The Little Veg Shop.co.uk Food miles & local produce

Food Miles

WHAT IS FOOD MILES?

Food miles is literally as it sounds, it's the amount of miles that your food had traveled before it reaches you, so if your local you breath the local air, drink the local water and would it not make sence to have foods that were grown in the local soils.

After all lot's of people including our local GP have told us that for hay fever sufferers they should have a spoon full of local honey as it's made from bees collecting local pollern so there for works in the same principle as a vaccine.

and again the foods would have absorbed the local waters within the stages of there growth that are bodys are used to!

Here at the little Veg Shop we try and source as much of our produce as local as posable i.e cauliflowers, cabbages, beens, tomatoes, all summer berries, watercress, lettices, butternut squash, onions, potatoes, apples, leeks, corgettes, I could go on but why not come in and see for your selfs!

Also or local ranges include: Eggs, jams, preserves, chutneys, rellishes, and sauces and a range of teas and coffes from the Kent Tea and Trading Company.

Some you might Know of and I am sure would appriciate the consistant Quality of:

Leonard Ironside Tomatoes,

which is owned by Brian and Lorraine Watts who say the following about there tomatoes "they are special because they are picked and packed for perfection, fresh from the garden of England our "special Tomatoes" have been grown on the north downs of Kent (Lyminge, Folkestone) for over 40 years using traditional horticultural methods of production.

We only harvest when they are fully ripened on the plant giving optimum flavour and texture. they are placed in the finial marketing box to reduce handling and maximise there natural shelve life.

We do not use insecticides but use biological preditors to control our pests.

Our varieties are selected for maximum flavour , and are not geneticaly modified, the seeds are produced by traditiional breeding methods".

LYNSTED NURSERIES,

Which is owned by R.C. Mansfield, which he runs as a family business up on the farthing comon, running almost paralelle to Ironside tomatoes, There they grow the finest and most consistant Quality strawberries that we have found and would recomend them highly with the upmost confidence, there plants are very well maintained and replenished after every crop to ensure the standared of there produce is maintained, there plants are also grown locally using traditional methods.

               Food Transport

The transportation of food has many social, environmental and economic impacts and in the UK in 2002 ‘the direct environmental, social and economic costs of food transport were over £9 billion each year. This is over 50% of the social costs associated with food transport, and arises from the use of HGVs, LGVs, and cars are associated with food transport in the UK. Accidents lead to social costs of £2 billion per year (Table E1). Greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, noise, and infrastructure cost a further £2 billion. The total costs are very significant compared with the gross value added of the agriculture sector (£6.4 billion), and the food and drink manufacturing sector (£19.8 billion) in 2002. It should be noted that these cost estimates depend on the assumptions and methodology used.

Food transport accounted for an estimated 30 billion vehicle kilometres in 2002, of which 82% are in the UK. Road transport accounts for most of the vehicle kilometres, split between cars, HGVs and LGVs (see figure E1).

·        Food transport accounts for 25% of all HGV vehicle kilometres in the UK.

·        Food transport produced 19 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2002, of which 10 million tonnes were emitted in the UK (almost all from road transport), representing 1.8% of the total annual UK CO2 emissions, and 8.7% of the total emissions of the UK road sector.

Transport of food by air has the highest CO2 emissions per tonne, and is the fastest growing mode. Although air freight of food accounts for only 1% of food tonne kilometres and 0.1% of vehicle kilometres, it

(Excerpts, tables and charts sourced from p.4-5 The Validity of Food Miles as an Indicator of Sustainable Development, DEFRA/AEA Technology)

4. Supporting Local Seasonal Food and Reducing Food Miles-Shopping Tips

·        Try to shop for food, where practical, in your local area rather than travelling long distances to shop -‘Each year, the average UK adult travels about 135 miles by car to shop for food’ (source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/food_matters/foodmiles.shtml)