Investigating the effects of food production on sustainable development: The case of the upper middle-income countries

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Abstract Developing effective policy measures for sustainable development is possible by determining the health and environmental impact of durable goods production as well as non‐durable goods production. The findings obtained from researching the effects of each sector where nondurable goods are produced on the environment and health can be evaluated in policy making processes. The food industry mainly produces non‐durable goods and it is constantly growing. It is almost impossible to reduce production in this sector below a certain threshold. Therefore, the environmental and health effects of the food industry should not be neglected. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of food production on the sustainable development in 23 upper middle‐income countries (Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Georgia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, and Turkey) for the period 1995–2018. CO 2 emissions and life expectancy at birth have been selected as indicators of sustainable development. The preferred method is the Panel ARDL. The long‐run analysis results show that while food production increases carbon emissions, there is a positive and significant relationship between food production and life expectancy at birth and these findings are consistent with empirical findings in the literature. The statistically significant relationship between food production and carbon emissions, and life expectancy at birth indicates that food production is an important determinant of sustainable development.