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Downsides of Long-distance Food Transport
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>>> Item number 10352, dated 96/10/03 00:18:20 -- ALL
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 1996 00:18:20 GMT
Reply-To: Rich Winkel <rich@pencil.math.missouri.edu>
Sender: Activists Mailing List <ACTIV-L@MIZZOU1.MISSOURI.EDU>
From: Rich Winkel <rich@pencil.math.missouri.edu>
Organization: PACH
Subject: Hazards of Long-distance Food Transport
/** headlines: 122.0 **/
** Topic: Hazards of Long-distance Food Transport **
** Written 8:12 AM Oct 1, 1996 by newsdesk in cdp:headlines **
LONG-DISTANCE FOOD TRANSPORT BAD FOR PEOPLE AND ENVIRONMENT
Increasing local and regional self-reliance in food, says the
writer, would reduce wastage of energy and resources, increase
biodiversity farming, and should provide greater food security as
well as more sustainable livelihoods for farmers.
By Angela Paxton
Long-distance food transport generates many environmental and
social hazards, such as air and noise pollution, and human health
problems such as respiratory diseases. Food is being transported
over ever longer distances: between 1979 and 1994, although the
amount of food stuffs transported within the UK remained the same,
the distance it was transported increased by 50%.
International Food Miles are also increasing: the amount of
fruit and vegetables imported by air to the UK has more than
doubled since 1980. Air freight uses 37 times more fuel per
tonne-kilometre than shipping and emits pollutants at high
altitudes, where more damage is done to the ozone layer.
Preservation
Many perishable foods need to be preserved to prevent spoilage
and contamination during transit. For example, up to two-thirds of
domestic packaging in the UK is used for food and drink products.
Long-distance food transport makes reducing and reusing packaging
extremely difficult.
Pesticides, too, are used after harvest on fruit and
vegetables to extend shelf-life and prevent damage in transport.
For example, methyl bromide, a toxic, ozone-depleting pesticide, is
sprayed on some fresh produce before coming into the UK, to prevent
pests such as the Colorado beetle entering the country. Some
apparently 'fresh' produce may be months old, having been kept
visually appealing by preservation techniques or even by genetic
engineering, as in the case of the Flav'r Sav'r tomato.
Biodiversity
The distance food travels influences not only the way it is
treated before and during transit, but also production itself. In
particular, food production for distant markets tends to involve
specialisation, producing a narrow range of crops to compete in the
global marketplace, as well as concentration on varieties which
store and travel best, rather than with better tastes or
nutritional properties. Thus local varieties are being replaced by
a few commercial varieties.
Growers supplying supermarkets, for example, are expected to
concentrate on appearance, uniformity, and travel and storage
qualities, especially long shelf-life. Cosmetic perfection is
particularly difficult for organic producers, and can result in
wastage of 30% or 50%, driving down supplies, and increasing
prices.
Loss of Seasonality
Supermarkets' year-round availability of fresh produce means
that consumers, rendered ignorant of the seasons, expect to be able
to buy all foods at all times of the year. UK supermarkets import
produce to fill seasonal gaps and encourage growers to extend
growing seasons through intensive glasshouse production. The loss
of seasonality threatens smaller, vulnerable growers, who lose
premiums on new season produce. Furthermore, supermarket chains
prefer to be supplied in bulk by a small number of large producers,
which can squeeze out smaller producers and increase food miles.
Cash Cropping
Limited land and resources in developing countries are often
used for the production of 'cash crops' for export, when people in
those countries may not have enough to eat. For example, Brazil is
the third largest exporter of food and agricultural products in
the world, yet two out of three Brazilians are malnourished. The
main beneficiaries of the global food trade are transnational
corporations, which exploit land and labour in poor countries to
extract cheap raw materials for sale in richer nations. Producers
who supply distant markets are uniquely vulnerable to external
events such as declining terms of trade, and the changing tastes of
fickle consumers overseas.
