Seven Chinese scientists recently published a study showing that a dietary shift from rice to potatoes could “notably reduce” the climate and environmental impact of staple crop agriculture in their country.

The article published in Nature Food examines the land and water use, respectively greenhouse gas emissions associated with growing four staple crops: rice, wheat, maize, and potatoes.

According to its conclusions, a large-scale dietary shift towards potatoes, combined with better growing methods, could reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of these staples by up to 25%.

In addition to the emissions reductions, the researchers find that integrating more potatoes into the diet would cut the total land used for staple-crop agriculture by about 17% by 2030 – even when accounting for the country’s growing caloric need.

Even so, the authors note that it remains to be seen whether such a major dietary shift can be carried out on a large scale. And, they warn, if the higher potato production isn’t matched by domestic demand, the climate benefits will be offset by the need for rice imports from neighboring countries.

“Integrating potato as a staple in China to meet increases in food demand and close the yield gap has the potential to reduce the total carbon–land–water impacts of staple crops by 17–25% by 2030. However, an unsuccessful integration runs the risk of global burden-shifting if the policy, for example, reduced domestic rice production and led to increased rice imports. Potential synergies between food security and environmental sustainability in China can be created by the potato policy, but greater efforts are needed to promote potato across the entire food supply chain from production to consumption,” the research authors wrote.

Six years ago, the Chinese government implemented a national strategy known as the “Potato as Staple Food” policy. Its stated aim was to improve food security – the country’s ability to feed its own population without reliance on imports – by increasing both production and consumption of potatoes across China.