Land use: Where Public Health Meets Sustainability
The way we use our land and the food we put on our plates might seem like separate concerns, but these systems are fundamentally intertwined.
Until now, nutritionists have been focused only on improving diet quality while sustainability professionals have worked to reduce environmental impacts of the food system, including through land use.Treating these challenges as separate issues misses a crucial truth: the land that grows our food and protects our health is the same land that is needed to sustain our ecosystems.
On the surface talking about the nutrition - land use nexus may seem like two disconnected topics. Scratch beneath the surface though and it all starts making sense. Dietary shifts we’re working on to improve human health – increasing diverse plant-based foods, reducing unhealthy ultra-processed foods, and moderating processed and red meat consumption – are also positive levers for planetary health. These choices ultimately determine how much land is allocated to monocultures, livestock production, or diverse, nature friendly regenerative farming.
The health-land paradox
The UK currently produces around 60% of the food we consume – a figure that looks reassuring until closer examination. We depend heavily on imports for fresh produce and essential nutrition. Even as British growers produce many crop based foods, we rely on international supply chains for the bulk of fruits and vegetables – our major dietary sources of vitamins A and C.
It’s no secret either that our national diet is dominated by foods that contribute to poor health – excessive high-fat, salt and sugar products, over-consumption of carbon- and land-intensive foods in some population groups.
The consequences of this disconnection are poor human and planetary health. Poor diet has overtaken smoking as the leading cause of preventable death globally, responsible for one in five deaths. In parts of the UK, like Bradford district where I live, 40% of children leave primary school with obesity, and 11,000 people are hospitalised each year due to malnutrition across the UK.
So the question isn't necessarily whether we have enough food; it's about whether we have access to foods to protect health. And that access depends in part on how we use our land.
Reshaping our food environment
People make approximately 200 food decisions daily, but rarely in a vacuum. Our choices are shaped by availability, affordability and marketing – the "food environment" that surrounds us. With 70 million people in the UK navigating millions of purchasing decisions every day, shifting toward healthier, more sustainable dietary patterns will be driven through the way we interact with food environments.
Retail as a catalyst
Supermarkets represent the primary food source for over 90% of people, giving retailers extraordinary potential to shape nutrition. Progressive retailers are beginning to set basket-level health and sustainability targets, check out Lidl, Ahold Dalhaize and Rewe. This shift has the potential to directly impact land use patterns and create demand for diverse foods that have lower environmental impacts.
Digital platforms: the new gatekeepers
Online services offer even greater potential to shape purchasing behaviour by curating and promoting brands that align with health and sustainability goals. For example, customer facing digital interfaces that highlight products from nature friendly agriculture systems, lower carbon SKUs and healthy food choices are ways to influence choice.
Policy as structural reform
Government intervention is of course essential, but slow. For example, the National Planning Framework that gives local authorities the power to restrict fast-food outlets near schools, will reduce exposure to unhealthy meals. Bringing with it a raft of health and sustainability co-benefits. The land use framework is also underway, and critical: balancing the needs of health, climate, nature, and food production to use land in ways that protect farmers livelihoods, regenerate ecosystems and nourish communities.We need much more of this.
The path forward
Creating a food system that nourishes people and planet requires integrated thinking, joined up work and less siloed approaches. At Planeatry Alliance we talk about this approach to business as usual as: trying to repair the house while ignoring its foundations.
Collaboration across the value chain - from land use to health - is a starting point for how we build a sustainable and nourishing food system that connects people and planet.
Ali Morpeth is Co Founder of Planeatry Alliance, working with businesses, NGOs and policy makers. Ali’s work focuses on bridging the gap between health and sustainability to create win-win outcomes for people and planet.
