional quality of animal-sourced food such as meat, milk, and eggs, compared with plant-based foods, indicates that consumption of animal-sourced food should and will continue. This being the case, the aim here is to examine issues associated with animal-sourced foods in terms of both the quantification and mitigation of unintended consequences associated with environment, animal health, and herd management. Therefore, we examined the role of animal proteins in human societies with reference to the UN-FAO issues associated with animal-sourced foods. The emphasis is on dominant grazed pastoral-based systems, as used in New Zealand and Ireland, both with temperate moist climates and a similar reliance on global markets for generating net wealth from pastoral agricultural products. In conclusion, animal-sourced foods are shown to be an important part of the human diet. Production systems can result in unintended consequences associated with environment, animal health, and herd management, and there are technologies and systems to provide solutions to these that are available or under refinement.

Pastoral agriculture, a significant driver of New Zealand's economy, based on an introduced grassland ecology and technological advances

The New Zealand economy is export-driven and heavily reliant on the productivity of the pastoral sector. The transformation of native forest and tussock grassland ecologies to temperate grasslands occurred rapidly with the arrival of Europeans. However, this transplanted ecology required the development and use of plant, microbial, animal and management technologies for successful grassland farming. These have enabled New Zealand pastoral agriculture to compete effectively in international markets, without subsidies. The extensive list of plant-based and associated microbial-based adaptations, and the management strategies that have enabled the development of highly productive grasslands are described and reviewed. Credible science is required to inform the debate on the environmental impacts of pasture production to avoid misinformation proliferating. This needs transparent and objective integrity from the science community using funding that seeks no defined or preconceived outcomes. Critically, much of the success of New Zealand pastoral farming has been due to the willingness and ability of farmers to use, adapt, adopt and integrate new ideas and technologies into their farming systems. Historic, current and future challenges, and threats that impact on the productivity and sustainability of pastoral agriculture are described and the means to achieve further technology development to manage these is discussed.

Wheat Gluten Amino Acid Analysis by High-Performance Anion-Exchange Chromatography with Integrated Pulsed Amperometric Detection

The present chapter describes an accurate and user-friendly method for determining amino acid composition of wheat gluten proteins and their gliadin and glutenin fractions. The method consists of hydrolysis of the peptide bonds in 6.0 M hydrochloric acid (HCl) solution at 110 °C for 24 h, followed by evaporation of the acid and separation of the free amino acids by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with integrated pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-IPAD). In contrast to conventional methods, the analysis requires neither pre- or post-column derivatization nor a time-consuming oxidation or derivatization step prior to hydrolysis. Correction factors account for incomplete release of Val and Ile even after hydrolysis for 24 h and for losses of Ser during evaporation. Gradient conditions including an extra eluent allow multiple sequential sample analyses without risk of Glu accumulation on the anion-exchange column which otherwise would result from high Gln levels in gluten proteins.