Food Miles

There’s a lot of things to think about when buying food, of course the cost of living means price is always a consideration. How healthy a food is looking at calories, vitamins, proteins and fats. But one factor that’s less considered is the impact on the environment.  

A little food for thought, studies have found that food miles contribute up to 6% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Food miles is the distance food travels from being produced to being consumed. Here in the UK we import about 50% of our vegetables and 80% of our fruit from abroad, but we have so much local veg here in the north! With so much of our fruit and veg in the UK coming from Europe and further afield, air miles specifically have a big impact on climate change. Transporting food within, to and around the UK produces 19 million tonnes of CO2 annually – equivalent to around 5.5 million typical cars. 

There are more reasons to source fruit and veg locally and avoid food miles, as they lose nutrients over time whilst they’re in transit. Fruit and veg start losing nutrients as soon as they are picked, so the fresher it is the healthier it is.  

What can you do? 

There are lots of small steps we can all take, whether that’s buying local veg, local meat or local dairy as well. Not only will this benefit the environment, but also the local communities we live in.  

We will be bringing you stories of all the producers we work with, with a wide range of farmers and producers across Cheshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire. 

Try a box today.