When I first came to Ireland over 13 years ago I was impressed by the countries commitment to buying Irish.
Recently the local food trend has become a growing phenomenon worldwide with some people choosing to only eat foods that were produced locally. There are many reasons why buying local makes sense: it supports the economy, ensures the traceability of what we eat and most importantly cuts down on food miles and the carbon emissions associated with them.
So, due to the carbon emissions associated with airfreight, and considering that one of the key objectives of the organic movement is to protect the environment, should we allow food that is flown around the world to be certified organic? The Soil Association, the UK’s biggest and longest established organic food certifying body has been considering just this. In May 2007 they released a discussion document which is available
online here.
So what are the arguments against buying exclusively local foods?
For me there are there are four key arguments. Firstly there can be no doubt that it makes sense to buy local when you are buying according to the seasons. The Irish apple is a great example as a
recent article in the Irish Independent explains:
‘Apples mature as autumn fruits, they are picked in September and October. During those months you can buy locally produced fruit that will have very little carbon emissions attached to it.
But as the months go by, that autumn glut of fruit is stored in chill warehouses which, of course, use fossil-fuel energy to power them.
When you do the maths on this you find that by the following August those stored apples will account for more carbon emissions than apples shipped in from Australia and New Zealand.’
Then consider the Nitrogen based fertilisers that are used in non-organic farming. Nitrogen is a much more harmful greenhouse gas than CO2. So if you are buying non-organic local foods the impact on the environment can be just as great if not worse than imported foods.
Another strong argument, which to my amusement even made it into Ken and Deirdrie’s living room in Coronation Street last year, is that by driving out of our way to buy local food we are generating more carbon than it would take for the same food, as part of a consignment, to be air freighted around the world.
Probably the most compelling argument for buying foods from overseas is the impact that this has on communities. It is one of the major considerations outlined in the Soil Associations Green Paper:
‘Airfreight enables producers in some of the poorest regions of the world to supply high value fresh fruit and vegetables to Europe, creating jobs and opportunities to add value.’
One compelling example of this is outlined on the
Natural Choices website:
‘Blue Skies is one Soil Association licensee that uses airfreight. Blue Skies specialises in the export of pre-cut, ready-to-eat fruit transported in the hold of passenger flights.
The pineapples are grown by small-scale farmers in the Central Region of Ghana and processed in their fresh-cut production facility in Nsawam, in the Eastern Region. In Nsawam Blue Skies employs over 1500 people and, through salaries alone, contributes around £2 million to the local economy. In the Central Region they have created vital jobs where unemployment is currently 70%. According to Wikipedia Ghana produces 7,513,000 metric tonnes of co2 emissions, less than 0.1% of the world’s total, which is less than 0.37 of a tonne per person in 2003.’
Finally it should be remembered that not all food is air freighted. Many companies like my own choose to transport by road or sea.
So it seems in order to be kind to the environment we should try to buy local, seasonal organic foods. But to be kind to the world in general we should support overseas suppliers andd shouldn’t always shy away from buying imported or even air freighted produce.
To find out more follow these links:
The ObserverThe TimesThe Irish IndependentThe Soil AssociationNatural Choices.
