Recipe for a greener loaf

Every slice has a story. It’s not just about the farmer who grew the wheat, the miller who turned it into flour, or the baker who made the dough, but also about our wider communities and the world around us. As climate change accelerates, I wonder: what if our daily bread silently contributes to the crisis and shapes our planet's future in ways we haven’t considered? 

We learned to bake before we could farm, as proven by the 2018 report of the oldest known crumbs of bread from the Natufian culture discovered in what is now western Asia. I decided to dive deeper into this iconic food, revered for perhaps 14,400 years or more, which is now stuffed shoulder-to-shoulder on supermarket shelves, potentially for weeks, or lying in a wicker basket, listening to your dinner conversation.

Considering bread’s extensive history and cultural significance in various forms globally, it's no surprise that practices have evolved over the years. The journey from ancient communal ovens to supermarket shelves reflects our technological progress and a shift toward prioritising yield and convenience over sustainability. 

Carbon footprint

Food systems (from production to consumption) might contribute more than a third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. According to a life cycle analysis published by Nature Plants in 2017, an 800g industrial loaf can result in half a kilogram of CO₂ being released into the atmosphere. Other studies have reported more than 1200g of CO₂ per loaf.

Perhaps surprisingly, wheat cultivation was the most significant contributor to emissions rather than the energy used in baking, milling, transport and packaging. The 2017 study found that ammonium nitrate fertiliser alone accounted for over 40% of a loaf’s total GHG emissions. A significant element of the issue is that excess fertiliser is often used. A 2017 study published in Nature India reported that plants did not take up around 65% of fertiliser applied to crops, but instead, the remaining fertiliser leached into the soil and, ultimately, waterways. 

Fixing farming 

In the UK, and many other countries, most of the flour used to make bread is milled from Triticum aestivum, also known as common wheat or bread wheat. This type of wheat is often cultivated using monocropping and extensive application of agrochemicals. Monocropping means growing the same crop on the same land year after year, which is a significant concern. This practice renders the crop more susceptible to diseases and pests and more reliant on pesticides while also depleting the soil of essential nutrients, increasing the need for fertilisers. 

When addressing these challenges, embracing biodiversity, ‘regenerative’*, and other agroecological farming practices has become very important. However, it is not as simple a fix as one might think. Organic agriculture (even with green fertiliser practices, such as growing nitrogen-capturing legumes) still has a significant footprint. In a 2017 New Scientist article, Michael Le Page stated that this is partly due to the greater area of land needed for organic agriculture, echoing a 2015 Belgian study published in Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia.

We must take advantage of many opportunities to diversify our systems to support our ecosystems and well-being. As Savannah Bertrand et al pointed out in an Environmental and Energy Study Institute article of 2022, this involves seed sourcing, adopting low-to-no-till farming and implementing crop rotation.
Such practices help to increase the resilience of our agricultural system against extreme weather, pests, and diseases, reducing reliance on agrochemicals. They benefit the health of our soils, wildlife, and microorganisms while also benefiting people, contributing to a more varied and nutrient-rich diet and helping to ensure food security on a global scale. 

Supporting biodiversity

One way we can make a positive change is by supporting a system in which we consume a variety of grains rather than just common wheat. For instance, Nate Blum noted in a 2024 Sustainable Brands article that we could add sorghum or millet to our daily loaves. Through diversifying our grain consumption, we can support sustainable farming practices and enrich our diets with a broader range of nutrients, contributing to our overall health and well-being. 

We could also support the growing of adaptive populations, a practice in which mixtures of varieties are sown together, allowed to cross freely in the field, and – over successive years of seed saving and re-sowing – adapt to the local ecosystem. This tends to create highly resilient crops as they become tailored to the soil, climate and other local conditions. 

Reducing surplus and waste 

Have you ever found shelves still packed with loaves, only an hour (or less) before closing time? Considering the nine months (from seed to dinner table) of effort and resources required to make a loaf, this is a huge waste. Bread is a major staple food around the world, and it has been estimated that a hundred million tons is produced yearly. Sadly, as reported by Ines Ben Rejeb in 2022, hundreds of tons of it are wasted every day. 

As the Campaign notes in its No Loaf Lost guide, bakeries can help by reducing over-production. There are ways to use marketing to encourage people to expect less abundance and support bakeries that sell out instead of wasteful 24/7 supermarket availability. Any surplus bread can be sold the next day at a discount or upcycled – into beer, for example. People can slice and freeze bread at home and enjoy age-old leftover recipes, such as panzanella – a simple but delicious toasted bread and tomato salad.

Where do we go from here? 

To create a sustainable bread industry, we need to shorten supply chains, support farmers in their efforts to shift farming practices, support research and testing, and share knowledge from seed to table. We must learn to embrace variety, complexity and hard work behind a local loaf. By choosing diverse grains and supporting local bakers, we can all contribute to a more sustainable future. Bread has always been a symbol of life and community; by understanding its journey, we can ensure it remains a symbol of sustainability and hope for future generations.

@cermilio13

You can read more of Christina’s writing at Food People on Substack.

*Though the Advertising Standards Authority has published guidance, there is no legal - or even generally recognised and accepted - definition of regenerative farming / agriculture in the UK. [ed.]

---

Originally published in True Loaf magazine issue 61, January 2025.

Got something to share?
See YOUR words in print