Stop Counting Calories, Start Counting Food Miles?

1
Stop Counting Calories,Start Counting Food Miles?

• Betsy Gates
• Energy Law Presentation
• April 28, 2008

2
Overview

• What are food miles and how do they relate to
  energy conservation?
• Increasing globalization of the food sector
• Problems with using food miles to assess
  environmental impact
• What can a conscientious consumer do?

3
Whats a food mile?

• The term food miles was coined in the 1990s by
  Dr. Tim Lang, a professor at Londons City
  University.
• The term is used refer to the distance foods
  travel before reaching your plate.

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Food Miles and Energy Conservation

• In the U.S., food travels an average of 1,300 to
  2,000 miles between the farm and a consumer.

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Food Miles and Energy Conservation

• About 80 of the energy used in the U.S. food
  system goes toward processing, packaging,
  transporting, storing and preparing food

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Food Miles and Energy Conservation

• Distance traveled is not the only indicator of
  the energy intensity of food
• Transportation mode
• Storage requirements
• Growing conditions and varied agricultural
  productivity in different regions
• Energy requirements for growing or producing
  different types of food

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Food Shipments in the United Kingdom

• According to a study conducted for the United
  Kingdoms environmental agency (DEFRA), food
  accounts for 29 of goods transported in the UK,
  by weight.
• Food shipments also account for 25 of the
  kilometers traveled by loaded trucks in the UK.

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Food Shipments in the United Kingdom by
Kilometers Traveled
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Increasing Globalization of the Food Sector

• Food has moved around the world since
  Europeans brought tea from China, but never at
  the speed or in the amounts it has over the last
  few years. Consumers in not only the richest
  nations but, increasingly, the developing world
  expect food whenever they crave it, with no
  concession to season or geography.
• --The New York Times, Environmental Costs of
  Shipping Groceries Around the World, April 26,
  2008

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Increasing Globalization of the Food Sector

• The European Union and the U.S. are the worlds
  two largest food importers.
• EU food imports rose 20 in the last five years.
• American food imports almost doubled from 2000 to
  2006.

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Increasing Globalization of the Food Sector

• From 2000-2005, imports accounted for more than
  30 of fruits and nuts, 13 of vegetables, nearly
  80 of seafood, and 10 of red meat consumed in
  the U.S.
• There has been a general upward trend in imports
  of both crops and animal products since 1980.

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Why Ship Food Around the World?

• Supply consumers with a wide variety of produce
  and other fresh foods year-round.
• Save money on production costs

13
Global Shipping is Getting Easier and Cheaper

• Increasingly efficient global transport networks
  allow transportation of perishable foods around
  the world
• Mega-companies like Wal-Mart, Carrefour, and
  Tesco are establishing supply and distribution
  chains in major developing countries like China
  and Mexico
• Lower labor and production costs in developing
  countries are used to keep costs low for
  first-world corporations

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The Bottom Line

• According to a recent New York Times article,
  Norwegian cod cost 1.36/pound to process in
  Europe, but only 23 cents/pound to process in
  Asia.
• As a result, cod is caught in Norway, shipped to
  China for processing, and then shipped back to
  Norway for sale to European consumers.

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The Chicago Convention on International Civil
Aviation (1944)

• Fuel for international air travel and goods
  transportation is not taxed under this agreement.
  
• Because fuel for trucks and domestic transport is
  taxed, shipping food internationally may be
  cheaper than driving it cross-country.

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Raising Consumer Awareness

• British grocery and retail chain Tesco has
  generated press lately for its plans to create
  labels that indicate how far foods have traveled
• Environmentalists suggest that food labels
  display food miles information, like they show
  calorie and nutrition content

17
A New Buzz Word

• Food miles has become a hot-topic buzz word in
  the green movement, recently generating several
  news stories from major outlets like the New York
  Times, the BBC, and the New Yorker.
• But is counting food miles actually a good way to
  reduce your environmental impact?

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Problems with using Food Miles to Assess
Environmental Impact

• Fails to account for the mode of transportation
  used, or transport efficiency
• Does not include other production costs and
  energy needed for storage (especially
  refrigeration in the off-season), which can be
  significant

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Transportation Mode and Efficiency

• Trucks are also more energy intensive than
  shipping by sea
• For example, if you buy a bottle of wine anywhere
  east of Columbus, Ohio it is more energy
  efficient to buy French wine, shipped by sea,
  than Californian wine, shipped by truck.

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Transportation Mode and Efficiency

• A bottle of wine produced in Frances Loire
  Valley and sold in New York City has a lower
  carbon footprint (1,371g of carbon) than a bottle
  produced in California and sold in New York
  (2,514g). The difference is primarily attributed
  to transportation costs.

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Transportation Mode and Efficiency

• Overall efficiency is also influenced by the
  interplay between distance traveled and vehicle
  size
• Buying food from smaller, local farms reduces the
  distance traveled by food. However, that is
  somewhat counteracted by the use of smaller
  trucks, which are less efficient for packing and
  transporting food than large semi trucks.

22
Lincoln University Study

• A frequently cited study from Lincoln University
  in New Zealand attempted to assess the total
  energy demands of food production in New Zealand
  and the European Union

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Lincoln University StudySome Key Findings

• Dairy Products
• Because of a more intensive production system,
  United Kingdom dairies use twice as much energy
  per ton of milk solids produced, compared to New
  Zealand dairies

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Lincoln University StudySome Key Findings

• Lamb
• Producing lamb in the UK requires four times more
  energy than it does in New Zealand, including
  transportation costs.

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A European Example

• A study produced by economist Paul Watkiss for
  the United Kingdoms environmental agency (DEFRA)
  determined that it is more energy efficient to
  import tomatoes from Spain than to grow them in
  UK greenhouses during the cooler months.

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What can a conscientious consumer do?

• Paul Watkiss study determined that a single
  indicator based on food miles is inadequate as a
  way to assess the environmental impact of foods.
• Life cycle energy assessments indicate that
  multiple factors interplay when comparing the
  energy efficiency of food products
• As we have seen, local is not always better

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What can a conscientious consumer do?

• Eat locally grown foods when they are in season
• Much of the extra energy associated with certain
  local foods is attributable to greenhouse
  production systems, or energy-intensive
  off-season storage like refrigeration.

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What can a conscientious consumer do?

• Dont drive to the store
• Americans are making longer and more frequent
  trips to the supermarket, and this cumulative
  impact adds to the energy costs of bringing food
  home. Walking, biking, or at least using local
  stores and markets can make a big impact.

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What can a conscientious consumer do?

• Know what you eat If you can
• Life cycle assessments are the only reliable way
  to accurately determine the comparative energy
  footprint of different foods. Doing a little
  research on your favorite foods can help, but
  life cycle assessments are complex and not
  readily available for most foods.

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Policy Suggestions

• Wouldnt it make more sense to stop obsessing
  over food miles and work to strengthen
  comparative geographical advantages? And what if
  we did this while streamlining transportation
  services according to fuel-efficient standards?
• --New York Times, Food that Travels
  Well, Aug. 6, 2007