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Sharon Palmer, RDN The Plant-Powered Dietitian
• Award-winning nutrition expert
• Author of the Plant-Powered
Diet and Plant-Powered for
Life
• Editor, Environmental Nutrition
and nutrition editor, Today’s
Dietitian
• Blogger, The Plant-Powered
Blog
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Learning Objectives
After completing this continuing education course, nutrition
professionals should be able to:
1. Define local food and food miles in today’s food system.
2. Understand distance food is traveling in Western food
systems.
3. List factors that impact carbon footprint beyond food
miles.
4. Identify strategies to reduce carbon footprint by food
choices.
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My Journey
I come from a long line of farmers!
Images: My father’s farm, Minnesota, Idaho, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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My Journey
My mother grew up on a farm, too.
Images: Washington State, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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My Journey
I helped grow food, too.
Image: Washington, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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“Fall in love with
plants and they will
love you back,” Sharon Palmer, RDN,
Plant-Powered for Life
There are 40,000 edible species
of plants on the planet, each with
the power to nourish and help
heal our bodies; each plant has
its own story. DYK there are
25,000 types of tomatoes alone?
Images: Santa Rosa Heirloom Festival, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Local Eating is Hot!
• It’s on the top trends list for 2016-
2017
• Local sourcing of produce, meat and
seafood among top restaurant trends
(NRA What’s Hot Culinary Forecast)
• Focus on local, farm-to-table
restaurants, neighborhood, co-ops,
and CSAs continue to rise
(EcoWatch)
• Higher income consumers more
likely to purchase foods labeled
“organic” (IFIC Food & Health
Survey 2015)
• Google “local foods”: 24,100,000 hits
Image: Pasadena Farmers Market, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Local Food is Growing • In the last 20 years, local foods
consumed in US tripled - 2% of food consumed (USDA)
• Since 2006-2007, several local food marketing channels have experienced tremendous growth (NSAC):
– Farmers markets have grown by 180 percent since 2006
– Regional food hubs have grown by 288 percent since 2006-2007
– School district participation in farm to school programs has increased by 430 percent since 2006
Image: Pasadena Farmers Market, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Local Food is Growing
In 2012, 7.8% of US
farms (163,675) sold
food through local food
marketing channels,
with majority (70%)
selling solely through
DTC. The other 30%
used combination of
DTC and intermediated
channels or only
intermediated channels
(NSAC)
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The Local Food Movement • Local food is alternative to global food
model: food travels long distances
before it reaches consumer
• Connects food producers and
consumers in same geographic region
in order to:
– Develop more self-reliant and
resilient food networks
– Improve local economies
– Improve health, environmental,
community, or social impact of
particular place (Agriculture and
Human Values)
• Gaining traction in developed countries,
including US and Europe (Worldwatch)
Image: Three Sisters, LA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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What is Local? • No single definition exists; geographic distance
varies within the movement
• Definition of locavore: practice of eating food
that is grown locally. Origin: Almaden, San
Jose, Santa Cruz, SF. Being locavore
decreases amount of GGE, as food consumed
sourced locally, instead trucked in to my city
(Urban Dictionary)
• Common definition: food grown within 100 miles
of point of purchase/consumption (Time)
• 2008 survey of US consumers: 2/3 considered
local food = food grown within 100 miles
(Leopold Center)
• US Congress, 2008 Food, Conservation, and
Energy Act: total distance product can be
transported, still considered “locally or
regionally produced agricultural food product” is
less than 400 miles from origin, or within state
produced” (USDA)
Image: Local Radishes served in London, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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What is Local?
• Sometimes local means food grown within a
county, state or province, or even, in the
case of some small European nations,
within country
• Some organizations supporting local less
likely to put numbers on things
• Iowa local food shifted from signifying food
grown within a county or neighboring one to
food grown anywhere in state. For some in
agricultural community, promoting and
eating "local Iowa food" is almost food
patriotism aimed at counteracting forces of
globalization that put state's family farmers
at risk. (Worldwatch)
Image: local food from Kyoto, Japan, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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The 100-Mile Diet
Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, authors of The 100-Mile Diet, chose
this boundary for their experiment in eating locally because "a 100-mile
radius is large enough to reach beyond a big city and small enough to
feel truly local. And it rolls off the tongue more easily than the ‘160-
kilometer diet.'"
