The issue on whether food production has a severe impact on the environment has been receiving increased attention in recent years. By utilizing three different estimators, this paper investigates the effect of environmental degradation on food production underlying the Cobb–Douglas production function. We also test the role of R&D, capital and labour on food production. All three estimators provide consistent results using a panel of 53 countries for the period 1996–2017. First, CO₂ emissions are harmful to food production. Second, both capital and R&D are found to have a positive relationship with food production. Meanwhile, an increase in labour tends to reduce food production. Furthermore, the Dumitrescu–Hurlin (DH) panel Granger causality test reveals that there is bidirectional causality between (i) food production and CO₂ emissions, (ii) R&D and food production. The findings of our study not only contribute significantly to the existing literature but also bring about a better understanding on the pollution-food production nexus. Based on our findings, policies aimed at reducing CO₂ emissions and stimulating R&D efforts are recommended.

近年来，关于粮食生产是否对环境造成严重影响的问题日益受到关注。通过使用三种不同的估算器，本文研究了环境退化对Cobb–Douglas生产函数所依据的食品生产的影响。我们还测试了研发，资本和劳动力在食品生产中的作用。所有这三个估算器使用由53个国家组成的小组在1996-2017年期间提供了一致的结果。首先，CO ₂排放物对粮食生产有害。其次，发现资本和研发都与粮食生产成正比关系。同时，劳动的增加往往会减少粮食产量。此外，Dumitrescu-Hurlin（DH）面板Granger因果关系测试显示（i）粮食生产与CO ₂排放，（ii）研发与粮食生产之间存在双向因果关系。我们研究的结果不仅对现有文献做出了重要贡献，而且对污染食品生产的联系有了更好的了解。根据我们的发现，建议采取旨在减少CO ₂排放并刺激研发工作的政策。