tailieunhanh - Food Miles: Background and Marketing

The term ‘food miles’ refers to the distance food travels from the location where it is grown to the location where it is consumed, or in other words, the distance food travels from farm to plate. Recent studies have shown that this distance has been steadily increasing over the last fi fty years. Studies estimate that processed food in the United States travels over 1,300 miles, and fresh produce travels over 1,500 miles, before being consumed. This publication addresses how food miles are calculated, investigates how food miles affect producers and consumers, and evaluates methods for curbing the energy intensiveness of our food transportation system. The. | Food Miles Background ATTRA and Marketing A Publication of ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service 1-800-346-9140 By Holly Hill NCAT Research Specialist 2008 NCAT Contents The term food miles refers to the distance food travels from the location where it is grown to the location where it is consumed or in other words the distance food travels from farm to plate. Recent studies have shown that this distance has been steadily increasing over the last fifty years. Studies estimate that processed food in the United States travels over 1 300 miles and fresh produce travels over 1 500 miles before being consumed. This publication addresses how food miles are calculated investigates how food miles affect producers and consumers and evaluates methods for curbing the energy intensiveness of our food transportation system. The Energy Embedded In Our Calculating Food Food Miles and What Producers Should Consumer Food Miles Eggs loaded for trucking to market near Chesterfield SC. Photo by Dave Warren. Courtesy of USDA. Funding for the development of this publication was provided by the USDA Risk Management Ag ATTRA National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service is managed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology NCAT and is funded under a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture s Rural Business-Cooperative Service. Visit the NCAT Web site rg a g ri. html for more information on our sustainable agriculture projects. NCAT Introduction The food mile is a fairly new concept referring to the distance food travels from the location where it is produced to the location where it will eventually be consumed. Food miles have become one method for evaluating the sustainability of the global food system in terms of energy use. This concept has received an increasing amount of attention over the .