It's hard for local food producers to compete with the offerings of the major supermarkets, such as those I've just bought today in a Buckinghamshire supermarket. I sought out the most local fruit and veg. The apples in the picture were £1 and were from Kent. The lettuce was 80p. Although the source is just shown as "UK" on the label, it's probably from somewhere like East Anglia. In these hard economic times, when many consumers are finding it incredibly difficult to make ends meet, produce from the other side of the country is about as local as it gets while still remaining affordable.
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I was concerned to read recently about a study by Oxford University ("Organic farms not necessarily better for environment") which shed some doubt on the environmental efficacy of organic farming methods versus non-organic ones, in the context of food security and the pressures to feed the increasing global population.
This comes on the heels of the continuing controversy over claims that organically grown food is no more nutritious than non-organic food. For example, see a Harvard article - Organic food no more nutritious than conventionally grown food - from September 2012. However, a March 2012 report by the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change ("Achieving Food Security in the Face of Climate Change") takes a much healthier, wider perspective than just food security and yield and suggests sustainable intensification of agriculture as the most promising way forward, ie incorporating the best of organic and sustainability methods into mainstream agriculture to address both food security and sustainable farming. I tend to subscribe to the view that it's not just about yields. That provides too narrow a lens through which to look at the future sustainability of farming on a global scale. I saw a good article in GreenBiz in May 2012 explaining this: Organic farming debate is about more than just yields. At the weekend, while disposing of something at the local household recycling centre, I found a substantial metal garden fork. the only problem with it was a slightly bent tine - an easy thing to fix. Unfortunately, when I asked a member of staff if I could take it away with me, he said something to the effect of "sorry, but no, mate - too much paperwork - and don't even think about taking it when nobody's looking, 'cos it's all covered by CCTV". So, a garden fork that would have seen many years' use on the smallholding has had to go (prematurely) for melting down. What a waste! How many more useful items are being recycled instead of reused, I wonder. I know that it's far better to recycle things into new products than to use 'virgin' materials in manufacturing, but it's also far better to reuse items than to recycle them - and the earlier in their life cycle this reuse happens the better. I've calmed myself down by finding the picture above, which is a view across nearby fields one recent misty morning. |
About the BloggerI'm David Calver - an Accountant with a passion for sustainability. Categories
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