Considering food waste, sustainable agriculture and nutritional challenges, the 2018 rankings have some surprises in store.

France is the most sustainable county in the world when it comes to food. Thanks to the country’s ardent fighting of food waste, an acceptance and adherence of healthy lifestyles, and their approach to sustainable agriculture, they’ve nabbed the crown for this year’s Food Sustainability Index… an accolade that they won last year as well.

Scores were calculated for 67 countries and factored in three categories: Food loss and waste, sustainable agriculture, and nutritional challenges. France scores especially high points for their aggressive approach to food waste. Among a broad set of policies, they are, for example, the first country in the world to penalize supermarkets that throw away products that are still edible. Viva la France!

Meanwhile, the Netherlands, Canada, Finland and Japan filled up the rest of the top five spots, and the rest played out as you can see below:

1. France
2. Netherlands
3. Canada
4. Finland
5. Japan
6/7. Denmark (tie)
6/7. Czech Republic (tie)
8. Sweden
9. Austria
10. Hungary

The United States was number 26, right between Uganda (25) and Ethiopia (27).

From the report:

The low US ranking for sustainable agriculture reflects a number of factors, including a high level of greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector, a low proportion of land set aside for organic farming (less than 1% of the total) and a relatively large amount of land (around 22%) devoted to biofuel production and animal feed.

The large demand for animal feed in the US is, in turn, closely linked to the dietary preferences of its citizens. At 225.4 g per day, average per-head consumption levels of meat in the US are among the highest in the world.

In the U.S., food waste comes in at an annual 209.4 pounds (95.1 kilograms) per person; in France, it’s 148.1 pounds (67.2 kilograms). All together, humans waste a third of all the food produced each year – which adds up to a loss of some $1 trillion.

An advise for the US: Be more like France.

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