The World's Top 10 Countries for Sustainable Food

Treehugger has just published its 2018 rankings and you might be surprised to hear that the US isn’t even on the list.https://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/10-most-sustainable-food-countries-world.html

The rankings consider food waste, sustainable agriculture and nutritional challenges. France leads the list and is the most sustainable county in the world when it comes to food. 

Thanks to the country's ardent fighting of food waste, an acceptance and adherence of healthy lifestyles, and their approach to sustainable agriculture, they've nabbed the crown for this year's Food Sustainability Index... an accolade that they won last year as well. France is also the first country in the world to fine supermarkets that throw away products that are still edible.

Scores were calculated for 67 countries.

The top countries are: 

1. France

2. Netherlands 

3. Canada

4. Finland 

5. Japan

6/7. Denmark (tie)

6/7. Czech Republic (tie)

8. Sweden 

9. Austria 

10. Hungary

The United States was number 26, right between Uganda (25) and Ethiopia (27).

The low US ranking for sustainable agriculture reflects a number of factors, including a high level of greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector, a low proportion of land set aside for organic farming (less than 1% of the total) and a relatively large amount of land (around 22%) devoted to biofuel production and animal feed. Food waste is also a big issue. In the U.S., food waste comes in at an annual 209.4 pounds (95.1 kilograms) per person; in France, it's 148.1 pounds (67.2 kilograms).