Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
tourism opportunities. In 2015, between
1
May and
31
October, the Universal
International Exposition in Milan focuses on 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for
Life', and the agricultural park set up by Politecnico di Milano, Slow Food Italia
and the Universita di Scienza Gastronomiche will be completed as part of
the exposition. The agricultural park includes a farmers' market, local bread-
making, a cooperative supermarket, pick your own and '0 Miles Tourism'.
Most farmers and farm organizations around the world have not reached
this level of cooperation and are having to develop their own strategies. These
include making decisions on whether the future should revolve around the
'long food chain' or the 'short food chain.'
Many farmers over the last few decades have relied on the 'long chain
food network' to get their produce to the consumer. They have focused on
raising or growing the 'raw' product and shipping it through the distribution
network channels to a consumer who most likely will be many miles away
or even overseas.
The 'long food chain' is still essential to the success of the world; according
to the United Nations there are
193
countries in the world, with
26
of these
countries producing 82% of the world's crops. The 'long food chain' is still a
much needed supply system.
The 'long food chain network' has worked for many years. For example in
the USA in 1980 the average farmer received
35
cents of the retail food dollar.
But over the years, the supply chain has slowly squeezed farmers and in 2013
the average American farmer was getting
8
cents of the retail food dollar for
the same commodity.
Food miles
The other factor that has come into play is 'food miles'.
The definition of a food mile is 'a mile over which a food item is transported
during the journey from producer to consumer, as a unit of measurement of the
fuel used to transport it.' Excessive food miles are the fastest growing source
of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Food is being transported across
countries and continents in long-haul vehicles that often need a cooler to keep
produce fresher. Plus produce is shipped from the northern hemisphere to the
southern hemisphere and vice versa via long-haul air flights.
The average American potato in 2013 travelled over 2000 miles from
grower to consumer and the average tomato 1569 miles.
16
This is not just
happening in the USA, the average Swedish breakfast travels
24,901
miles
17
and the top
29
food items in an Australian supermarket shopping cart travel
43,994
miles or
70,803
km.
18
To make matters more complicated farms, tourists and consumers have to
consider the value of reducing 'food miles' along with its 'carbon footprint'.
A carbon footprint is defined as 'the amount of carbon dioxide released into
the atmosphere as a result of the activities of a particular individual, organ-
ization, or community'. It may be more sustainable not to grow or produce
some food locally but to import it from another part of the country or from
