An integrated analysis for spatio-temporal evolution of food water-carbon-energy footprint and its sustainable production in northwest China.

Abstract

The increasing demand for food production has led to significant resource consumption and environmental stress in ecologically fragile areas. A comprehensive quantification of the environmental impact of crop production can provide essential support for the sustainable development of agriculture in these regions. In this study, we utilized water, carbon, and energy footprint of food production to analyze its water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and energy use. We established a comprehensive environmental footprint (CEFNI) of crop production to quantify the combined environmental impact of production. Additionally, we explored the decoupling process between food productivity and environmental pressure. and proposed sustainable development strategies for the arid regions of northwest China. The CEFNI values for wheat and maize were 0.62 and 0.68, respectively, with wheat showing significantly higher footprint values across water-carbon-energy compared to maize. The CEFNI in the northern regions was significantly lower than south, with the highest value observed in Shaanxi Province being 1.3 times greater than the lowest value recorded in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Fertilizer application emerged as the primary contributor to the water degradation footprint (WDF), as well as to carbon and energy footprints, accounting for approximately 37% of the impact. Agricultural management practices exerted the most significant influence on CEFNI, with the influence of climate factors increasing year by year. The food production in northwest arid area is adjusting to the state of "low consumption and high efficiency". Consequently, we propose three development plans (S1: Ecological Priority, S2: Productivity Priority, and S3: Preservation Priority) tailored to different provinces, identifying rational nitrogen fertilizer application and enhanced water.