I think that article is full of BS. There's articles like that everywhere you know - driving your car is good for the environment, plastic is good for the ocean, recycling is bad, etc. Everybody just likes to read what they want to read.
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| Take a close look at water usage, fertilizer types, processing methods and packaging techniques and you discover that factors other than shipping far outweigh the energy it takes to transport food. |
The point of buying local is not to buy from your "local" factory farm. I buy from farms that make their own compost - they don't buy fertilizer from god knows where. Processing methods? I have no idea what processing methods they mean, I'm absolutely stumped, they must be talking about very different farms than I buy from. Packaging techniques? The packaging techniques my farms use mostly consist of a rubber band, if anything. I bring my own bags. I'm still waiting to hear how compost and a rubber band "far outweigh" shipping 1,000+ miles.
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| Locavores argue that buying local food supports an area's farmers and, in turn, strengthens the community. Fair enough. Left unacknowledged, however, is the fact that it also hurts farmers in other parts of the world. The U.K. buys most of its green beans from Kenya. While it's true that the beans almost always arrive in airplanes--the form of transportation that consumes the most energy--it's also true that a campaign to shame English consumers with small airplane stickers affixed to flown-in produce threatens the livelihood of 1.5 million sub-Saharan farmers. |
Well, let's just ignore the fact that this point has nothing to do with the article's main point. Honestly, I care a lot about sub-Saharan farmers. I really do, enough that I frequently dream of quitting my job and going over there to do what I can to help them. However, it's not a sustainable setup. Bottom line, those sub-Saharan farmers need to be growing green beans for their own communities. That will help them far more than selling them at the lowest global price to the UK. I mean, they aren't exactly making a killing selling green beans to the UK, they are doing it because they are the ones who are willing to do it for less than anyone else in the world. The English are not paying a premium to the farmers for Kenyan green beans (any premium they are paying are for shipping costs, naturally).
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| Another chink in the locavores' armor involves the way food miles are calculated. To choose a locally grown apple over an apple trucked in from across the country might seem easy. But this decision ignores economies of scale. To take an extreme example, a shipper sending a truck with 2,000 apples over 2,000 miles would consume the same amount of fuel per apple as a local farmer who takes a pickup 50 miles to sell 50 apples at his stall at the green market. The critical measure here is not food miles but apples per gallon. |
OK, this has got to be pulled out of the author's butt. There's so much wrong with this I don't even know where to begin. I'm going to ignore the whole long haul vs short haul issue and just say, where did he get this 50 miles thing from? That's halfway across my STATE. The point of local is to keep it local - my farmers aren't going 50 miles anywhere! 8 miles at worst to the farmer's market, and 0 miles at best (customer pickup - same as a grocery store). But let's go back to the long haul vs short haul bs, and remember that the apples didn't just get loaded right onto a long haul truck right at the farm and sent right out on the "efficient" 2,000 mile route. They got loaded in a warehouse and so on and so forth, brought TO a warehouse, dispersed to various grocery stores - it's not like it only went from point A to point B.
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| The one big problem with thinking beyond food miles is that it's hard to get the information you need. Ethically concerned consumers know very little about processing practices, water availability, packaging waste and fertilizer application. |
WHAT???????????????????? Hello, what is the POINT of local buying????? KNOW YOUR FARMER. So this idiot is saying that it's harder to get the information we need from our LOCAL FARMER than from the grocery store which only says "Product of New Zealand"??? Hell, my farmers tell me all about what they do - which DOESN'T FREAKING INCLUDE processing practices, packaging waste or fertilizer application (it does, of course, include water usage - but that also includes efficient processes like pond-making).
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| Until our food system becomes more transparent, [snip] |
THAT IS WHAT LOCAL FOOD BUYING IS ABOUT.
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| If you want to make a statement, ride your bike to the farmer's market. If you want to reduce greenhouse gases, become a vegetarian. |
Was this a challenge or something? This is what a lot of local eaters already do. I do eat meat, but only a little (maybe 3 times a month - was previously vegetarian for 10 years). I'm not out there to "make a statement" - I'm just trying to do my part.
Sorry, but this article was a complete waste of time. I tried to ignore it but it just made me so irritated I had to come back and comment
had a good balanced look at this issue, but iirc the gist was that the benefit of food miles goes out the window as soon as you drive by your local grocery store. That said there is balance to be found in supporting many food and local producer initiatives while also being mindful of your personal driving habits. I initially wasn't going to join a CSA until I found one that was an 8min drive as opposed to 20. And it also puts me right near my grocery store so I can move my grocery shopping day to coincide with the pickup. I do find myself having to resist the urge to keep a Farmer's Market schedule, because it wouldn't be worth it to drive 10-30miles a week to pick up a handful of items.
