A joint Scottish research paper has highlighted the complications in feeding humanity if animal proteins were phased out.

Looking into production of lysine, one of the amino acids essential for human nutrition, the study concluded that major changes to global agriculture food systems would be required. One option is to increase the area of soya production outside its current main production areas of Brazil, USA and Argentina.

Switching to a plant-based diet may not be as simple as previously thought

Another option would be increasing the production of legumes other than soya, such as beans and peas, or other lysine-rich crops; obtaining plant-based lysine from sources not currently used for human consumption (such as oilseed); or manufacturing lysine from non-standard plant-based sources, such as via fermentation.

“Switching to a plant-based diet may not be as simple as previously thought. All of these options would require major changes in the structure of global agricultural production and address the barriers associated with current agri-food systems,” said the study’s lead author, Dr Ilkka Leinonen from SRUC. “Some of these options may also have consequences on agricultural land use, because alternative crops would need a much bigger land area to produce the same amount of lysine as soya.”

Researchers from Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), the James Hutton Institute and the University of Aberdeen’s Rowett Institute published the research in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems.