FOOD SUSTAINABILITY: "Still a long way to go in travel debate"

The Sydney Morning Herald
12 November 2008

Locavores, those who aim to eat locally grown food, may be doing more harm than good to the environment, writes Simon Webster.

Despite the popularity of books such as The 100-Mile Diet and an increasing awareness among consumers of how far their food has travelled from paddock to plate, studies have found that transport makes up only a small part of food's environmental impact.

British consumers would be better off buying dairy products from New Zealand than from their own country, a report from Lincoln University, New Zealand, concluded last year.

British dairy produces 35 per cent more greenhouse gas emissions than New Zealand dairy, even including transport from New Zealand to Britain, the report found. This is because New Zealand agriculture uses fewer fertilisers and its dairy cows graze outside on grass, whereas British cows are housed in barns where they eat bought-in, concentrated feed...

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