Should “food miles” be used as a way of measuring the environmental impact of transporting cargo?
Transport is just one part of the food production/distribution chain – the whole chain takes us from the seed to delivery to the consumer. If you want to identify the carbon footprint of a product, other transport modes must be included in the assessment. But don’t stop there – the impact of the entire supply chain must be included, not just transport emissions. Different agricultural practices and resource requirements often mean that food produced overseas can have a much lower carbon footprint overall, even when transport is taken into account. For example, a Lincoln University study found that lamb raised on New Zealand’s pastures and shipped to Britain produces 1,520 pounds of CO2 emissions per tonne while British lamb produces 6,280 pounds of CO2 per tonne, in part because poorer British pastures force farmers to use feed. In other words, it is four times more energy-efficient for British consumers to purchase lamb imported from New Zealand, even taking into account it being tran
