Taking an active role in creating a sustainable food system
By Karin Kliewer
Publishing in March 2005
It may be surprising to learn that nearly 1/5 of North American energy consumption is used in conventional food production. This includes fertilizers, pesticides, diesel farm equipment, refrigeration, processing, packaging, and transportation. An astounding surprising amount of food travels up to 2400 km before it reaches your plate. The “food miles” in a typical Canadian diet creates nearly as much carbon dioxide as the typical car! Taking simple steps, such as reducing your meat and dairy consumption, eating organically, and eating more locally-produced food can reduce your personal “food mile” budget by 60-70%! Here’s how.
First, eating a meat-reduced diet easily reduces your “food mile” totals. David Pimental, professor of Ecology and Agriculture at Cornell, calculates that a North American conventional meat-based diet averages the consumption of 400 gallons of oil per year for food production. He states that switching to a vegetarian diet can reduce this fuel consumption by 60% to only 161 gallons per year for food production. Eating a vegan diet consumes even less oil, only 117 gallons per year.
Secondly, eating organically whenever possible is an important step in reducing your personal “food mile” tally. Organic foods are grown with holistic farming methods that avoid relying on synthetic chemicals. Organic growers strive to work in harmony with the rest of nature, typically growing a variety of crops, and avoiding monoculture farming which can make crops vulnerable to pest infestations or plant disease. On average, organic farms use 37% less energy than conventional farms. Organic growers improve the soil, protect local water, resist using hormones or antibiotics and genetically modified crops, and do not treat the end produce with preserving waxes, irradiation gases and fungicides.
Finally, choosing local food sources greatly decreases the “food mile” on your dinner table. Local foods provide exceptional taste and freshness, strengthening the local economy, increasing biodiversity, making local farms more viable, providing fair wages to farmers, increasing personal health and nutrition, teaching about eating with the seasons, and encouraging traditional knowledge! Local foods are readily available; for example, buying from farm stands or U-pick, supporting Community Supported Agriculture programs, visiting area farmers markets, joining a food co-op or food buying club, and asking for local food at supermarkets and restaurants.
For city-dwellers who want an active role in shaping their food system, urban agriculture initiatives such as community gardens, backyard gardens, and grow-a-row projects, offer unique opportunities to get personally involved. These activities contribute to increasing the quality of life in the city, by offering access to fresh food, community building, cleaner air, and ecological land use.