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The Locavore Index
The five top-ranking states:
– Vermont
– Maine
– New Hampshire
– Oregon
– Massachusetts
The six lowest-ranking states:
– Texas
– Arizona
– Nevada
– Florida
– Louisiana
– Mississippi Source: Strolling of the Heifers Locovore Index
http://www.strollingoftheheifer.com/locavore/ 15
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Why are People Drawn to Local?
Lots of reasons, including:
– Healthier food: organic, fresher, riper, less pesticides, increase fruit and vegetable consumption
– Environmental benefits: reduce transportation time; support more sustainable agriculture, crop rotation, avoid monoculture
– Economic benefits: lower costs
– Community benefits: keep money in the community, support local farmers
Image: Nashville farmers market, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Local Mania!
• The Local Movement is
alive and well all over
the country!
• Locovore Dinners
Popping Up
• Outstanding in the Field:
Setting tables at the
source of ingredients,
serving from farm to
table across the country;
since 1999, roving
culinary adventure
Image: Locavore dinner, Monrovia, CA,
Sharon Palmer, RDN
Image: Outstanding in the Field
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Chefs are in Love with Local
• Calling out name of farms on
menus, websites
• Detail life history of ingredient
• Create sense of place for a food
• Foraging is hot
• Creating desire for specific food
ingredients
Image: Menu board at The Grocery, Charleston, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Chefs are in Love with Local
• Dan Barber, Chef at Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns,
New York
• Working 4-season farm, sourcing from fields and pasture and
other local farms, Hudson Valley
• No menu, offered “Grazing, Rooting, Pecking Menu” from the
field and market ($218/person)
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Locol Watts, Revolutionary Fast Food
• “Locol is about real, fast food made with the ideology, heart
and science of a chef.”
• “The chefs think about what to feed you, how to take care of
you”
• Healthy, sustainable fast food with a chef’s touch
• $4 burgers, chicken (with grains mixed in), $6 chili bowls, no
soda, fries
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Foraging is Hot
• Noma, world’s best restaurant, Chef
Rene Redzipi
• The Nordic Food Lab
• One of the most famous foragers in the
world
• VILD MAD site: resource for exploring
wild food.
Image: Rene Redzipi, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Food Miles in the Food System
• Concept of "food miles” has come to
dominate local food movement
discussion, particularly in US, UK,
parts of Western Europe
• Helps describe today’s conventional
food system that's centralized,
industrialized, and complex
• Since our food is transported miles in
ships, trains, trucks, and planes,
attention to food miles links up with
broader concerns about GGE from
fossil fuel-based transport
(WorldWatch Institute)
Image: Nashville farmers market, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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The Conventional, Global, Industrial
Food System • For most of human history until
several decades ago, most
people ate food from local
sources
• As farms consolidated in past 50
years, so has food processing
• Consolidation means food
transported greater distances,
production concentrated into
fewer operations
• Implications for food safety, food
security, and loss of small
processing establishments
(slaughterhouse, canneries)
(Food and Foodways, 2010)
Image: Community garden, CA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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The Conventional, Global, Industrial
Food System • Development of
refrigerated trucking,
methods of harvesting
enables foods to be
shipped over very long
distances at relatively low
costs (Local Food
Systems)
• Conventional food system
relies upon centralized
processing/packaging
facilities sometimes
located far from
farms/consumers
(Worldwatch)
• Monocropping (fruits and vegetables)
and factory farming (animal products)
often norm on large farms (Food and
Foodways, 2010)
• Farm products transported to
centralized facility for packaging,
processing, inspection, then
transported nationally/internationally to
reach destination: usually retail
establishment (Worldwatch)
Image: Farm in California, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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How Far Food is Traveling • Researchers calculated ingredients
of typical Swedish breakfast (apple,
bread, butter, cheese, coffee,
cream, orange juice, sugar) traveled
distance equal to circumference of
Earth before reaching table (World
Watch Magazine)
• Researchers in Iowa found milk,
sugar, strawberries in carton
strawberry yogurt collectively
journeyed 2,211 miles to processing
plant (Leopold Center)
• Typical American prepared meal
contains ingredients from at least
five countries outside US (NRDC)
• Researchers analyzed
transport of 28 fruits &
vegetables to Iowa markets;
produce in conventional
system traveled average 1,518
miles, locally sourced food
traveling average 44.6 miles
(Leopold Center)
Image: Food market Stockhom, Sweden, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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How Far Food is
Traveling
Studied 30 produce items;
only 2 (pumpkins,
mushrooms) traveled less
than 500 miles; 6 (grapes,
lettuce, spinach, broccoli,
cauliflower, green peas)
traveled over 2,000 miles
to reach Chicago market.
