Bread production: what part contributes most greenhouse gas?

16 March 2017

Every day 12 million loaves of bread are sold in the UK. Researchers have now calculated the environmental impact of a loaf of bread and which part of its production contributes the most greenhouse gas.
They analysed the complete process from growing and harvesting the wheat; milling the grain; producing the flour; baking the bread and the production of the final product, ready to be sold by retailers. The findings show ammonium nitrate fertiliser used in wheat cultivation contributes 43% of the greenhouse gas emissions – dwarfing all other processes in the supply chain. An article about the research is published in Nature Plants (News Item University of Sheffield, 27 February 2017).
Click here for the news item.
Click here for an abstract of the published article.
Click here for more information about the new NVC Project PUMA: the end of packaging as an environmental issue.

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