Blog » reducing Food-miles through buying locally – is it effective to cut the carbon footprint of our daily diets?

I am currently residing in the former hippie heartland of Australia surrounded by farmers markets, organic food shops with lots of fresh, local, often chemical-free, affordable produce and healthy lifestyle options: Byron Bay.

So I was puzzled to find Californian lemons in neon yellow, spotless with a mirror shine in one of Byron’s national supermarket chain stores instead of the local variety: pale yellow, slightly spotty, sour and juicy.  Where were the local lemons? Why do people buy Californian lemons at $5.95kg when there are so many local lemons?  How could it be possibly more economical to sell imported lemons?  My gut instinct told me it has to much better to buy local products every which way you look at it - economically, socially and environmentally – it seems pretty straight forward. I have always been a great believer in supporting the local industry from small to large and am certainly not alone. Farmers markets are popping up everywhere. The concept of food miles and buying locally to reduce our carbon foot print has increased in popularity due to consumer demands. Buying locally appeals to conscious consumers but is it really effective?

First of all, what are food miles? Food miles refer to the distance food is transported from the farm to the kitchen table.  Did you know that food travels an average of 4000 km before it arrives in our homes? And in 2009 foodmiles increased by farther 25% compared to 2008 and distances are getting longer still due to a variety of issues such as centralised growing methods, processing & packaging, changes in delivery patterns.  For example, chocolate from Cadbury’s Tasmanian factory combines cocoa beans from Indonesia via Singapore, sugar from Queensland and Tasmanian milk, adding up to 14,479 kilometres.

Food miles are but one factor used to assess the environmental impact of food. Recent studies in America and the UK indicate that about 80% of food emissions are produced before the food leaves the farm. We also know now that meat and dairy are the largest sources of food-related emissions. The UK’s consumption of meat and dairy products (including imports) accounts for about 8 per cent of its greenhouse gas emissions related to consumption. The degree of environmental impact of transporting food also depends on the mode of transport from road travel being the most carbon intense currently (due to the amount of it), followed by air travel to sea and rail being the least carbon intense. Apparently, transport by plane generates 177 times more greenhouse gases than shipping does, but regardless, is the fastest-growing way of transporting food.

Thankfully, according to the United Nations 90 per cent of internationally traded goods are still carried by sea with maritime transport being by far the most carbon-efficient mode of transport.

There are problems with the calculations and great challenges to overcome before we can see meaningful carbon labeling. In addition to the difficulty of accurately measuring processed foods incorporating many different ingredients, the concept of food miles takes no account of the social, political and overall sustainability issues of food production and consumption.

For example a variety of credible studies have demonstrated that:

• Tomatoes grown in Spain and transported to Britain may have a lower carbon footprint than tomatoes grown in heated greenhouses in the UK  - due to energy efficiencies and soil conditions.
• Lambs raised in New Zealand and shipped 18,000 km by boat to Britain are four times more energy efficient - due to the rich pastures in NZ that don’t require extra feeds and other circumstances, which means that in terms of total greenhouse gas emissions from farm to kitchen it is better for Londoners to buy lamb imported from the other side of the world than locally.

This is not withstanding the fact that by buying locally we have a lot more control over what we eat. Until we see the introduction of a decent labeling system to assist us make the right choices here are some ideas to affect change in the meantime and to contribute to the debate:

• inform ourselves and start a conversation with family and friends about the life-cycle of foods from the seeding of crops and the birth of livestock, to their delivery to our homes;
• ask questions about what we eat – production processes and ingredients and find out about local farmers markets;
• try and buy seasonal vegetable and fruit and walk or cycle to the shops;
• grow fruit and vegetables in the backyard or on our balconies; 
• And the best left to last – become a vegetarian because we now know that adopting a vegetarian diet, even if the food is transported over very long distances, does far more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, than does eating a locally grown diet which includes meats.

Even in the face of conflicting evidence about the role of food miles in producing greenhouse gas emissions - shopping locally makes me feel good, especially in a place like Australia, where many of us tend to over-consume rather than starve - and I will follow my instinct until I can make more informed decisions.

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