Mexico source of 21.
(Leopold Center)
Source: Leopold Center
Image: Food market, San Francisco, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Local Food Production Model
• Food often starts on more sustainable
farms (Local Food Systems)
• Shorter distribution distance between
grower, producer, consumer
• Often cut out middlemen involved in
processing, packaging, transporting,
selling food
• Generally processed on farm itself
• Two primary markets: direct-to-
consumer & direct-to-retail, foodservice,
institution
• DTC programs: Farmers markets, CSAs,
other options (pick-your-own farms, on-
site farm stands/stores, gleaning
programs (Sustainable Table)
Image: Farmers market, Westlake Village, CA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Local Food: Farmers Markets
• Common direct-to-consumer
operation
• Communal spaces in which multiple
farmers gather to sell farm products
directly to consumers
• May be municipally or privately
managed; may be seasonal or year-
round
• Farmers may have to pay vendor’s fee
to participate, must usually transport
farm products to farmers' market site
• On the rise! Number increased from
1,755 in 1994 to 8,284 in 2014
(USDA)
Image: Charleston farmers market, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Local Food:
Community Supported Agriculture
• CSA participants often pick up
shares in communal location, or
may be delivered to consumer
• USDA estimates 2,500 CSAs
currently operating in US (Local
Food Systems)
Image: CSA, Sierra Madre, CA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
• Community Supported
Agriculture (CSAs) direct-
to-consumer programs in
which consumers buy
“share” of local farm’s
harvest
• Consumers often required
to pay for share of harvest
up front, which distributes
risks and rewards of
farming amongst
consumers and farmer
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Direct to Retail,
Foodservice and Institution
• Growing component of local
food systems
• Provide farm products
directly to retail,
foodservice, institutions
• Programs cut out
middlemen in storing,
processing, transporting
food destined for
grocery/retail stores,
restaurants, schools,
hospitals, other institutions
Image: Supermarket, Davis, CA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
• Farmers deliver farm products
directly to establishments or food
hub (centralized location where
farmers drop off farm products for
distribution)
(Local Food Systems)
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Does Local Reduce Food Miles?
• Eating local just
seems like common
sense
• At most basic level,
fewer transport miles
= fewer emissions
• Conventional food
distribution system
uses 4-17 times
more fuel, emits 5-17
times more CO2
than local/regional
(state-wide) systems,
per study in Iowa
(Leopold Center)
WASD: Weighted average source distance
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Does Local Reduce Food Miles?
