Relative Benefits of Long and
Short Food Chains
Graham Day
Gareth Edwards-Jones (PI) Barry Hounsome
Monica Truninger
Georgia Koerber
Natalia Ivashikina
Paul Cross
Bangor University
Llorenc Milo i Canals
Surrey University
The Project
Research question:
What are the advantages and disadvantages of consuming
locally produced fruit and vegetables as opposed to fruit
and vegetables produced overseas?
• Start date: 1st December, 2004
• Duration:
3 years
• 6 Work Packages examining Domestic (England &
Wales), European (Spain), and Non-European (Kenya &
Uganda) production of fruit and vegetables.
The case for ‘eating locally’
“Say No to Tesco and Yes to Local Food”
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Environmental campaigners believe this will minimise greenhouse
gas emissions and reduce the carbon footprint of food production
Community advocates contend that more localised food chains will
strengthen local food economies and enhance social capital.
Supporters of ‘healthy eating’ claim that local produce is ‘better’
and more nutritious than food that has travelled over distances.
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Obviously the food transport, that’s another thing
that really naffs me off with the supermarkets … I
think it’s irresponsible the effects on the
environment, I want this world to carry on…”
I mean if it’s local and really fresh and the organic
looks horrible and like has travelled by a
thousand miles then I buy local… and I know
that’s a lot of issues… environmental issues with
food miles which I’m not happy with…
When I buy things I don’t buy things that aren’t
produced in Europe….For a start I don’t like
America so I don’t buy anything that comes from
America!
Consumers are aware of trade-offs
and the need to compromise….
“I find shopping a
constant compromise!
Do I buy organic? Do I
buy Fair Trade? Do I
buy local? I want to
buy local but I can’t …
it’s really frustrating …
it’s really difficult to
buy
apples
From
Herefordshire!”
Consumer Scores for Desirability
(n=1189)
Attributes
Freshness
Colour
Shelf Life
Price
Special Offers
Packaged/Loose
Ease of Preparation
Origin
Organic
Score
3.83
3.60
3.31
2.99
2.92
2.25
2.25
2.22
2.06
Discrete Choice Model
(n=1189)
Attributes
Price (4th/9)
Coefficients
-4.258
Days from picking
(Freshness) (1st/9)
-0.684
Origin (8th/9)
-0.334
M J/ kg of cooked potatoes
Energy consumption in the life cycle of 1
kg of potatoes
Potato storage and
packaging
12
10
UK cropping potato,
cradle to farm gate
8
6
Transport and retail
4
2
0
Home processing
Energy (gross calorific value,
MJ)
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
„
INPUT
OUTPUT
Machinery
Pesticides
Fertiliser
Electricity
Fuel
Farm
Food
Wastes
Pollution
Transport
Pollution
Storage &
processing
Pollution
Wastes
Wastes
Pollution
Machinery
Fuel
Machinery
Electricity
Electricity
Packaging
Retail
Primary energy use per kg of apples from European and
Southern Hemisphere suppliers for the different seasons
(Mila i Canals et al .2007b)
Cradle to UK home for Broccoli
UK & Spain
kg CO2-eq/kg broccoli on plate
Cropping
Processing
Transp. & retail
1.20
1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
ES11st
ES12nd
ES21st
ES22nd
UK51st
UK52nd
UK61st
UK62nd
Net
ecosystem
production
from
crops
in
Net Ecosystem Production of Carbon from Crops grown in UK, Spain and Uganda
October
- SeptemberOct
2006 05- Sept 06
UK, Spain
& 2005
Uganda
D
Wheat
D
Vining Peas
Region
D
D
ٛ
D
ٛ
Temporary Pasture
ٛ
D
D
Sugar Beet
ٛ
D
ٛ
D
Stick Beans
Error Bars show Mean +/- 1.0 SE
D
Sim Beans
Potatoes
Lettuce
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
Dwarf Beans
Brassica
Anglesey
Lincolnshire
Worcester
Spain
Uganda
D
D
D
D
0
10
NEP t C yr-1
D
20
GW P [C O 2 -eq/kg lettuce in R D C ]
UKc-In
4.00E + 00
UKc-In
Year round supply of lettuce – UK & Spain
3.50E + 00
GWP
3.00E + 00
0.00E + 00
Jan-Apr
May-Jul
Jul-Oct
Nov-Dec
ESb-1
ESa-1
UKd-In
UKc-2
UKb-2
UKa-2
UKc-1
UKb-1
5.00E -01
UKa-1
1.00E + 00
ESb-2
1.50E + 00
ESa-2
2.00E + 00
UKd-In
2.50E + 00
Lettuce Red Batavia
Total number of analysed nutrient
compounds: 195
Antioxidants and anti-tumour
compounds
Vitamin K3
Vitamin B6
Teasterone
Syringic acid
Quinic acid
Quercetin
Naringenin
Icosanoic acid
Hydroxybenzoic acid
Flavone
Coniferyl alcohol
Citric acid
Chlorogenic acid
Canavanine
Caffeine
Cadaverine
Behenic acid
Apigenin
POLYTUNNELS, LEOMINSTER
Health of horticultural field and packhouse workers as
measured
by summary
SF-36 in
2006,
n conventional
= 423,
n organic
= 97
SF-36 scale and
scores
for field
and packhouse
workers
by farming
method
(Cross et al in press)
Conventional
Organic
UK norm
60
50
Mean score
40
30
20
10
0
PF
RP
BP
GH
VT
SF
RE
MH
PCS
MCS
Health attribute
PF = Physical Functioning,
RP = Role Physical,
BP = Bodily Pain,
GH = General Health,
VT = Vitality,
SF = Social Functioning,
RE = Role Emotional,
MH = Mental Health,
PCS = Physical Component Score
MCS = Mental Component Score
The Public in the ‘Green
Room’
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To say that soil itself contributes to greenhouse gas should make people
either alarmed or sceptical about this report's implications..
This article is short-sighted, inaccurate, and misleading. To insinuate
that green house gasses from the soil are responsible for environmental
degradation is ridiculous.
The bit about the gases produced by different kinds of soil seems to me
unnecessary for the issue at hand, unless the author is claiming that
significant pollution results from our choice of soil. THAT would be
news.
If I was a cynic, I’d be wondering if his big research grant came from
some big food importer or perhaps an oil company … Common sense
says to me that beans and lettuce grown by my local farmer and sold at
his stall have probably resulted in less greenhouse emissions than the
same item flown from Africa or South America.