New research has found thatno straightforward relationship between the transport distance and the overall environmental impact of the commercial life-cycle of crops exists.
The Bangor University-led project into the social and environmental benefits of food grown locally and overseas was the first ever rigorous life cycle assessment of the entire crop production chain, and included farming, transport, storage and cooking.
Working with Surrey University, research by the team at the University’s School of Environment, Natural Resources & Geography concluded that agricultural inputs outweigh transportation considerations alone.
A spokesperson for the research team said: 'Some years ago we were being advised to buy UK-grown fresh produce to avoid the ‘food miles’ associated with importing air-freighted fruit and vegetables due to concerns over how this was contributing to the release of CO2 emissions.
'But it seems that that these concerns were far too simplistic. A true assessment of the ‘footprint’ of foodstuffs requires an audit of every aspect of the associated activities, from sowing the seed to consuming the produce.'
When the results were shared with industry, the researchers claimed that realisation that transport or ‘food miles’ was only a very small percentage of the CO2 expenditure related to any crop was instructive in moving the onus of responsibility from the purchaser to the provider.
The spokesperson added: 'The emerging picture was a highly complex one of inputs and outputs concerning everything from the type of soil on which a crop is grown, to where and how it is stored and packaged for sale to the customer. It’s true to say that the picture is far from complete, with current interest focusing on the CO2 released from different soil types.'
Although intercontinental transport of vegetables contributes heavily to greenhouse gas emission, growing vegetables in UK greenhouses through the winter was found to be less energy efficient than transporting them from Spain where they were grown outside.
“Everyone’s focus was on food miles, but it was far too simplistic an analysis,” Ed Moorhouse of G’s Fresh, said.
“The analysis done by Bangor clearly demonstrated objectively that the very hypothesis of food miles was flawed. Some supply chain distances were less significant to the carbon footprint of the final product than the growing conditions we had to operate under.”
The research has provided the impetus for some major UK companies to make significant changes to the way they work in order to reduce their CO2 emissions, the Bangor University spokesperson claimed. A number of companies are also funding continued research in this area.
G’s Fresh is one company which has engaged with the research, having made significant changes and commissioning further work: “The initial footprint research work from Bangor gave great insight into key hotspots within the product chain and gave us a framework to think seriously about how to tackle the whole area of greenhouse gas footprint for our produce and supply chain,” Moorhouse added.
“Bangor’s research was really good - instead of something done on the back of a fag packet, it provided hard numbers. It was very much the catalyst to take the business forward and spawned individual areas of interest.”
One of the changes the company made was to move salad onion production to Senegal, with the crop freighted by ship rather than being grown and flown from Mexico and Egypt. This reduced greenhouse gas emission by nearly 8,000kg CO2 per tonne of produce - a reduction of over 90 per cent.
This was as a result of further work by Bangor University looking at the supply chain and comparing, specifically, air freight from Mexico, road freight from Spain, sea shipping from Senegal and a mix of air and sea from Egypt. It found that the best proposition was Senegal, freighting the produce by sea.
Moorhouse added: “This information gave us the basis and the confidence to move forward with our strategic planning. It informed our thought process and planning for our future supply strategy and has given us confidence to invest in Senegal as the best long term solution in terms of energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions.”
“Having this understanding puts us in a stronger financial position and is a foundation for our greenhouse gas reduction plan. Our target is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent by 2020. Based on working with Bangor, we are, already, with six years to go, well ahead of our targets and in hindsight, we were not ambitious enough.”
Paul Cross, of Bangor University, concluded: “Sadly there’s no simple guiding principle for the consumer. A tomato grown outdoors in Spain will have had fewer inputs, despite being transported, than one grown in the UK, for example.”
See more on the research by following this link.
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