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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Food Miles
  • Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 09:29:18 -0600


Food Miles
http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/definitions/Food-Miles

Surprise -- your potatoes are better traveled than you are. American food
travels an average of 1,500 to 2,500 miles from farm to table, reports the
Worldwatch Institute.

A "food mile" is the distance food travels from the farm to the store where
you buy it, and these miles are costly to the environment. They are, in fact,
among the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
Long-haul trucking requires enormous amounts of fossil fuel, the combustion
of which releases carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere.
Keeping food cold and unbruised requires even more fuel in the form of
refrigeration and packaging. And let's not forget the impact of long-distance
flyers such as apples from New Zealand and Chilean grapes. Distances have
been increasing in recent decades, as foods increasingly are imported.

If you live in Iowa, according to one study, there's a very good chance
you're buying tomatoes picked 1,569 miles from your local supermarket, even
though farmers grow them within 60 miles of the loading dock. But why pick on
Iowans? We've all seen those rock-hard tomatoes - and that's the second great
tragedy of shipping food long distances. By the time they arrive, you forget
exactly what they're supposed to taste like. And guess which tomatoes taste
better and are better for you? Locally grown, of course.

Add it all up, and it’s clear: If your food earned airline frequent-flier
miles, you’d be jetting to Europe for free. A Swedish study looked at the
ingredients of a typical Swedish breakfast -- apple, bread, butter, cheese,
coffee, cream, orange juice, and sugar - and determined the food traveled a
distance equivalent to the circumference of the earth. That's 24,901 miles.

The idea has been floated to add food labels that tell consumers how far a
food traveled to get to the store. That hasn’t gotten anywhere (it’s pushed
more in Europe), but there is a growing movement to "Think Globally, Eat
Locally."

Moral: By buying fresh local foods, less fuel is burned to get a meal to you.
Plus, notice how it usually tastes more flavorful and fresher.

Wonky footnote: There’s a debate going on that argues that it’s more
energy-efficient to raise particular foods in particular places – such as
lamb in New Zealand, as noted in a 2007 New York Times story. So, could it be
more environmentally sound to ship some foods long distances? Here’s a study
that hints at an answer: Tomatoes grown in the ground in Spain and shipped to
Sweden require less overall energy to produce and ship than tomatoes grown in
a hot greenhouse in Sweden, according to a study by the Leopold Center (see
www.leopold.iastate.edu.) It argued that it’s important to examine fuel use
and carbon-dioxide emissions across all sectors of the food system. Still,
the same Leopold study recommended that Iowa consumers buy regionally grown
foods and grow their own fruits and veggies at home or community gardens.

For more info:

Type in your ZIP code at Local Harvest to find local farms, CSAs, farmers
markets and other sources of local foods.










  • [Livingontheland] Food Miles, Tradingpost, 05/14/2008

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