food miles

CUE:
Food miles have become a burning issue in the climate debate as campaigners call for people to eat more local food. What are problems because of food miles? What happened when a family tried to survive on food only from local place? Here is Yin & Ying report.

SCRIPTS:
Food miles are the measure of the distance a food travels from field to plate. Agriculture and food now account for nearly 30 per cent of goods transported on our roads.

This travel adds largely to the carbon dioxide emissions that are contributing to climate change - which is why food miles matter. A report by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says that food miles rose by 15 per cent between 1992 and 2002.

Sustain is part of Food Links, an union of organizations around the UK involved in projects aimed at developing local food economies and decreasing the distance that food travels.

Tully Wakeman of East Anglia Food Links believes it is crucial that local food is not a niche product, but that it becomes a far bigger part of the mainstream.

There is a group of about 100 volunteers in Fife calling for people to eat more local food. They have created the Fife Diet and are trying to live on a diet of food that is largely from within the area. Writer Mike Small is co-ordinator of the volunteers and he and his wife and children have now been on the diet.

Let’s listen to Mike about the idea behind the group in Fife. And what problems they are facing. What the group suggest people do to deal with foodmiles?