Why buying local to cut food miles can do more harm than good

Published on Tuesday 16 January 2007 00:06

CONSUMERS who try to cut down on the number of "food miles" in their weekly shop by choosing local produce could be doing more harm than good, it has been claimed.

According to new research, the greenhouse gases produced by flying goods thousands of miles from developing countries represents just a fraction of Britain's overall emissions. And campaigners have warned shoppers' response to the "food miles" issue risks undermining the social and economic development of African countries.

Bill Vorley of the International Institute for Environment and Development, said that while air freight was a big issue from a climate change perspective, it had to be put into the context of the overall "environmental footprint" of the UK food system. He rejected systems such as the one proposed last week by the Environment Secretary, David Miliband, who suggested there could be economic penalties linked to "food miles" - the measure of the distance produce travels from farm to plate.

Mr Vorley said: "Food miles is a valuable concept, and one that could rightly drive some re-localisation of our food system.

"But politicians and the public need to think more about 'fair miles', which means thinking how and where food is produced and not just the distance it has travelled.

"Export horticulture is one of the few genuine opportunities to bring direct and indirect benefits to the rural poor in developing countries. Air freight of fresh fruits and vegetables from sub-Saharan Africa accounts for less than 0.1 per cent of total UK carbon emissions."

A spokesman for the pressure group Environmental Justice Foundation, said: "We still believe that consumers should consider where their food comes from and how it got to their supermarket and that's why food miles are a valid scheme."

SHRIMPS

SHRIMPS and prawns are regularly marketed as coming from the cold waters around Britain, but many more come from tropical oceans.

So while many processors will package shrimps and prawns close to home, the methods used to catch them are highly contentious. According to campaigners, for every 1kg of king prawns caught by trawlers, up to 20kg of so-called "up-take" is thrown back into the sea either dead or dying.

The environmental lobby has kept a close eye on this industry and in recent years has recorded up to 150,000 turtles killed by the trawlers' nets in the process of shrimp and prawn fishing.

FLOWERS

FLOWERS brought into Britain from the Netherlands are part of an industry that environmentalists have in their sights. Blooms are driven hundreds of miles in articulated lorries every day, a process that is blamed for the growing problem of emissions from UK roads.

Campaigners claim that while Dutch flowers and bulbs are grown closer to Britain than the blooms flown in from Africa, consumers should remember the damage caused to the environment by diesel emissions. The study by the International Institute for Environment and Development found that air freight from Africa accounted for less than 0.1 per cent of the UK's emissions.

COTTON CLOTHING

PRECIOUS little clothing is now made in the United Kingdom and even less fabric is produced. For those seeking to be more environmental in their lifestyle, cotton - as a natural fabric - is often a first choice. However, according to campaigners, cotton production is responsible for some of the worst environmental damage to countries in the developing world. The volume of water required to ensure bulk production has left fragile communities in parts of west Africa dangerously short of drinking water. According to campaigners, consumers should still support these struggling industries but by buying organic or Fairtrade cotton.

TINNED TUNA

THERE'S tuna and there's tuna - then there's bonito. Bonito is a member of the mackerel family that, due to its average quality and high EU import levies on some fish, is significantly cheaper than tuna. It is often transported long distances to tuna canning factories to "pad out" tinned tuna at relatively little cost. The result is that in products that are generically labelled "tuna", some manufacturers exchange tuna with cheaper species, which can be caught in nets that damage other marine life.

So while many consumers believe they are purchasing dolphin-friendly tuna that has been canned at source before making one journey to their supermarket, the truth may be less palatable.

ASPARAGUS

FOR about eight weeks between April and June, the UK produces arguably the finest asparagus in the world. The short growing season is eagerly anticipated by food lovers. However, it would be a mistake to assume that purchasing asparagus grown in the European Union out of season rather than from further afield is necessarily better for the environment, due to the impact of growing vegetables under polytunnels.

Kenya supplies the UK with asparagus out of season, although the debate among environmentalists is split over whether its decision to sell so much of its produce outwith its home market has helped or hindered its population and ecology.

SUGAR

Sugar from foreign plantations scores badly because of the food miles incurred. But European sugar, harvested from sugar beet, is not environmentally friendly either.

Official figures show up to ten types of pesticide are used to produce beet. This dependence on pesticides has contributed to the general decline of weeds, insects, mammals and birds in farmland areas in the UK. A decline in weeds has led to falls in populations of farmland birds and mammals.

Ironically, while cane production had in the past been responsible for causing massive environmental damage, especially in Brazil and India, the industry is reforming and slowly becoming more sustainable.

FISH FINGERS

WHILE many consumers pay attention to the provenance of their fresh produce, according to campaigners many pay scant regard to where the ingredients of their pre-packaged food comes from, especially when it comes to frozen food. Many assume fish fingers, a staple of diets in many UK homes, are made from fish caught off Britain. But according to environmental pressure groups, fish fingers can be especially damaging to the environment as many are padded out with hake caught in the seas off Argentina before being transported to the UK for processing. Hake has been severely overfished in both Argentina and Uruguay, leading to concerns about its future.

HOME-REARED BEEF AND CHICKEN

THEY might not have run up thousands of food miles on the journey to your plate, but environmentalists warn that home-produced meat is not always green.

Greenpeace has alleged that much of the soya animal feed arriving in the UK from Brazil is a product of "forest crime". It claims that the rapid expansion of the soya industry in Brazil has seen farmers encouraged to grow hundreds of thousands of tonnes of soya beans every year, placing the fragile ecology of the rainforest under dire threat. Europe is now a key market for Amazon soya, partly because it is mostly still GM-free - a fact which allows farmers to market their beef and poultry to a GM-sceptical public.

GROWING VEG IN A GREENHOUSE

THERE are no hard and fast figures for how much carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere by keen amateur gardeners who grow vegetables all year round by heating their greenhouses.

However, nearly 60 per cent of the cost of heating a greenhouse can be reduced by using energy-efficient solar panels rather than a traditional heater.

Gardening experts also suggest that running greenhouse heaters intermittently is just as effective as setting them to run constantly, especially during mild winter weather.

Mulching plants in bark and peat within a big plant pot can also help to preserve heat.

TOMATOES

THE majority of tomatoes which are sold in supermarkets in Britain are produced across the European Union, but predominantly in Spain.

However, they are grown all year round under plastic polytunnels, which require massive and intensive irrigation systems.

According to environmental campaigners, the sheer volume of water which is required to keep this industry alive is actually draining southern Spain, especially Andalucia, of its natural reserves of water.

A better option would be to purchase tomatoes grown in the naturally temperate climate of South Africa, they claim.