100 mile diet [General]
2010 Jan 21
not sure if this is discussed in this document, but I've often wondered if a tomato grown in a hot climate like california is less "environmentally friendly" (I hate that term!) than one grown here in Ottawa under green houses, like for example at Suntech in Manotick. Sure the transportation requires more energy but how does that compare to the energy used in the dead of an Ottawa winter in a greenhouse...plus there wouldn't be one tomato trucked from cal. but several thousand per truckload???
So maybe the answer or question is should fruits and veggies only be grown in locations and climates that are suitable for their natural state?
So maybe the answer or question is should fruits and veggies only be grown in locations and climates that are suitable for their natural state?
2010 Jan 21
spud guy, you mention both of the main points of the document. There's a cost to growing crops in a non-ideal climate. Also, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the transport of veggies across an ocean may have less impact than transporting them from grocery store to home. The economies of scale apply to environmental cost as well as financial cost.
The article is quite good -- it provides a counterpoint to what we hear from 100-mile trend-zealots, and it does so without sounding like a mouthpiece for agri-business.
(P.S. I fixed the original link. The URL contained a superfluous space.)
The article is quite good -- it provides a counterpoint to what we hear from 100-mile trend-zealots, and it does so without sounding like a mouthpiece for agri-business.
(P.S. I fixed the original link. The URL contained a superfluous space.)
2010 Jan 22
Spud Guy - Interestingly, our local Tomato Greenhouses at Suntech - SunTech Greenhouses do not operate year-round. I found out this tid-bit last Summer at "Doors Open Ottawa".
They do not stagger their growning season... but rather start from scratch each January with seedlings that are shipped to them, harvesting the first fruit mid-March right thru to October. Then they clean out the Greenhouses, refit the Growing Beds in December, and begin again in January.
Now as I understand it they do this partially because of our extreme climate, in that it would take a lot of "energy" to run the Greenhouses during our coldest months (December and January) at full steam for mature plants that would be producing tomatoes.
All I know is, that it means from December thru February, that I have to pay for most likely imported tomatoes (and certainly not local and within a 100 Mile radius) when I'd much prefer having something Canadian and Organic to eat.
:-(
They do not stagger their growning season... but rather start from scratch each January with seedlings that are shipped to them, harvesting the first fruit mid-March right thru to October. Then they clean out the Greenhouses, refit the Growing Beds in December, and begin again in January.
Now as I understand it they do this partially because of our extreme climate, in that it would take a lot of "energy" to run the Greenhouses during our coldest months (December and January) at full steam for mature plants that would be producing tomatoes.
All I know is, that it means from December thru February, that I have to pay for most likely imported tomatoes (and certainly not local and within a 100 Mile radius) when I'd much prefer having something Canadian and Organic to eat.
:-(
2010 Jan 22
I believe that I had linked to a similar if not identical research piece, wherin I gave my thoughts in some more detail.
ottawafoodies.com
ottawafoodies.com
Feed Me
mercatus.org
In it they propose that the 100 mile diet is counter productive but they don't seem to discuss the benefits to local economies much. Anyway you can read it at the link above.