Canadian study estimated replacing
imported food with equivalent items
locally grown in Waterloo, Ontario
region would save transport-related
emissions equivalent nearly 50,000
metric tons CO2, or equivalent of
taking 16,191 cars off road (World
Watch Magazine)
Study found typical Japanese family could reduce CO2 emissions by 300 kg annually by eating locally (Transport for a Sustainable Future)
Image: Farmers market, Ojai, CA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Industrial Food Impacts on Environment
Industrial farming has been associated
with negative impacts:
• Environment:
polluting air, surface
water, and ground
water; over-consuming
fossil fuel and water,
degrading soil, inducing
erosion, accelerating loss
of biodiversity
• Health of farm workers
• Degrading socioeconomic fabric of surrounding communities
• Impairing health and quality of life of community residents
(Environmental Health Perspectives)
Image: Farmers market, WA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Local Food Impacts on Sustainability
In contrast, many small-scale, local farms focus on sustainable
practices, such as minimized pesticide use, no-till agriculture and
composting, minimized transport to consumers, and minimal to no
packaging for their farm products (Geography, 2002)
Image: Cauliflower at farmers market in Davis, CA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Food Safety Concerns
As production networks in
conventional food system have
become increasingly consolidated,
distribution networks increasingly
globalized, risk of food safety
problems has increased
Consolidation of meat and
produce production,
including animal
slaughter/processing,
means more possibilities of
improper processing,
handling, preparation
affecting vast quantities of
food, and subsequently
consumers (Environmental
Health Perspectives)
Image: Farmers Market, Calabasas, CA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Food Safety Concerns
• Recent multi-state outbreaks
affecting hundreds of people
traced to individual farms, food
processing facilities, and food
handlers. (Epidemiology,
2002)
• When small amount of
contamination enters
consolidated production
systems, vast quantities of
food product being processed
and distributed nationally (or
globally) may be affected due
to sheer volume of food
produced (Clinical Infectious
Diseases, 2004)
• Tracing outbreaks of foodborne
illnesses also more difficult
because production/ distribution
of conventional food products,
such as ground beef, often
involves multiple farms, food
processors, food distributors
(Clinical Infectious Diseases,
2004)
Image: Farmers Market, Pasadena, CA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Nutrition Quality
• Local fruits and vegetables often fresher, do not require long distances for transport, can be harvested closer to peak ripeness
• Many fruits/vegetables contain more nutrients when allowed to ripen naturally on parent plant (Is Local More Nutritious?)
Image: Tomato picked for fresh distribution, Davis, CA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
• Meat from animals raised
sustainably on pasture more
nutritious; grass-fed beef
higher in HDL/omega-3s, lower
in LDL, higher in vitamins A and
E, than factory farmed beef
(Nutrition Journal)
• Sustainably produced food
means less agricultural
chemicals, antibiotics,
hormones
(SustainableTable)
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Impact of Food Miles on Food
Source: Illinois Dept Agriculture
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Local Food and Improved Nutrition
• Eating locally correlated with
– improved nutrition
– increased likelihood of
making healthier food
choices
– obesity prevention
– reduced risk of diet-related
chronic disease
• This is mainly because food is
more nutritious, fresher, and
less processed (USDA)
Image: San Francisco farmers market, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Food Security
• Local food systems may help improve food security by making local, fresh food available to populations with limited access to healthful food (FAO)
• More farmers' markets accept food stamps today (Local Food Systems)
• Local food systems support local economies, generate jobs (Worldwatch)
• On average, buying local keeps 65% of dollars in community, shopping at large chain stores keeps 40% (Utah State)
Image: Monrovia farmers market, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Local Food Shares a Story
• You can gain insight into
food’s story through
talking with people who
grew it
• You can ask questions
about pesticides,
herbicides, growth
hormones, animal
treatment, fertilizers, etc
• Getting to know local
producers gives stronger
sense of place,
relationships, trust, pride
within community (Utah
State University)
