Environmental Impacts of Peanuts: A Success Story

James McCarty, Marty Matlock,

Stewart Ramsey, and Heather Sandefur

University of Arkansas

Office for Sustainability

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050

Po

pu

lati

on

(B

illi

on

s)

UN Population Projections

What we do in the next 10 years will

shape Earth and Humanity for the

next 100 years

Sustainability 2050: Population growth is the driver of change

Current Fertility Rates

Median Estimate

Human Activities Dominate Earth

Croplands and pastures are the largest terrestrial biome, occupying over 40% of Earth’s land surface3

4

Life Cycle Assessment

Peanut Butter Life Cycle

Farm

• Field Preparation

• Cultivation Practice

• Harvest

Buying Point

• Transportation

• Drying

• Grading

• Cleaning

Sheller

• Transportation

• Shelling

• Storage

• Processor

Processor

• Transportation

• Roasting

• Milling

• Packaging

• Storage

Retail

• Distribution

• Shelving

Consumer Use and Disposal

• Transportation

• Use Phase

• Municipal Waste

• Recycling

Peanut Butter LCA System

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

Farm Buying Point Sheller Blancher Roaster Processor Retail Consumer

kg C

O2e

Total = 2.77 kg CO2e per kg Peanut Butter

GHG per Life Cycle Phase

GHG per Life Cycle Operation

0.0

0.4

0.8

1.2

1.6

kg C

O2e

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

kg C

O2e/

kg p

rod

uct

Peanut Butter Comparison

U.S. Peanut Production Regions

SouthwestSoutheast

Virginia-Carolinas

Historical Environmental Footprint1980 - 2014

• Resource Efficiency Method

• Data from:• U.S. Dept. of Ag

• Nat’l Ag Statistics Service

• Natural Resource Inventory

• Ag Resource Management Survey

• Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey

World Historic Yields

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

Yiel

d (

mT/

ha)

Argentina

Burma

China

India

Indonesia

Nigeria

Senegal

Sudan

Tanzania

United States

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

kg/h

a

SE

SW

VC

U.S. Historical Yields

Soil Erosion

0

50

100

150

200

250

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Met

ric

Ton

/ha

SE

SW

VC

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

1980 1990 2000 2010

kg C

O2

e/h

a

Southeast Region

1980 1990 2000 2010

Southwest Region

1980 1990 2000 2010

Virginia-Carolina Region

GHG Emissions per Hectare

GHG Emissions per kg Peanut

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1980 1990 2000 2010

kg C

O2e/

kg p

ean

ut

Southeast Region

1980 1990 2000 2010

Southwest Region

1980 1990 2000 2010

Virginia-Carolina Region

Dr. Barry Commoner

Four Laws of Ecology

1. Everything is connected to everything else

2. Everything must go somewhere

3. Nature knows best

4. There is no such thing as free lunch