Food Miles Disambiguated and How Do They Affect the Biosphere?
One of the oft overlooked aspects of organic food and the degree to which it lessens environmental impact has to do with food miles. What are “food miles,” you may wonder as I did. Food miles are exactly what they sound like: the number of miles food must travel in its journey from the fields it is grown in until it reaches its final destination on the consumer’s plate. While organic food is better both for you and for the environment, food miles are something that most people fail to consider.
Food Miles and the Environment
The benefit to the earth afforded by natural, sustainable farming practices, including the dramatic reduction of chemicals introduced into the ground, water and air, are undoubtedly significant. You’ll never hear me speak badly about any farmer who opts for an organic foundation to his or her business, because every little bit is important to the whole. However, food miles are definitely a consideration whether you’re farming organic or not.
Food miles have to do with the energy costs associated with transporting food: most of the time the petroleum-based nonrenewable resources that our society depends on are used for this. This directly relates to the amount of carbon emissions (or carbon footprint) associated with the production of a food – carbon emissions directly contribute to global warming and are hugely detrimental from an environmental standpoint.
Local Agriculture
The fact is, not all organic farmers have a local market that they can sell their products to and so organic produce, meats and dairy are widely transported just like their nonorganic counterparts. Consider two things:
– the amount of single ingredient organic goods, such as produce, meats, dairy and eggs offered in all your various grocery retailers who carry organics (and many chains now do,) and whether or not it is feasible for that amount of food to be consistently supplied by the local agriculture industry;
– the many additional multi-ingredient organic products whose components range anywhere from 70 – 100% organic
Somebody is stocking all of these Wal-Marts, Krogers, Publixes and similar stores with their organic foods. Whenever possible, I’d hope that these stores would turn to local suppliers to meet their needs, however it is unlikely that this alone is enough to stock each of their organic aisles. Additional, all of the multi-ingredient organic products like peanut butter, soup, cheese and the like all must have raw, organic ingredients transported to their places of processing, after which the finished product is then shipped to the shelves of supermarkets located country-wide.
Organic Food Miles are Still Food Miles
Organic food is transported like all other food, and accumulates its own fair share of food miles that play a part in the condition of the environment and global pollution. While it’s directly beneficial to your health to eat only organic foods, as far as environmental impact goes it’s still not enough. The solution here is to make an effort to buy locally grown organics whenever possible to limit the creation of needless food miles.
I’ve written another article which describes the many easy, accessible options for people seeking to support local growers, entitled “Make a Difference – Support Local Food Industries.” For those interested, it contains lots of useful information on the subject and suggestions for the most immediate sources of locally grown food people have available to them. While I commend you for your commitment to support organics and the freshest, most natural food possible, there are more steps that need to be taken in order to ensure a healthier, sustainable and beautiful earth for us all.
This article is part of an ongoing series entitled “Transitioning to Organic” that provides tips, information and easy ways to adopt some or all organic food into your lifestyle.
CB is a longtime creator of digital content and an accomplished ghostwriter, and nowadays approaches subject matter which includes Kenwood Speaker and Carvin Speaker.
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