Image: Greens, local market, Vancouver, BC, Sharon Palmer, RDN
• Supporting local food helps
preserve genetic diversity
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Food Transportation Impacts
• Not only are
distances that food
travels important, but
modes of transport
have large effect on
how much pollution
generated
• Importing food by
airplane results in far
greater emissions of
greenhouse gases
than imports by ship
Source: NRDC
Image: Blueberries, Finland, Sharon Palmer, RDN
Foods Frequently Imported By Air
Main Country of Origin
Asparagus Peru
Bell Peppers Netherlands
Blackberries Chile
Blueberries Chile, New Zealand, Argentina
Cherries Chile
Raspberries Chile
• In 2005, import of fruits, nuts, vegetables into CA by airplane
released 70,000 tons CO2, equivalent to 12,000+ cars on road
(NRDC)
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Food Transportation Impacts
Although
exceptions, in most
cases locally
produced food best
choice for
minimizing global
warming, pollutants
When combine all
locally grown food,
still produced less
CO2 emissions in
transport than any
one imported
product (NRDC)
Source: Region of Waterloo Public Health
Source: NRDC
Image: Sharon Palmer, RDN
Transport Mode
GHG emission levels (g per tonne-kilometre)
Air 1101.0
Marine 130.3
Rail 21.2
Truck 269.9
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The Case of Year Round Food Availability
• People want produce year round, instead of seasonally—thus
high exports, even when local food is available, often competing
with local produce
• Pollution in distribution centers, often in low-income communities,
linked with increased health risks, per research (NRDC)
Source: NRDC
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The Case of Year Round Food
Availability
Top foods and beverage
imports into CA (table
grapes, navel oranges,
wine, garlic, rice, and
fresh tomatoes); each
produced in and exported
from CA: caused pollution
45 x more, global warming
500 X more than local
grown foods (NRDC)
950 cases asthma, 16,870 missed
schools days, 43 hospital admissions,
37 premature deaths could be
attributed to worsened air quality from
food imports, according to freight
transport–related projections by the
California Air Resources Board
Image: Broccoli, LA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Imported Food Diet • Transporting food one of
fastest-growing sources of
GGE.
• 817 million tons/yr food
shipped around planet,
resulting in basic diet of
imported products use
4 X energy, produce
4 X emissions equivalent
to domestic diet
• Term “food miles” for food’s
impact on environment may
soon be replaced by “life cycle carbon
footprint”, which encapsulates more than
transportation, but everything food product
goes through that contributes to carbon
footprint (Center for Environmental Education)
Image: Local food stand, Gilroy, CA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Beyond Food Miles
Other issues impact how food contributes to climate change, such as
growing and harvesting. 83% of food’s greenhouse gas emissions come
from growing and harvesting food; transportation only 11%, final delivery
from producer to retail, 4% (UK, Dept of Environment, Food, and Rural
Affairs)
Source: Heller and Keoleian. Life Cycle-Based Sustainability Indicators
for Assessment of the U.S. Food System. 2000.
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Local Doesn’t Equal Sustainable
• Labeling product “local” does not indicate environmental impact of products’ transportation
• Food mile labeling leads conversation away from which product is more sustainably produced
• Food miles can be cloudy if specific local food grown out of season or in unsustainable, energy-intensive way
• For example, greenhouse may use increased energy during colder months; use of high amount of pesticides in areas (Center for Environmental Education)
Image: Local produce at farmers market, Monrovia, CA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Local Doesn’t Equal Sustainable • Food miles alone are not valid
indicator of sustainability of food system (UK Depart for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Report)
• In some cases, reducing
food miles may reduce
energy use, but there
may be other social,
environmental, economic
trade-offs. Consequences
of food transport are
complex, require group of
indicators to determine
global impact of food
miles (Center for
Environmental Education)
Image: Local cherries, Washington, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Local is Not Always Best
• Analysis energy
consumption of
tomatoes in
Sweden,
environmentally
beneficial to
purchase imported
outdoor tomatoes
from Canary Islands
during winter than to
purchase hot house-
grown local
tomatoes (Ecological
Economics).
