Local Food Doesn’t Guarantee Product Stewardship
by Francine Hardaway
Published on June 20th, 2008
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While many people in the U.S. have bought in to the idea that eating local produce can help save the planet, “only local is good” (also known as Community Sustainable Agriculture) has come under attack, according to an article in the Guardian.
The article looks at green beans from Kenya, which carry a sticker with the image of a plane on it to indicate that carbon dioxide was emitted during import. But that doesn’t necessarily mean local produce is better, according to the article. Kenya Beans are grown using manual labor instead of tractors, they use fertilizer from cows and they have low-tech irrigation systems.
When you look at all the numbers, you discover that air-transported green beans from Kenya could actually account for the emission of less carbon dioxide than beans grown locally.
The Carbon Trust is developing new labels, called carbon cost labels, that will tell the carbon footprint of agricultural products, even those grown locally. These carbon cost labels have already been tested on a small range of products.
