Do you eat locally? How far does your food travel?

Did you know that in the United States on average a single can, bag or portion of food would travel 1500 miles before it is consumed? Amazing, but true as we become more and more globalized we are increasingly relying on a more sophisticated and complicated distribution system for our food. For example, did you realize that all the food that is consumed at your local McDonalds comes from one of 19 distributors located throughout the United States? The largest of which is located in Irvine, California. So if you just used the distance the food is shipped from one of the distributors, it would be several hundred miles, but wait! If you looked a little closer, and determined who provided that food to the distributor, that range of transport would increase. If we used chicken nuggets as an example, most chicken nuggets are made at the Tyson factory in Nashville Arkansas, so it would not be inconceivable for those nuggets to travel from Nashville to California and back to Texas, thus reaching if not exceeding the average travel distance for the food we consume. If you were to add in the total amount of food that we import, such as winter grapes and vegetables from South America, it quickly becomes easy to understand why our food travels so much before it reaches out plates.

So you ask yourself, what is the big deal? Our food does a bit of travel before we buy it, we have the best system in the world and we can afford it! In general that is true, in fact I would even stipulate that 99.9% of the time being able to buy fresh grapes, vegetables and the like during the winter months is a good thing, but it is that one in a thousand that can really ruin your day, week or even take your life.

Yes, I firmly believe that we have the best systems in the civilized world. Furthermore, I believe that we can and will do ever better things in the future, but and there is always “a but”! There are too many people in this world who simply take pleasure in pulling down those who have done better than they have. It doesn’t matter the motivation of those who are envious of those who achieve, it is best to know that they exist and when you get enough of those who fall into the trap of envy, problems will arise. These problems can be as simple as a few protests and can quickly escalate into riots, (with looting), or even active terrorism and war. No matter how or why they occur, they will occur and do so on a regular basis. Couple this with an opportunity for a particularly bad storm or natural disaster and before you know it, the food distribution system breaks down.

(read more here)

 Redgage photo of the day-----pepper plant

Enjoy!