beyond food miles
TRANSCRIPT
Beyond Food Miles
Michael Bomford
Kentucky State University
Where did your food come from?
How did it get to your plate?
How much energy did that take?
How much greenhouse
gas did that produce?
How can we reduce its footprint?
The USA uses a lot
of energy and emits
a lot of greenhouse gas
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
0
100
200
300
400
500
Per capitagreenhouse
gas emissions(t CO2
equiv.)
Per capitaenergy use
(GJ/yr)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1950 1970 1990 2010
Energy
consumption
(EJ)
US Energy Consumption, 1950-2025
DOE-EIA
US Population, 1790-2010
US Energy Consumption by Source, 1775-2006
DOE-EIA
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
1775 1825 1875 1925 1975
Coal
Natural gas
Petroleum
Nuclear
Hydro
Geothermal
Solar
Wind
Biomass
Exajoules
KY Energy Consumption, 1960-2025
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
TrillionBTU
Data from DOE-EIA, 2008
No change from 2005
Why Reduce Fossil Fuel Use?
• Environmental reasons
– Reduce carbon emissions
– Reduce impacts of fossil fuel extraction and
burning
• Economic reasons
– Reduce input costs (sometimes…)
– Reduce risk; enhance security, independence
• Prepare for energy-constrained future
The Food System is a
Big Part of the Picture
Non-food85%
Food15%
Non-food80%
Food20%
US Energy Use US GHG Emissions
Canning et al. 2010. Energy Use in the U.S.
Food System. USDA-ERS Report #94.
Journey of Food
FarmingProcessing
& Packaging
TransportStores &
Restaurants
Storage & Preparation
@ Home
Photosynthesis:
Forests from thin air
E
0
45
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
1900 20001910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990
Onion
(t/ha)
Potato
(t/ha)
Grain corn (t/ha)
US farm population
(106)
50US farmland
(107 ha)
Direct and indirect
energy use
(1017 J)
Changing face of US agriculture
Miranowski, J. 2004. Energy consumption in US agriculture.
Agriculture as a Producer and Consumer of Energy
Direct energy use
(1017 J)
Fertilizers and
pesticides
Gasoline
Diesel
LP gasNatural gas
0
1
2
3
1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
Qu
ad
rill
ion
BT
Us
Electricity
Total Energy Consumed on US Farms, 1965-2002
John Miranowski, Iowa State University
Food Transport
• Grocery store is typically ~1,000 miles
from farm
• Food journey from farm to store typically
covers 4,000+ miles
Weber & Matthews. 2008. Food-Miles and the Relative
Climate Impacts of Food Choices in the United States
The food
still has to
get home…
US Food System
Energy Use, 2002
Canning et al. 2010. Energy Use in the U.S.
Food System. USDA-ERS Report #94.
Non-food85%
Transportation1%
Wholesale & retail2%
Food service2%
Households4%
Agriculture2%
Processing3%
Packaging1%
Food15%
The “food mile” is a
misleading concept:
How food travels has more impact
on energy use and greenhouse gas emissions
than how far it travels.
How is food hauled?
(Weight and distance)
Big trucks
33%
Little trucks
1%Boats
65%
Planes
1%
Who‟s making the most trips?
(Vehicle miles)
Big trucks
31%
Little trucks
21%
Car
48%
Who‟s emitting CO2 to
haul food?
Big trucks
57%
Little trucks
8%
Car
13%
Planes
10%
Boats
12%
Alison Smith et al. 2005. The Validity of Food Miles as an Indicator of
Sustainable Development: Final report. AEA Technology, Harwell, UK. 117 pp.
US Agricultural
Greehouse Gas Sources, 2008(over and above GHG from ag. energy use)
US-EPA. 2010 U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report
US Food System
GHG Emissions
Non-food81%
Transportation0%
Wholesale & retail2%
Food service
2%
Households4%
Agriculture8%
Processing2%
Packaging1%
Food19%
Great Reasons to Buy Local
• Keep $ in local economy
• Know your farmer
• Support local food security / resilience
• Get less processed & packaged food
• Reducing food miles may not be a great
reason on its own
Interesting unexpecteds
• Driving a Ford Explorer 4 miles in
the city uses as much energy as
shipping 2 pound of bananas
around the world eight times
• The energy required for a Prius to
make the trip would get the
bananas around the world twice
• (The „Hummer of fruit‟ is not the
banana… it‟s the Hummer)
Interesting unexpecteds
• A person in England
emits less greenhouse
gas by eating organic
wheat from the USA and
pasture-raised lamb from
New Zealand than by
eating conventional
English wheat and lamb.
Interesting unexpecteds
• A person in New York
emits less greenhouse
gas by drinking wine
from France than from
California.
• (In Kentucky, it‟s a tie.)
Consumers have far more control over
food system energy use than farmers
• Get a small, energy efficient fridge. Get rid
of the one in the basement.
• Beware labor saving gadgets…
– Coffee makers, bread makers, food processors…
• But gadgets can reduce energy use too…
– Dishwashers use less hot water, and less energy,
than hand-washing (especially on air dry)
– Microwaves use much less energy than ovens
– Electric kettles uses less energy than stove-top
kettles
• Avoid processed and packaged food
Less
Meat
Org
an
ic
Ho
me
co
oke
d
Pastu
re-
fed
Sm
all
farm
s
Wh
ole
foo
ds
Lo
ca
l
Seaso
n-
al
Less energy ++++ ++ +++ ++ + ++++ + ++
Less
greenhouse gas
++++ + ++ + +
Food security ++ + ++++ + ++ ++ +++ ++
Cleaner
air/water
++ +++ + +++ +
Cleaner food ++ ++++ ++ +++ ++
Biodiversity ++ ++ +++ + ++
Social diversity ++ +++ + +++ + +++ ++
Animal welfare +++ +++ +++ ++
Total 19 18 15 14 12 10 8 8
Want more?Blogs:
• Energy
Farms– energyfarms.net
• Organic
Kentucky– oak-ky.org/blog
Coming out next week…
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Free chapter downloads
at www.postcarbon.org
Published in 2009
Free download at
www.postcarbon.org/food
502-597-5752
organic.kysu.edu