What are “Food Miles”?

Surprise — your potatoes are better traveled than you are. American food travels an average of 1,500 to 2,500 miles from farm to table, according to the WorldWatch Institute.

A “food mile” is the distance food travels from the farm to the store where you buy it, and these miles are costly to the environment. They are, in fact, among the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Long-haul trucking requires enormous amounts of fossil fuel, the combustion of which releases carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere. Keeping food cold and unbruised requires even more fuel in the form of refrigeration and packaging. And let’s not forget the impact of long-distance flyers such as apples from New Zealand and Chilean grapes. Distances have been increasing in recent decades, as foods increasingly are imported.

According to one study, if you live in Iowa, there’s a very good chance you’re buying tomatoes picked 1,569 miles from your local supermarket, even though farmers grow them within 60 miles of the loading dock. But why pick on Iowans? We’ve all seen those rock-hard tomatoes – and that’s the second great tragedy of shipping food long distances. By the time they arrive, you forget exactly what they’re supposed to taste like. And guess which tomatoes taste better and are better for you? Locally grown tomatoes, of course.

Add it all up and it’s clear: If your food earned airline frequent-flier miles, you’d be jetting around the world for free. A Swedish study looked at the ingredients of a typical Swedish breakfast — apple, bread, butter, cheese, coffee, cream, orange juice, and sugar – and determined the food traveled a distance equivalent to the circumference of the earth. That’s 24,901 miles.

The idea has been floated to add food labels to food products to inform consumers how far a food traveled to get to the store. That hasn’t gotten anywhere (it’s pushed more in Europe), but there is a growing movement to “Think Globally, Eat Locally.”

Moral: By buying fresh local foods, less fuel is burned to get a meal to you. Plus, notice how it usually tastes more flavorful and fresher.

There are many Food/Coops/CSAs in the Harrisburg area which you can find on www.gengreenlife.com or www.localharvest.org. I have used Spiral Path (www.spiralpathfarm.com), located in Loysville, PA for the last 4 years. They deliver a box of food to various locations across the region every Wednesday from May to November. Spiral Path provides several membership tiers each season ranging in price from $350 for a medium share to $550 for a full share. You can also find Spiral Path at Wegman’s on the Carlisle Pike if you don’t feel like joining the CSA. If you are interested in joining a local CSA in the Harrisburg area, please contact me at Jim.camphill@greenirene.com.

Jim Armbrust, Eco-Consultant

Harrisburg, PA