Foodprint Melbourne: What does it take to feed a city?

Abstract

This report explores Melbourne’s ‘foodprint’ – the environmental footprint of feeding the city. It takes a lot of land, water and energy to feed a rapidly growing city like Melbourne, and a significant amount of food waste and GHG emissions are generated as a result. As supplies of the natural resources underpinning food production become more constrained, the city will need to explore new approaches to increase the sustainability and resilience of its food supply. This report aims to provide an evidence base to support this process. The principal findings of this research are: • It takes over 475L of water per capita per day to feed Melbourne, around double the city’s household usage. • ..