William Davis: The Demise of our Food System @ 21 July 2008 01:45 AM
by William P. Davis

As capitalism has grown and mass production has become cheaper and more popular, corner stores have given way to the produce section of Super WalMarts and local farms have given way to ten thousand acre farms in places such as Iowa and California. While the theories of capitalism and mass production may seem like a good idea on paper, and in many cases work quite well, food is simply not a feasible candidate for remote production, and our current agricultural system has led to health problems and high gas and food prices.

In terms of health, a case-in-point example of a major drawback to remote food production is the recent Salmonella crisis. An ongoing, month-and-a-half long investigation by the FDA into the most recent outbreak of Salmonella, initially believed to be caused by tomatoes but now believed to be caused by Jalapeño peppers, has as of yet yielded no results. The outbreak has caused 1,196 documented illnesses in the US and Canada1 and because of the current food distribution system nobody knows what exactly caused the outbreak nor from where exactly the outbreak originated. This year's Salmonella outbreak has not killed anybody yet, but two years ago three people were not so fortunate. In 2006, an outbreak of E. Coli in baby spinach that killed three people and sent two hundred and five to the hospital2 rocked the nation. If the spinach, tomatoes and peppers had been locally grown and distributed chances are the causes of both of these outbreaks would have been caught earlier.

In terms of money, localizing agriculture would decrease the cost of groceries and gas by dramatically decreasing the amount of energy it takes to produce food. A head of lettuce is the most oft-used example to look at the amount of energy it takes to produce food because it is a common product yet it yields very little food energy to the consumer. A report entitled "Managing the Energy Cost of Food" says simply, "Buying locally-produced food saves energy." The report goes on to explain: "On the average, 1.5 Btu of energy are used to move one pound one mile. Using this average figure, 4,050 Btu of energy are used to move one head of lettuce, at one pound per head, the 2,700 miles from Los Angeles, California, to Miami, Florida; 980 Btu of energy are used to transport the same produce the 650 miles from Pensacola to Miami, Florida. That is an energy savings of 76%."3 Lettuce is not an exotic plant. You can grow it in your back yard or on your windowsill if you want to. Just think of all the energy we could save if we ate more local produce.

The same report says that "food processing, transportation, marketing and preparation" accounts for nearly 14% of the "81,300 trillion Btu of energy consumed annually in the United States." Imagine, if we grew more food locally, how much gas we could save. To put it in perspective, 13.94% of our nation's energy consumption, or 11,333 trillion Btu, is 91 billion gallons of gasoline. To transfer it into money terms, an article in Wired Magazine states that, "As of mid-2005, it cost as much as 50 cents to transport a 1-pound head of lettuce from California (where 85 percent of America's lettuce is grown) to the East Coast...."4 Fifty cents may not sound like a lot, but image that fifty cents multiplied by the respective weight of all the other produce you buy times the amount of produce you buy and that fifty cents adds up quickly. (Also, that's fifty cents in 2005, when gas averaged around $2.50 a gallon.)

(Just as an aside, the price per gallon of locally produced whole milk where I live is $3.00 if bought directly from the farmer. All of the money from that gallon of milk goes to the farmer. In comparison, a gallon of milk from a large creamery at the general store is $4.90, the sale of which yields the farmer, from what I have been told, mere cents.)

Another problem that makes food prices rise is when a natural disaster hits a major food-growing state. For example, the June 2008 flooding wiped out billions of dollars of crops in the mid-west, most notably $1.5 billion of corn in Iowa, or 2% of this year’s crop.5 This food loss was less than predicted but still had and will continue to have a significant impact on food prices.

Locally grown produce isn't without a few minor drawbacks. Firstly, cities will still have to ship food in, but from a distance that can be reduced considerably. Most cities have large amounts of land not too far outside the city that could be used for farming. Upstate New York, for example, has large potential. Also, eating locally would require people to also eat in season. Peaches in January are going to be scarce. These considerations are minor, however, compared to the environmental and fiscal implications of a more sensibly structured food system.

More Columns by Will

References
  1. Hedges, S.J. (2008, July 20). FDA Gives All-Clear on Tomatoes, Not Peppers. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 20, 2008, from http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/green/chi-tomatoes-salmonella18jul18,0,1722695.story
  2. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (2007, March 23). FDA Finalizes Report on 2006 Spinach Outbreak. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Retrieved July 20, 2008, from http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01593.html
  3. Whiffen, H.J., & Bobroff, L.B. (1993, May). Managing the Energy Cost of Food. University of Florida. Retrieved July 20, 2008, from http://www.p2pays.org/ref%5C08/07686.pdf
    li>Jaffe, S. (2005, September 28). No Green Acres? Try Skyscrapers. Wired. Retrieved on July 20, 2008, from http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/09/68888
  4. McKinney, M. (2008, June 30). Flood Damage to Corn Crop Not as Bad as Feared. Star Tribune. Retrieved July 20, 2008, from http://www.startribune.com/business/22742514.html
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