Food Miles

“Food miles” is the measure used to describe the distance that food travels from the point of production to the point of consumption. Agriculture and food now account for nearly 30 per cent of goods transported on our roads. This travel adds substantially to the carbon dioxide emissions that are contributing to climate change - which is why food miles matter. A new report by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) says that food miles rose by 15 per cent between 1992 and 2002.

The way that much of our modern food is produced, and the supermarket system of distribution, means that food may travel miles to a central point for packaging and then many more miles back to near where it was produced to be consumed, a hugely wasteful process that is driving greenhouse gas emissions ever higher. Of even more concern is than the movement of food within each nation, is the trend for an increasing amount of food to be shipped or flown from one part of the world to another, so that foods can be eaten out of season. While some of this movement of food may be necessary, it leads to the ridiculous situation where perfectly good food produced in season, like British apples, may fall from trees to rot, while New Zealand apples are flown around the world.

 Another reason for the trend for increased food miles, is the profit-driven motive that sees production and processing moved to parts of the world where labour costs are lowest, only for the processed food to be sent back to the developed world for sale at a rate that undercuts local producers. The supermarkets huge buying power gives them enormous control over where they source their produce, driving agricultural wages ever lower.

Food miles are also increased by the fact that most people now travel further to buy their food. Fewer people now shop locally, if local shops have not already been put out of business by supermarket competition. Each year the average UK consumer travels 135 miles to buy their food.

Working out the most environmentally-friendly way to shop is not always simple. For example, some research shows that it is less environmentally friendly to grow British tomatoes than it is to import tomatoes from Spain. The energy needed to heat the glass houses for growing tomatoes in Britain is significantly more than the energy used in transporting tomatoes from Spain, where no heating is used because of the warmer climate. However, British tomato growers have reduced the amount of energy they use in recent years and most now use natural gas for heating.

There are a number of initiatives aimed at improving local food in the UK, at both a regional and a local level. Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming, is piloting projects to get local food into local schools, hospitals and shops. Sustain is part of Food Links, an alliance of organisations around the UK involved in projects aimed at developing local food economies and decreasing the distance that food travels. Tully Wakeman of East Anglia Food Links believes it is crucial that local food is not a niche product, but that it becomes a far bigger part of the mainstream. “We need to build the infrastructure to bring together farmers so they can supply a reliable stream of local produce,” he says. Overall, the best rule for reducing food miles and their environmental damage is to shop as locally as possible, for locally-produced food that is in season.

In a recent experiment in Fife, a group of people tried what has become known as “The Fife Diet”, and found that it was quite possible to have a healthy and varied diet using only food produced within a hundred mile radius, although they had to go without a lot of luxury items.