• Some locations much
better than others at
producing certain foods
• CA strawberries grown
most of year under
almost ideal conditions;
1 hectare CA land yields
50,000+ kg berries,
compared to 7-10,000 in
Ontario, in the process
allowing for much more
intensive/efficient use
fuel, capital, machinery,
other resources. (Buy
Global, 2009)
Image: Fruit in Swedish
supermarket, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Local is Not Always Best
• Sugar produced in Zambia,
Mauritius consumed in Europe had
lower carbon footprint than locally
produced alternatives (Carbon
Footprints in Food Systems)
• In case of certain exports from New
Zealand, energy used and CO2
produced was 1/3 of that caused by
producers in UK; NZ can
produce/ship apples at lower
environmental cost while using 3/5
of energy (Food Miles Comparative
Energy/Emissions Performance of
New Zealand’s Agriculture Industry)
Image: Fruit stand, Washington,
Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Consumer Transportation • Significant greenhouse gas
impact attributed to individual families making many small-volume shopping trips by car to transport food from retail stores to homes
• Buying local can reduce distance food must travel, yet reduced transportation emissions per vehicle can be a wash if many smaller, less efficient, vehicles used (DEFRA)
• When buying from local farmers markets, consider transportation methods used by farmer’s market vendors, most are smaller trucks, passenger vehicles, which are least efficient
Image: Basil, LA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
• Products can leave a farm and travel to and from many farmers
markets
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Consumer Transportation
82% of 30 billion food miles
associated with UK food
generated within the country, with
car transport from shop to home
accounting for 48%; air and sea
transport each amounted to less
than 1% of food miles. Worst
case scenario: UK consumer
driving 10 km to buy Kenyan
green beans emits more carbon
per bag of beans than flying them
from Kenya to UK (United
Kingdom Department for
Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs, 2005)
Image: Harrod’s, London, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Local Food Conundrums
• Certain foods, especially
meat, dairy, red meat,
have very high carbon
footprints due to
production processes
and inputs—not
transportation
• Food miles can
discourage food from
developing countries,
producing negative
impact on livelihoods of
world’s poor (Fairtrade)
Image: Harvesting grapes, Napa Valley, Sharon Palmer, RDN
• May be impossible to get healthful
foods in certain climates, with
short growing season
• Can reduce intake of fruits,
vegetables, whole grains, nuts,
olives, citrus, herbs, spices,
coffee, tea, chocolate, grapes
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Problems with 100-mile Diet
• Cost: Locally grown organic
products/substitutes for
conventional products, in general,
cost more (often significantly more)
than conventional products
• Lack of variety: Sugar, rice,
lemon, ketchup, olive oil, peanut
butter, orange juice, and flour could
not be produced locally; in winter
only very narrow selection of
vegetables available
• Time: Time spent
acquiring/preparing food
comparable to part-time job
Image: Local hemp farm, Manitoba, Canada, Sharon Palmer, RDN
Canadian 100-mile Couple
Documented problems
(Montreal Economic
Institute)
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Agriculture is Changing • Many larger farms are becoming more
sustainable: reducing water, inputs,
tillage practices, protecting soil, wildlife
and water ways, improving efficiency
• Theory: selecting some land for
intensive, high-yielding agriculture
using modern production technologies
can help preserve wildlife habitat
elsewhere; requiring less land for
production
• Mixture of high-yield, intensive farming
and small, organic local farms may be a
good strategy (Rural Economy and
Land Use Programme)
Image: Organic kale farm, Bakersfield, CA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Agriculture is Changing • Farmers who take
sustainable approach work efficiently with natural processes rather than struggling against them
• Use best current knowledge/technology to avoid unintended consequences of industrial, chemical- based agriculture
• Farmers able to minimize pesticides and fertilizers, saving money, protecting future productivity, environment
• Common sustainable agriculture techniques employed by farmers today to achieve weed control, pest control, disease control, erosion control, high soil quality:
– Crop Rotation
– Cover Crops
– Soil Enrichment
– Natural Pest Predators
– Biointensive Integrated Pest Management (Rural Economy and Land Use Programme)
Image: Farm tour, Davis, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Food Miles in Perspective
• Food miles don’t tell whole
story, but they are a spoke
in food analysis wheel
• Food miles can be used to
identify to what extent diets
depend on global markets
• They tell us not only
distance traveled but,
production location, mode
transportation, likelihood of
future food security issues
related to transportation
distance.
