How Does Eating Locally Grown Food Help the Environment?

Question

How Does Eating Locally Grown Food Help the Environment?

Answer 1

It doesn't.  For many crops, growing locally actually causes more environmental damage than transporting them from a region that is more suitable for growing them.  The main reason some crops are imported is because they are cheaper to produce elsewhere, and one of the reasons they're cheaper to produce is because less energy is needed.  A couple of examples:

1.  In Canada, the growing season is too short to plant tomato seeds in the field.  Tomatoes an peppers are started in greenhouses, then the seedlings are transplanted into the field after the last frost.  Heating the greenhouses and operating the machinery to move and transplant the seedlings creates more pollution than transporting the crops from warmer regions.

2.  Grapes require alkaline soil for the vines to grow.  There are wine regions in southern Ontario where the soil must be treated every year with lime, a process that uses more energy than shipping wine in from elsewhere.

Answer 2

ya - it's the transportation issue

the further away your meal travels from, the more energy (usually oil) is used to get it to you.  Like strawberries in winter - they come from the southern hemisphere as does about half of the food from the super market re: off season fruits and veggies.

eating local food is a great way to reduce the emissions used worldwide - (carbon footprint is reduced)

Answer 3

It stops a chain reaction of people needing to use fuel burning transportation to transport food long distances.