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Past forward to local? Let's be real, Other factors make local food a…
Past forward to local? Let's be real
100-Mile Diet
Locavore
2007 Word of the year in Oxford Americal Dictionary due to popularity
Used to describe the practice of eating locally
Indicative of the public demand for food grown locally
Eating food grown locally
Popular in several countries
Received several variations
Canadians like locally grown food
According to a 2006 poll, Canadians find a wide range of advantages to locally grown food
Reducing food miles isn't everything
Oil prices are rising
Increasing transportation costs
Distance costs increasingly more money
The average traveling distance of food is 5000 miles in the UK
Most greenhouse gas emission and fossil fuel consumption occur before food leaves the farm
A study claims about 4% of the total GHG emissions from food production and distribution
Another study claims if was 20%
The actual percentage may be argued, transportion is not the majority of it
Proximity still has advantages
Iowa study showed global food used 4 to 17 times more fuel over local
Same study found that global food released 5 to 17 times more C02 over local
Specific regional study don't always lead to generalizations applicable elsewhere
Local isn't always environmentally friendlier
New Zealand has a milder climate than northern Europe
Food grown in New Zealand will get much higher yields than northern Europe
Two thirds of New Zealand's energy comes from renewable resources
An apple from New Zealand can be produced from half the fossil energy that would be used in equivalent farm in northern Europe
Other farming necessities can travel far
Hay, compost, nitrogen and feed grain are often not produced locally
How local is food that required global ingredients
Energy reduction
Food production and consumption amount to about 10% of first-world energy consumption
You can only reduce total energy footprint marginally through diet alone
Cutting meat would have more impact than buying local food only
Saving water
Reduce fossil fuel dependancy
Better mitigate global warming and pollution
About 25 times more energy is required to produce one calory of beef compared to corn
Eating locally is not all or nothing
Mixed environmental benefits
It depends on various factors
Local food isn't always cheap or easy
Customers should expect to pay about 10% more for local produce than global ones
Less than the typical markup for organic produce
Growing our own food is not easy
It can feel like adding a part-time job to a full-time life
Different climates means a lot of food cannot be grown everywhere
Consumers want safety, reliability
What matters is what people want and will pay for
Many people are willing to pay a fair price to farmers they can trust
Local food appeals to the minority of buyers who put quality first, price second
Other factors make local food a source of pollution
Driving to the farmers market
Energy cost of home fridges and freezers
Home preparation and storage can account for 32% of all energy used in the food system
Some types of food are best imported, others are best grown locally
Preserving rural agriculture land
Local food requires local farms
In the last 40 years in Canada, 5000 square miles of fertile soil has been lost to urban development
High quality farmland close to cities is where most of the land is lost
Farmland close to cities is the easiest land for urban development
Adding pesticides, fertilizers and GMO is producing smaller increases in yields, somthing lower due to soil abuse
New farming technologies necessitate more farmlands
Farmland is more profitable as urban land
Farmlands are beind reduced instead of increased
Stopping conversion of agricultural lands isn't easy
Need to prevent farmers from selling to developpers
Need to prevent land from being developed
Need to have someone else buy and preserve land
Usually a public agency
Limiting sales of farmland
Many countries in Europe are limiting sales of land to speculators or passive owners
It is almost impossible for an individual or a company to buy farmland as a passive investment
Passive investment is an owner who is not a farmer
Paying farmers to stay put
Reward farmers for staying on their land or restricting urban development on their property
Done by harnessing private maket forces to transfer density rights from farmland to somewhere else
This does not work in Canada because there are no constitutionally protected property rights
In Canada, local governments can change zoning at will in the public interest
Requires sophisticated administrative system