Food Miles

Food transportation is faster, less expensive, and more extensive than could have been imagined at the turn of the eighteenth century. Long-distance food travel has become the norm. By way of what has been termed “food miles,” food in the United States typically travels between 1,550 and 2,480 miles from field to fork, 25 percent farther than in 1980. Many consumers, however, question the sense of eating globe-trotting food. Apart from the historical environmental effects of transportation, such as deforestation, environmentalists point out that long-distance travel requires more packaging, refrigeration, and fuel and generates waste and pollution. The shipment of raw and processed foods and agricultural inputs (products used to grow and to produce food) accounts for one-third of all freight transport in the United States, making the agricultural sector the largest user of freight transportation services in the country. More than 90 percent of fresh produce transported between cities in the United States moves by truck. The environmental costs of fuel—including the release of carbon dioxide—have received particular criticism. Analysis indicates that the semitrailers used to transport food are large fuel consumers relative to other vehicles. Viewed as particularly culpable are high-value food items with relatively low caloric value and high water content. An example is lettuce grown in the Salinas Valley of California and shipped more than 3,100 miles east. The lettuce requires approximately thirty-six times as much fossil fuel energy in transport as it provides in food energy when it arrives. Such products are also criticized for having qualities related more to enduring long-distance transport and long-term storage than to flavor.