10,000 miles in a grocery cart!

Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture in Iowa recently conducted a major study, "Food, Fuel, and Freeways", to find how far produce traveled to a Chicago "terminal market". Here are its findings compared with my findings at the Harrisonburg Farmer's Market:

Chicago Terminal Market vs. Harrisonburg Farmer's Market

Apples: 1555 miles vs. 18 miles (Ryan's Fruit Market: Timberville, VA)

Tomatoes: 1369 miles vs. 20 miles (North Mountain Produce: Timberville, VA)

Grapes: 2143 miles vs. 6 miles (Hickory Hill Farm: Keezletown, VA)

Peaches: 1674 miles vs. 18 miles (Ryan's Fruit Market: Timberville, VA)

Winter Squash: 781 miles vs. 10 miles (Peaceful Valley Farm: Singers Glenn, VA)

Lettuce: 2055 miles vs. 16 miles (Avalon Acres Broadway, VA)

Total Produce Travel at Chicago Terminal Market: 9577 miles

Total Produce Travel at Harrisonburg Farmer's Market: 88 miles 

Next I will share the story of sugarcane from Hawaii: (courtesy of CUESA "Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture")

Here is a diagram to show Iowa's imported ingredients:

On the Hawaiian island of Maui is a sugar museum. It is next door to a sugar processing plant, and surrounded by acres of sugarcane growing. The museum tells the story of the history of sugarcane production on the island, and is a fascinating testament to the power of one crop to shape the cultural make-up of a place.

The sugarcane growing on that acreage is processed in the plant across the street, but only to the ‘raw sugar’ stage. It is then shipped to the C & H Sugar Refinery in Contra Costa County, not far from San Francisco. C & H stands for “California and Hawaii.” Here, it is refined into the white sugar that is such a ubiquitous part of our American diet. But that’s not the end of its journey: the sugar is then shipped cross-country to New York, where it is packaged into little individual paper packages of sugar to go on tabletops, which are then distributed all across the country, including Hawaii.

So if you drive a mile away from that sugarcane field and sit in a café, the sugar packets on your table have traveled about 10, 000 miles: to California, to New York, and back again to Hawaii, instead of the one mile you have. This is not the exception, but rather the rule, in our current food system. 

It is hard to read these statistics and then go shopping at the grocery store where the food in your cart most likely traveled a total distance of 10,000 miles or more. Although is it realistic to go completely local? Probably not, however becoming more educated in the sustainable food effort and incorporating as much local foods into your diet will stimulate the local economy and keep you healthy! 

Thanks for reading and look out for a new post about the dangers of pesticides and picking produce before it has ripened.

~Ryan

"Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables. They probably get jet-lagged, just like people."             - Elizabeth Berry