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"Beyond Food Miles Posted Mar 9, 2011 by Michael Bomford NOTE: The following article is concerned strictly with the energy equation of the food sytem and is intended to stimulate questions about how best to grow, transport, store and prepare (ideally local) foods. There are many reasons to favor local food, including supporting local economies and building local food security.      "There is nothing as deceptive as an obvious fact" -Sherlock Holmes   A locavore is "a person who endeavors to eat only locally produced food."[1] What better diet could there be for an energy constrained world? After all, feeding Americans accounts for about 15% of US energy use,[2] and the average food item travels more than 5,000 miles from farm to fork.[3] It seems obvious that eating locally will go a long way to reducing food system energy use.   Yet cracking the case of America's energy-intensive food system demands that we look beyond the obvious. A local diet can reduce energy use somewhat, but there are even more effective ways to tackle the problem. Single-minded pursuit of local food, without consideration of the bigger picture, can actually make things worse from an energy perspective.[4]   If you realize you're spending too much money, the first thing to do is figure out where it's going. Cutting back on pizza won't make much difference if you're spending most of your money on beer. Similarly, the first step in reducing food system energy use is to figure out where all the energy is going. That's what a team of economists working for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) did last year, in a report called Energy Use in the US Food System.     Where the energy goes: Energy used in the food system as a proportion of total energy used in the US in 2002.[5]     The report contains some surprises. Transportation is the smallest piece of the food system energy pie. Even farming isn't a particularly big contributor. The big energy users t

Freer Trade Could Fill the World's Rice Bowl TWITTER LINKEDIN SIGN IN TO E-MAIL OR SAVE THIS PRINT REPRINTS SHARE By TYLER COWEN Published: April 27, 2008 RISING food prices mean hunger for millions and also political unrest, as has already been seen in Haiti, Egypt and Ivory Coast. Yes, more expensive energy and bad weather are partly at fault, but the real question is why adjustment hasn't been easier. A big problem is that the world doesn't have enough trade in foodstuffs. Enlarge This Image Alanah Torralba/European Pressphoto Agency Filipino port workers unload sacks of rice imported from Vietnam to be distributed by the National Food Authority. Related Times Topics: Rice Blogrunner: Reactions From Around the Web Managing Globalization: Can rice Farming Be Laissez-Faire? The damage that trade restrictions cause is probably most evident in the case of rice. Although rice is the major foodstuff for about half of the world, it is highly protected and regulated. Only about 5 to 7 percent of the world's rice production is traded across borders; that's unusually low for an agricultural commodity. So when the price goes up - indeed, many varieties of rice have roughly doubled in price since 2007 - this highly segmented market means that the trade in rice doesn't flow to the places of highest demand. Poor rice yields are not the major problem. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that global rice production increased by 1 percent last year and says that it is expected to increase 1.8 percent this year. That's not impressive, but it shouldn't cause starvation. The more telling figure is that over the next year, international trade in rice is expected to decline more than 3 percent, when it should be expanding. The decline is attributable mainly to recent restrictions on rice exports in rice-producing countries like India, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Cambodia and Egypt. At first glance, this seems understandable, bec

A very good article on the causes of famine in Kenya at the moment. See highlighted bits. 

"With one-third of the world's food now grown in areas of high or extremely high water stress, companies are waking up to water risks. But most are doing far too little to respond to these risks, according to a new study by Ceres, a Boston-based non-profit that aims to mobilize corporate and investor leadership on environmental sustainability. With water stress spreading across the globe, diversifying geographic locations is often no longer the most sensible or cost-effective response, Ceres concludes."

"The man from Lindon embarked on his adventure to raise awareness about child obesity in the US, wanting to highlight the importance of making healthy lifestyle choices. He also raised money for the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation, an organisation led by the professional chef that works in schools to provide people with better access to food education."

"Water-Food-Energy nexus"

"IT'S ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU CANCEL YOUR RESERVATION A vacation is supposed to be your time away from the crazy. Remind me never to travel to any of the same vacation spots these people have booked. I'll take that upgrade and trade you a bus tour of "OH MY GOD THESE PEOPLE ARE NUTS!" - THESE ARE ACTUAL COMPLAINTS RECEIVED BY "THOMAS COOK VACATIONS FROM DISSATISFIED CUSTOMERS" : 1. "I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local convenience store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts." 2. "It's lazy of the local shopkeepers in Puerto Vallarta to close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during 'siesta' time - this should be banned." 3. "On my holiday to Goa in India , I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don't like spicy food." I'll book it but only if I can screen my fellow travelers first. 4. "We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our own swimsuits and towels. We assumed it would be included in the price" 5. "The beach was too sandy. We had to clean everything when we returned to our room." 6. "We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as white but it was more yellow." 7. "They should not allow topless sunbathing on the beach. It was very distracting for my husband who just wanted to relax." 8. "No-one told us there would be fish in the water. The children were scared." 9. "Although the brochure said that there was a fully equipped kitchen, there was no egg-slicer in the drawers." 10. "We went on holiday to Spain and had a problem with the taxi drivers as they were all Spanish." 11. "The roads were uneven and bumpy, so we could not read the local guide book during the bus ride to the resort. Because of this, we were unaware of many things that would have made our holiday more fun." 12. "It took us nine hours to fly home