Image: Pike Place Market, Seattle,
Sharon Palmer, RDN
• Although food miles do not
contribute significant part of GGE
proportional to production, they
do contribute
• Food miles concept starts
discussion about distance food
must travel to feed humanity
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Taking Action
• Curb land loss due to agricultural expansion, especially for production of animal feed and biofuels
• Use innovative technologies on underproductive farms to maximize resources like water, fertilizers while reducing waste; most efficient farms can be up to 80% more productive than the least productive
• Grow more food for people, currently 40% of food grown used to feed animals
• Shifting diets away from animal based products could free up almost half current agricultural output
Image: Melon farm, Davis. CA, Sharon Palmer, RDN
60
Taking Action
• Reduce transport impacts, cleaner vehicles, improved logistics, rail freight
• Improve wider sustainability of food chain, ethical trading, improved energy efficiency in the local food sector
• Consumer awareness/labelling, public procurement, support local food initiatives
• Source food more locally where
appropriate
• Reduce car food shopping/ home
delivery, support for local and in-
town shops, provision of safe
cycle and pedestrian access
Image: Carrot farm, Bakersfield, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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What You Can Do to Reduce Food Miles
• Learn what foods are in season in
your area and try to build your diet
around them.
• Shop at a local farmers market.
• Eat minimally processed, packaged,
or marketed food.
• Ask the manager or chef of your
favorite restaurant how much of the
food on the menu is locally grown,
and then encourage him or her to
source food locally.
Image: Sharon Palmer, RDN
62
What You Can Do to
Reduce Food Miles
• Consolidate trips when grocery shopping.
• Take a trip to a local farm to learn what it produces.
• Limit the amount of meat you consume, and when you do buy meat, look for organic or free range meat produced on sustainable farms.
• Produce a local food directory that lists all of the local food sources in your area.
• Buy extra quantities of your favorite
fruit or vegetable when it’s in
season and experiment with drying,
canning, jamming, or otherwise
preserving it for a later date.
• Plant a garden and grow as much
food as possible.
• Speak to your local politician about
forming a local food policy council
to help guide decisions that affect
the local foodshed.
Image: Snow peas, farmers market,
Pasadena, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Home Gardening:
The Best in Local Foods
• 35% all households in America
(42 million) growing food at
home or in community garden,
up 17% in five years
• Largest increases in
participation seen among
younger households, up 63% to
13 million since 2008
• 2 million more households
community gardening, up 200%
since 2008
• Replacing landscaping, trees
Image: Vegetable garden, Sharon Palmer, RDN
(National Gardening Association)
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Local Food Resources:
Food Miles Tools
Food Carbon Footprint Calculator - tool
for UK residents to calculate food carbon
footprint to better understand
http://www.foodcarbon.co.uk/
Image: Ojai local fruit, Sharon Palmer, RDN
Life Cycles Food Calculator - determines
distance/amount greenhouse gases saved if
certain food product is bought locally as
opposed to imported
http://www.foodemissions.com/foodemission
s/Calculator.aspx
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Local Food Resources:
Food Miles Tools
LCA Food Database - tool for acquiring an
aggregated description of emissions, waste,
and resource use from soil to kitchen per
unit of different food items
http://www.lcafood.dk/
Iowa Produce Market Potential Calculator –
designed to help users determine expanding
markets in Iowa if consumers ate more locally
grown fresh fruits and vegetables rather than
produce from conventional sources outside
state
http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/marketplanner/
Image: Grape fields, Willamette Valley, OR, Sharon Palmer, RDN
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Thank You!
Sharon Palmer, RDN,
The Plant-Powered Dietitian
Email: [email protected]
www.sharonpalmer.com
Follow me!
Twitter: @SharonPalmerRD
Facebook: SharonPalmer: The Plant-Powered Dietitian
Pinterest: SharonPalmerRD
Instagram: @sharonpalmerrd
Join the Dietitian Food Revolution:
facebook.com/DietitianFoodRevolution/
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Credit Claiming
You must complete a brief evaluation of the program in order to
obtain your certificate. The evaluation will be available for 1 year;
you do not have to complete it today.
Credit Claiming Instructions:
1. Log in to www.CE.TodaysDietitian.com, go to “My Courses”
and click on the webinar title.
2. Click “Take Course” on the webinar description page.
3. Select “Start/Resume Course” to complete and submit the
evaluation.
4. Download and print your certificate.