Solutions
Reducing the need to transport food is the most effective way
of reducing Food Miles. Increasing local and regional self-reliance
in food would reduce wastage of energy and resources, increase
biodiversity in farming, and should provide greater food security
as well as more sustainable livelihoods for farmers in the UK and
overseas.
Ethical Consumption
Individuals can be encouraged to reduce their own Food Miles
through buying foods which reduce the need for transport, such as
local, seasonal, preferably organic or low-input foods. Buying less
meat and dairy products from intensively reared livestock would
also help as these animals tend to be fed on imported feedstuffs.
Where crops can only be grown in warmer climates, such as coffee
and chocolate, people can choose fair trade products, which ensure
that developing country producers get a fair price for their goods
and labour.
Local Food Links
There are many inspiring examples of local food schemes around
the world, including farmers' markets in the US, and consumer
cooperatives in Japan, supplying 16 million people with low-input
food. In the UK, local food links such as vegetable box schemes,
pioneered by the Soil Association, are a great success and most now
have long waiting lists. These schemes supply customers with a
weekly box of fresh, seasonal vegetables and are relatively
straightforward for growers and consumers. Local marketing of
produce cuts out powerful intermediaries in the food chain, reduces
the retail price, and increases the proportion of the price paid to
producers.
When food is produced and consumed locally, packaging can be
reduced or reused. Food processing too can be seen as a way to use
traditional skills to add value and contribute to the local food
economy, rather than a means for food companies to make the most
profit from the cheapest ingredients. Producers also tend to grow
a greater range of crops to satisfy consumer demand for choice,
increasing on-farm diversity.
Local food systems also have the potential to bring about more
low-input and organic production, through providing direct support
to producers. For example, the Birmingham Organic Roundabout in the
UK, a large-scale producer-consumer link scheme, provides organic
produce to 2,000 households. To meet the demand which it has
created, the cooperative is approaching conventional growers in the
region, offering to support their conversion to organic production
to supply their ready-made market.
Urban Agriculture
Another option for those on low incomes, and others, who want
to eat healthy, organic food, is to grow their own. Food can be
grown in gardens, allotments, parks, window boxes and open
spaces. Over 40 food-growing projects exist in the UK,
combining urban food production with wider community and
environmental issues, such as food and poverty, health, and
education. Tools, seeds, and land are often shared to reduce costs.
Food Industry
Food retailers and processors can also introduce measures to
reduce unnecessary food transport. Local food shops and
supermarkets could stock food direct from local producers, and
promote items which are in season. Food processors could source
ingredients and packaging materials from local producers. Retailers
and food processors could work together to reduce packaging and
introduce packaging-reuse schemes - which are more viable if
products are travelling shorter distances.
Government
National and regional governments can introduce measures such
as Ecological Tax Reform (ETR), to ensure that prices reflect the
full environmental and social costs of food production and
distribution. This would address directly the risible situation
where a locally grown, organic apple is more expensive than an
intensively produced apple from Chile which has travelled thousands
of miles. ETR should ensure that consumers are presented with a
fair choice, where the product with the least social and ecological
impact would also be the lowest in price.
Action is needed to assist developing countries to become more
self-reliant in food, such as through debt relief and targeting aid
to sustainable agriculture. Measures are also needed to bring about
fairer trade, such as introducing minimum environmental and social
standards for internationally traded goods and services. - Third
World Network Features
-ends-
About the writer: Angela Paxton is Food Miles Campaigner for the
Sustainable Agriculture Food and Environmental (SAFE) Alliance in
the UK.
The above article first appeared in SEEDlinks (August 1996).
When reproducing this feature, please credit Third World Network
Features and (if applicable) the cooperating magazine or agency
involved in the article, and give the byline. Please send us
cuttings.
For more information, please contact:
Third World Network
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Email: twn@igc.apc.org; twnpen@twn.po.my
Tel: (+604)2293511,2293612 & 2293713;
Fax: (+604)2298106 & 2264505
1501/96
** End of text from cdp:headlines **
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