• It is estimated that meals in the United States travel an average of 1,500 miles to get from farm to plate.¹
• Food travels by plane, train, truck and even cargo ship. Each mode of transportation uses fossil fuels and emits carbon dioxide.¹
• Food transportation by plane has the highest carbon footprint. Planes emit more carbon dioxide than trains, trucks, or cargo ships.²

How does food get to the grocery store? The term supply chain is used to describe the sequence of processes involved in the production, processing, and distribution of a commodity. The chain begins with the equipment farmers need to produce food, such as seeds, fertilizer, and machines. Farmers then plant, maintain, and harvest crops or raise animals. The food is cleaned, processed, and packaged before being shipped to grocery stores and into the hands of consumers. 

Transportation is a critical part of the supply chain. Transportation is required to link each step in the chain. Today we live in a global marketplace for food. In 2016 it was estimated that 82.6% of the food in America was produced domestically.³ The remaining percentage of food is imported from other countries. Why would we import food? Most varieties of produce, including berries with specific seasons and growing specifications can now be purchased year-round in most grocery stores in the United States. Gone are the days that specific foods are only available in specific weeks or months of the year. Distributors source foods from different areas throughout the world according to season and availability. For example, when strawberries aren't available from farms in California or Florida, they may be available from parts of Latin America.

Some regions cannot produce certain foods due to population density (lack of farm land), seasons, and climate and soil conditions. Consumers living in these regions rely on farms in other geographic areas to produce their food supply. In the United States, food is shipped an average of 1,500 miles before being sold to the consumer.¹ The five main modes of transporting agricultural products are trucks, trains, airplanes, and cargo ships.

The concept of food miles was introduced in the 1990s to describe the number of miles a food traveled on its journey from farm-to-plate. The use of food miles is often tied to locavore movements which emphasize the consumption of locally-grown foods.

The Environmental Impact of Food Miles

Food miles contribute to the overall carbon emissions of our food. Trucks, trains, planes, and cargo ships all require fossil fuels to move our food from the producer (farmer) to the consumer. It seems logical that lowering our food miles would result in lowering the overall environmental footprint of our food. However, the comparisons are not this clear or simplistic. Not all food miles are created equal. The type of transportation used to transport food impacts carbon emissions more than the food miles themselves. Transporting food by air emits about 50 times as much greenhouse gas as transporting the same amount of food by sea.⁴ The majority (58.97%) of global food miles come from transport by sea, followed by the road, railways, and air representing only a fraction.⁴ See more details on the Share of Global Food Miles by Transport Method chart.

If you look at the entire farm-to-fork supply chain, the area where the greatest improvements can be made to reduce carbon emissions is in production practices. For example, growing tomatoes in a greenhouse and shipping them a short distance to a local market may have a deeper environmental footprint than growing tomatoes in a naturally warmer climate and shipping the tomatoes a longer distance due to the energy requirement of the greenhouse. Careful evaluations should be made from a wide scope rather than a sole focus on food miles.

The Economic Impact of Food Miles

Every farmer must choose a market for their commodity that can provide economic stability. Farmers face many risks and challenges. Price fluctations, varying crop yields, challenging weather conditions, and rising production costs are a few. The market they choose will influence their economic sustainability and the food miles that will be associated with their product. Some farm commodities can be sold locally to consumers through farmer's markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), or other direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales. Other times commodities are sold to processors or other wholesale markets where the raw farm product is processed, packaged, or stored before it is ultimately sold to a consumer. 

The Economic Research Service (ERS) found that farmers who market goods directly to consumers are more likely to remain in business than those who market only through traditional channels.⁶ DTC marketing can eliminate steps in the food supply chain, leading to the potential of a greater return to the producer. However, it also requires a wider spectrum of skills to market the product. When dollars are spent locally, they can be re-spent locally as well.⁷ 

The Social Impacts of Food Miles

Local food supports local cultural identity. Food and culture have a deep connection that includes where the food was grown or produced. Eating locally grown food also helps promote food security because the availability of imported food can be dependent on outside influences like sociopolitical conflicts which can disrupt the food supply chain. 

There are also social challenges that arise with food miles. The production of food in developing countries to export to developed countries can lead to inequity and greater likelihood for malnutrition when large-scale food transport encourages export rather than using their food for self-sustaining.⁵ The social gap widens as the environmental burden of food production (soil degradation, water depletion, etc.) leaves developing nations with even fewer resources to provide for themselves.