In 1990, a curious woman named Andrea Paxton wondered where her food came from. As she began to look around and ask questions, she realized that she had uncovered something big and showed how important it is for people to buy local.
According to her research, most food travels more than 1,500 to 2,500 miles to get from the farm to your fork. Who knew bananas and mangoes were such worldly fruits?
But the real question is why our food travel so far. While there are many variables, there are a couple major reasons. First, people like going to the store in December and purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables. However, that means stores have to purchase out-of-season crops from farms that are growing them in-season. Unfortunately, the store and the farm are usually in opposite hemispheres.
Our food also ends up going for a road trip when large chains dictate delivery patterns. Corporations try and optimize routes to bring all of their stores their supplies in the most efficient way possible. That does not always translate into the most direct route. The increase in processed and packaged foods also ups the mileage on food. Processing plants, located in central locations, require ingredients to come from elsewhere to assemble the final product. Think about how many ingredients a can of soup has. Each ingredient comes from somewhere different.
While many people look at this and praise the ingenuity of modern technology, others don’t see it as such a good thing. It’s undeniably impressive that we have choreographed production and delivery to the point where anyone can be anywhere and get anything at anytime. However, the amount of pollution that is created by all of these planes, trains and trucks that cart the food all over the world is substantial. For instance, a banana from Costa Rica has to travel over 2,000 miles to get to your local grocer, while an apple from Mt. Olive, N.C. only has to go 70.
It’s not as hard as it seems to lower the amount of “food miles” an individual accrues. The thing to do is to buy local. All it takes to buy local now is to go to a local Farmer’s Market — there’s one on the Brickyard every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. You can go to locally owned restaurants, such as Laziz Biryani Corner and Sylvia’s Pizza, or eco-friendly places, such as the carbon-neutral Player’s Retreat. You can even drink locally roasted coffee from Larry’s Beans or locally brewed beer from Big Boss or Aviator, just to name a few.
Local purchasing is not only good for the environment, but it’s good for the city as well. Buying local products also keeps money in the local economy, because it’s not being taken somewhere else by a corporation. Local businesses hire local employees, and participate in their local communities as well. So next time you are trying to find something to eat, make a choice to buy local, it’s better for everyone.
Chris Cioffi is a senior in English and an intern for the Office of Sustainability.
