{"id":350368,"date":"2026-03-27T09:59:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T09:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/350368\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T09:59:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T09:59:10","slug":"global-shift-to-plant-based-diets-could-revolutionize-farming-and-reduce-labor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/350368\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Shift To Plant-Based Diets Could Revolutionize Farming And Reduce Labor"},"content":{"rendered":"

A global shift towards plant-based diets could help to reshape the agricultural sector<\/a>, revolutionize farming, and reduce labour costs, according to new research.<\/p>\n

Transitioning away from high-impact, resource-intensive meat and dairy in favor of \u201chealthy and sustainable food systems\u201d based on plant foods could lead to \u201csubstantial changes\u201d in the amount and distribution of agricultural labour worldwide.<\/p>\n

Read more: Industry Report Suggests Dairy Is \u2018Important\u2019 For Health And The Environment, Despite Contrary Evidence<\/a><\/p>\n

Researchers from the University of Oxford\u2019s Environmental Change Institute (ECI) examined how a changing food system will impact farmers and agricultural workers.<\/p>\n

The team included <\/a>Marco Springmann, senior researcher at the ECI; Professor Michael Obersteiner, director of the ECI; Yiorgos Vittis, an agricultural and food economist; and Professor Charles Godfray, director of the Oxford Martin School.<\/p>\n

The Lancet Planetary Health<\/a> journal published their paper last year. They noted that, while climate crisis mitigation requires \u201cmajor changes in diets and food systems\u201d, ensuring workers receive adequate support requires swift intervention.<\/p>\n

Compared with business-as-usual estimates of food demand in 2030, widespread flexitarian and pescetarian diets could lead to a five percent reduction in labour, while vegetarian and vegan diets could lead to a 22 to 28 percent reduction.<\/p>\n

\u201cDietary change doesn\u2019t just affect our health and the planet \u2013 it also has a big impact on people\u2019s livelihoods,\u201d said<\/a> Springmann. \u201cMoving away from meat-heavy diets reduces the need for labour in animal production but increases demand in horticulture and food services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more: A Third Of British Farmers Made No Profits Last Year, But EU-Style Plant-Based Initiatives Might Help<\/a><\/p>\n

Consistent strategies and support needed for \u2018just transitions\u2019<\/p>\n

\"PhotoAdobe Stock As the food system changes, farmers and agricultural workers will require support<\/p>\n

The current meat-focused food system is both unsustainable<\/a> and unhealthy, and intersects with various labour issues experienced by workers in the meat industry.<\/p>\n

However, retraining, redeployment, and investment<\/a> in the production of plant-based foods will be essential for supporting farm workers and rural communities if the food system changes for the better and emphasizes plants over meat and dairy.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsistent strategies and political support will be needed to enable just transitions<\/a> both into and out of agricultural labour,\u201d said Springmann.<\/p>\n

Read more: Updated EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet Could Prevent 40,000 Deaths Per Day<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A global shift towards plant-based diets could help to reshape the agricultural sector, revolutionize farming, and reduce labour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[56613,3619,14934,140,134,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-350368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-climate-crisis","tag-diet","tag-farming","tag-food-system","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}