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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org, nmgreens@yahoogroups.com
  • Cc:
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Report from Leopold Center
  • Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003 11:57:04 -0600



LEOPOLD CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

>7-21-03

>

>Contacts: Rich Pirog (515) 294-1854, rspirog@iastate.edu, or Laura

>Miller,

>(515) 294-5272

>

>LOCALLY GROWN FOOD: TASTES GREAT ? AND LESS MILEAGE

>

>AMES, Iowa -- A new report from the Leopold Center for Sustainable

>Agriculture shows that locally grown produce traveled an average of 56

>miles from farm to point of sale, while the same types of produce from

>conventional sources within the United States traveled an average of 1,494

>miles ? nearly 27 times farther ? to reach the same points of sale.

>

>Leopold Center Marketing and Food Systems Program Leader Rich Pirog and

>Iowa State University student Andrew Benjamin looked at produce sales

>transactions to institutions that participated in an ?All-Iowa meal?

>brokering project coordinated by Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI). The data

>represented fresh fruits and vegetables from 34 Iowa farms sold in 2001 to

>23 conference centers, hotels and other institutions in central Iowa.

>

>?We wanted to know how the miles logged by Iowa fresh produce arriving

>at

>institutions compared to miles logged had this produce come from more

>conventional locations across the country,? Pirog noted. ?We used the PFI

>data set and what we knew about fresh produce commerce in the Midwest to

>make our comparisons.?

>

>Their comparisons showed that mileage also varied widely by produce

>type.

>Conventionally sourced broccoli traveled more than 90 times farther than

>its local counterparts, and carrots and sweet corn more than 70 times
farther.

>

>Using a formula representing both distance and weight of the load

>transported, Pirog and Benjamin calculated a weighted average source

>distance, or the ?food miles? for each of 16 produce types in the

>PFI-brokered sales data. The pair then examined 1998 records for these 16

>produce items arriving at the Chicago and St. Louis terminal produce

>markets, and current national produce shipment data to determine which

>states in the continental United States supply the upper Midwest with 50

>percent or more of the produce. They used this information to calculate

>food miles for the produce items in a conventional system, substituting

>the weights and points of sale for the PFI produce transactions so that

>comparisons could be made with the locally grown food miles.

>

>Within the conventional data set pumpkins, cabbage and potatoes

>traveled

>the fewest miles, between 8 and 15 times farther than their local

>counterparts. Pirog and Benjamin also found that the sum of the food miles

>to supply the 16 fruits and vegetables from local sources was 715 miles,

>about the distance from Des Moines to Denver. The sum of the food miles

>for the conventional produce was 25,301 miles, roughly a trip that would

>circle the earth pole to pole starting and ending in Des Moines, plus 440

>additional miles north to the Canadian border.

>

>?We?re now researching how best to communicate the food miles concept

>to

>consumers who want local food but also demand freshness, taste and

>quality,? Pirog added.

>

>For a copy of the report, ?Checking the food odometer: Comparing food

>miles for local versus conventional produce sales to Iowa institutions,?

>contact the Leopold Center at (515) 294-3711, or go to the Center?s web

>site: www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubinfo/papersspeeches/food_travel072103.pdf

>

>Through its research and education programs, the Leopold Center

>supports

>the development of profitable farming systems that conserve natural

>resources. Center funding comes from state appropriations and from fees on

>nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides, as established by the 1987 Iowa

>Groundwater Protection Act.

>#

>EDITOR'S NOTE: A chart showing the comparisons is available as a PDF on

>the Leopold Center web site:

><http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/images/FOOD_CHART.pdf>http://www.leopold.ia
state.edu/images/FOOD_CHART.pdf

>

>-------

>LeopoldUpdates is an electronic listserv for people in the sustainable

>agriculture community who would like to receive occasional press releases

>and announcements from the Leopold Center. If you would like to add or

>change an address, or be removed from this list, please contact Laura

>Miller, lwmiller@iastate.edu.

>------

>Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

>Iowa State University/209 Curtiss Hall

>Ames, IA 50011-1050

>(515) 294-3711; FAX: (515) 294-9696

>All news releases also are posted on our web site:

><http://www.leopold.iastate.edu>http://www.leopold.iastate.edu




  • [Livingontheland] Report from Leopold Center, Tradingpost, 07/28/2003

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