Food Miles

While the leaders of the world’s richest countries are discussing ways to make farmers and grocers cut down the 'food miles' of what we eat, new research seems to show that it costs a lot more energy to grow lettuce or apples in the UK, or roses in Amsterdam, during the winter than it does to import them from Spain, New Zealand, and Kenya respectively. Similarly, by using hotbeds and hothouses, you can raise good grapes in Scotland. But it costs 30 times more than growing them in France.

The truth is that as many as half our ‘food miles’ have nothing to do with importing produce from overseas. We clock them up bringing home our groceries from the supermarket.