Food miles, a myth exposed

A British Government report hidden from the public for almost a year exposes the food miles argument for what it is "“ a fallacy. Despite being published last year, the research commissioned by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) has only recently seen the light of day reorts Rural News. Defra has not said why it delayed making the paper public, but the politically inconvenient nature of the findings are evident. An earlier scoping report submitted to Defra notes that "˜various lobby groups might make use of the results to support their causes'. But the final paper bluntly concludes that the millions of Britains who think they're doing right by the environment in choosing locally grown food over imports have been duped. "˜It seems certain that unless the UK embarks on a radical change of lifestyle, from drastically reducing the consumption of livestock products to embracing veganism, and moving to a more seasonal diet, food will need to be imported from overseas to meet the demand. "˜Since a substantial volume of imports appears to be inevitable it may be better, when considering the [environmental impact] of food production, to accept that imports from countries where productivity is greater"¦ will lead to less total global warming potential than preference for local produce.' While the Defra report didn't compare New Zealand dairying with that of the UK, it did investigate comparisons in lamb production and finds the Kiwi commodity results in 30% less emissions.This adds weight to earlier Lincoln University research which found the New Zealand dairy sector to be 31% more efficient than its UK counterpart in terms of greenhouse gases produced . New Zealand's dairy exports have been a prime target of the food miles lobbyist.