The food miles debate that has seen imported produce go head to head with UK products over their sustainability credentials has flared up again, after a new government report questioned how well domestic product matches up.
DEFRA’s Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Food Commodities report, which Cranfield University spent two years researching at a cost of £161,000, reveals that while some foods may be better on the grounds of transport alone, they may be less environment-friendly in terms of energy use.
In the new report, UK-grown varieties compare unfavourably against Spanish imports in terms of energy use and global warming potential, as more energy is needed to artificially heat crops than in Spain, where temperatures are warmer.
The report claimed the best course of action for the UK was maybe to import some staples and avoid the emissions otherwise caused by keeping British produce in chilled storage for long periods.
The report comes ahead of DEFRA’s anticipated first draft of sustainability indicators for food later this year. These will be part of a wider package on food policy.
Fresh Produce Consortium chief executive Nigel Jenney told freshinfo: “It is refreshing to see that the debate about food miles is starting to take into account the greater complexities of the food chain when measuring the environmental impact of food production. We have been calling for a more balanced perspective on this issue for some time, and we are pleased that DEFRA’s research has validated the importance of keeping food miles in perspective.
“We recently took the department of health to task over its guidance to hospitals on sustainable food procurement, which advocated ‘local’ and ‘seasonal’. We hope that DEFRA will share its findings more widely... in order to influence the development of a cohesive government policy on food security and wider debates on seasonality.
“There is a significant opportunity for UK growers to increase the sustainable production of indigenous crops... We believe that DEFRA should help provide a focus for the industry by evaluating the potential for increasing these crops and ensuring that the sector has the... tools to maximise this potential.”
Jeanette Longfield, co-ordinator of food and farming alliance Sustain, told freshinfo: “‘Local’ was always a rough proxy for sustainable development but perhaps DEFRA didn’t need to spend so much money to find that out.
“Obviously, exotic fruit we have to import and where we do then it should be on a Fairtrade basis. But there is more we can produce, and support for UK agriculture and eating healthily should be available. If I was being cynical, I would say DEFRA is trying to muddy the waters to create conflict, when it should be helping the UK industry and not creating more problems.”
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