Reducing 'food miles' more vital than buying green say experts

LONDON - People should help fight climate change by buying most of their food from local sources, say British environment experts.

They said this did not mean shutting down world trade in food - comparatively little of which travels by air or sea - but radical reform of road distribution in developed countries that sent even carrots hundreds of kilometres to reach consumers.

"Food miles by road are far more important than we had thought. In environmental cost terms, buying local is even more important than buying green - although we would like people to do both," Professor Jules Pretty of Essex University said.

In a groundbreaking study of food distribution patterns and hidden costs, Professor Pretty and co-researcher Tim Lang of London's City University said food in Britain now travelled 65 per cent further by road than it did two decades ago due to centralised storage.

Added to the fact that local shops were closing and being replaced by hypermarkets that meant more people drove to get their shopping, this was taking a huge toll on the environment.

Cycling to the shops or even shopping online was better than the current system, Professor Pretty said.

Vehicle exhaust emissions along with the widespread use of fossil fuels such as oil and coal to generate electricity are blamed by environmental scientists for producing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and choking the atmosphere.

The scientists warn that global warming will push average temperatures up by at least two degrees centigrade this century, melting ice caps and leading to extreme weather events.

Professor Lang, who said he had coined the term "food miles", said that while the study focused exclusively on Britain it had relevance worldwide.

"This is a global issue. It cannot be resolved by Britain alone."

"This is the first study of its kind. The figures are shocking.

"Other countries need to follow it up. The European Union needs to tackle this now."

Professor Pretty noted what he called food swaps in which large quantities of apparently similar foods such as milk and meat were both imported and exported by the same country.

On the face of it this did not seem to make economic sense and certainly did not make environmental sense, he said.

At the same time, centralised distribution networks in the developed world often meant that even staple foods such as potatoes and beans travelled hundreds of kilometres to main depots only to be packaged and sent straight back.

"This whole centralised system has to go. But what will replace it is uncertain," Lang said.

- REUTERS