3FOOD

Third Industrial Revolution Consulting Group
While a promising new set of technologies, the agricultural Internet of Things is not without
controversy. Farmers worry that global life science companies might misuse the Big Data they
are collecting to buy underperforming farms or that the Big Data might be sold to third parties
or be used to trade on the commodity markets, undermining the price farmers receive for their
harvests. In the United States, the American Farm Bureau, the nation’s largest organization of
farmers and ranchers, is introducing a code of conduct declaring that farmers own and control
their data and that life science companies cannot use the information except for the purpose
intended and cannot sell the data to third parties.
The food sector is a major consumer of energy in Luxembourg and across the European Union.
The cultivation, harvesting, storing, processing, packaging, and shipping of food to wholesalers
and retailers, uses massive amounts of energy. Petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides account
for a significant portion of the energy bill. Operating farm machinery is also major energy
expenditure. The cultivation of crops – especially the electricity bill used in irrigation – and
animal rearing use the most energy in the food value chain, making up one third of the energy
bill. The industrial processing makes up another 26% of total energy use. Packaging and logistics
uses another 22% of the total energy expended. Final disposal of food waste makes up about
5% of total energy use; food waste is also growing, from 89 million tonnes in 2006 to 100
million tonnes in 2014 and projected to grow to 126 million tonnes by 2020. 118 Animal-based
food production and refined food products require more energy than fruits and vegetables.
Amount of energy embedded in the JRC food basket in units of MJ per EU citizen, broken
down for 17 products
Figure 1.1 Energy embedded in the JRC food consumption basket for the average
Source: EC JRC (2015)
citizen,
Figure
broken
1.1
down
Energy
for products
embedded
and production
in the JRC
steps.
food
Units:
consumption
MJ/capita. Source:
basket for the average EU
Authors’ analysis.
citizen, broken down for products and production steps. Units: MegaJoules per capita (MJ/cap).
Figure 1.2 confirms that livestock and dairy products (except milk) incorporate a
substantial amount of energy (see also section 3.7), while vegetables and bread are less
118 energy-intensive per kilogram of product. It is worth noticing that data reported for
See: http://iet.jrc.ec.europa.eu/remea/sites/remea/files/energysmartfood_pubsy_online.pdf
coffee refers to grains or powder of product and not to the infusion, which is prepared
differently across the EU.
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