rlibby’s Recent Comments

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  We have to work at both levels

  The selection of a Secretary of Agriculture is just the start of a long discussion.  All of us working towards a more local, more organic food system have to continue to articulate this as our basic goal, at all levels of the policy discussion. If enough people do, it will influence what happens at USDA, and in Congress.  That means we need lots of local successes, but we also have to turn them into examples and use them in the policy debates.

  We need powerful local examples to create successes at the State level.  If enough states are pushing policy changes, it will influence Congress, and the Secretary of Agriculture.  A new administration gives us room to push for new directions--it's up to all of us to do the work.

  This week, when so many are both thinking about the food we are eating, and aware of the challenges ahead, is the perfect time to continue pushing the discussions forward.

  Thanks, Tom, for your continued observations on how the pieces fit together.
  On With the food world's eyes on farm policy, is the real action at Treasury? posted 11 months, 2 weeks ago 2 Responses

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  Food Miles Far Exceed First Estimates

  I've done calculations for food miles for Maine, using USDA's average per capita food consumption data.  Using the closest logical supply points, average miles are 1805.  However, these estimates are based on two assumptions which can't hold for any location in the country.  First, they assume the food system supplies ingredients from the closest potential supply point, rather than the lowest cost supplier.  Second, the USDA per capita consumption data is based on what I would call primary ingredients like oils and sugars and flours, and even frozen fruits and vegetables, rather than the pre-packaged and ready-to-heat or eat meals that make up a large part of the current American diet.  Just getting soybeans from the field to a processing plant that makes it into oil that is then shipped to another processing plant where it is used as an ingredient adds much complexity.  A very few studies (most of the ones I've seen are from Europe) try to put together the ingredients for even a single product, and the mileage always far exceeds the miles from the processing plant to the consumer.

  So the logical answer to the food miles question may be a simple one--far too many!On The vexed question of exactly how far our food travels. posted 2 years, 2 months ago 19 Responses