This year sales of locally-sourced produce have increased by 89% as consumers seek to reduce their food miles and bolster the local economy. But Sainsbury’s chief executive Justin King argued last week that consumer concerns over food miles are ‘ill-judged’ and damaging to producers in developing countries.
The issue of food miles was an early topic on the green agenda and has really taken off among consumers in the past three years. Food miles describe the distance food travels from producer to consumer. According to international development agency Practical Action food for the UK travels 30 billion kilometres each year, adding 19 million tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere.
Solitaire Townsend, founder and chief executive of sustainable development and communications company Futerra, claims the concept of food miles is far easier for individuals to grasp than carbon footprints. She said that if consumers see lamb is labelled from New Zealand or mange tout from Africa it is easy for them to avoid it.
Townsend said it is generally the same group of ‘ethical shoppers’ that care about buying Fairtrade and buying local produce. She said: ‘Ethical consumers want to support overseas economies but there’s a conflict because they’re also worried about the environment, which confuses and upsets them.’
King said: ‘I am concerned by suggestions that we should be focusing more on buying British, or at least European. This is increasingly done under the banner of environmental sustainability – so-called food miles. A great deal of emphasis is being placed on climate change and other green issues and poverty reduction is being overshadowed by this.’ He believes that food miles alone are not the best way to judge whether products are sustainable.
A study commissioned by World Flowers, one of Sainbury’s suppliers, examined the environmental impact of roses grown in the Netherlands and Kenya. It found that roses grown in Kenya and flown to the UK create only 17% of the carbon emissions of roses grown in the Netherlands. This is mainly due to the heating systems required in colder climates. He said: ‘In the discussion about food security, people seem to be getting confused with protectionism. This is fundamentally flawed in my view.
