How far is too far?
I take 47 steps from the landing of my stairs to get to my garden gate. Inside the garden, it takes another 30 steps max to reach the farthest bed. Since I save seeds and let plants spread their own seeds, I get plenty of produce that never travels farther than that.
In a previous residence, I had a dwarf lemon tree, a dwarf lime tree and a dwarf mandarin tree by the back door. I have limes on my kitchen table now, but I have no idea where they were grown. I also like coffee, bananas, dates and avocados, none of which are grown locally, and the definition of “local” is subjective. Would peaches grown in Ruston, La., a six-hour drive, be considered local? No, but they are certainly more local than the 10-hour ride for peaches from Georgia.
Industry research indicates processed food in our nation travels on average 1300 miles from source to table, and fresh produce travels 1500 miles, and that stretches my idea of fresh. Our present attitude toward what we eat accepts long distance transport without thinking or blinking. Our nation produced almost six million tons of grapes last year, but we also imported grapes from Chile along with blueberries, walnuts, cherries, raspberries, avocados and apples.
Sugar grown in Hawaii is refined near San Francisco but packaged in New York where it is transported all over the country – even to Hawaii. A study in 1996 claimed England imported almost as much milk as it exported, and that seems silly.
There was a time when all food was produced locally, but we are not there anymore. Ice became a hot commodity in the 19thth century when smart entrepreneurs figured out they could store and transport food products cooled by ice, even meat, across the ocean. When I was young, my mom still called our refrigerator the ice box.
Somebody brought pineapples to my hometown, so it’s not my fault I learned about pineapples. The fact that folks in Europe also like pineapples sustains families in Costa Rica, so there are different perspectives to consider when assessing our interest in moving food around. Millions of people are employed in this enterprise, yet large-scale transportation of our food is a major consumer of fossil fuel which contributes to carbon dioxide pollution. Airplanes are the worst contributor but they are faster, so how fast do you need your artichokes and almonds?
Also, some food to be carried long distances must be harvested unripe and processed in factories so it can handle the journey and still be suitable for consumption. Food scientists genetically engineer new varieties to facilitate this strategy.
There is even the term “food miles” to measure the distance from farm to plate.
Research indicates if every bit of food produced in the state of New York were used to feed just the residents of New York City, there would be enough for maybe half the people, and they would have no bananas.
Also, residents in northern areas such as Montana or Alberta can’t grow much during half the year, so even if they preserve lots of summer produce, they would still face a challenge getting through the winter, so distributors fill in the gaps with food from everywhere else.
Plus, some areas do not have terrain suitable for growing a variety of crops, so they export what they have and import the rest.
Locally grown produce obviously will be fresher than lettuce from Salinas, and customers might even know the farmers who grew it. Buying local means supporting the local economy and reducing the amount of carbon dioxide exhaled into the atmosphere.
Residents in Eureka Springs and the area are lucky to have hard-working, conscientious farmers who grow an interesting variety of organic produce that is available in local stores and farmers’ markets. and they deserve our support. Also, grow your own if you can.