Eat local organic food if you like, but don’t kid yourself that it’s ‘green’

18 September 2010

James Delingpole says You Know It Makes Sense

Don’t get me wrong, I love farmers’ markets. I love going to the fashionable one in Borough, London, and that wonderful rich feeling you get whenever you don’t buy anything. And I love going to the one near me in south London and bantering and haggling with the fish man till he succumbs to giving me some amazing bargain like five decent-size Dover sole for a tenner.

I also really like the idea of putting money direct into the farmer’s pocket rather than helping finance yet another bloody edge-of-town Tesco. And I like the espresso man with his espresso machine. And the jolly sausage ladies. And the free-range eggs. And the Eastern European man who gives me a discount on the veg. All these are the kind of good reason as to why one might support one’s local farmers’ market. But what isn’t a good reason is this notion many people have that by shopping local they’re helping to save the planet. Because they’re not. Quite the opposite is true, in fact.

People obsessed with shopping locally — I learn from the US blogger and columnist Stephen Budiansky — are called ‘Locavores’. Locavores shop at their local farmers’ market with much the same smug, sanctimonious air some people wear in church — and for much the same reason. They believe that they are doing the Lord’s work. (Or, perhaps, in this case, Mother Gaia’s work.) They are lowering their carbon footprint. They are living ‘sustainably’. They are boosting the local economy. They are — by promoting self-sufficiency — doing their bit for ‘food security’. And in every case they are almost entirely wrong.

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Angus Bradley

September 19th, 2010 8:21pm Report this comment

Interesting article, thanks. Much as I hate to agree with anything that the guy who led us to bail out Northern Rock (Matt Ridley, Mr Rational Optimist), the energy/food miles point is really interesting. According to the Telegraph, about the only thing it makes more sense to but locally is good old British Onions! - http://bit.ly/caje20

bill

September 21st, 2010 12:28pm Report this comment

No it must be wrong..If DEFRA says so then it cant possibly be right . I mean they probably did it on their potty computer . What is James thinking .

crownarmourer

September 22nd, 2010 5:35am Report this comment

Well James you are probably correct but I find locally grown varieties taste better than say those grown in California. So I really don't care about the carbon footprint.
I enjoy the taste.

James P

September 22nd, 2010 8:27am Report this comment

I'm with you some of the way, JD, but I think there's some cherry-picking going on. Just because air-freight currently contributes 1% of food-miles (or CO2 or whatever the bad thing is meant to be) doesn't mean that Kenyan green beans are a good idea. For one thing, they require a lot of watering, depriving the locals of a fairly important commodity.

I'm lucky in that I can buy sweetcorn and tomatoes* grown within a couple of miles, and I have to tell you that they taste wonderful...

*where the CO2 produced by the boilers is pumped into the greenhouses to feed the plants!

Roger

September 27th, 2010 2:29pm Report this comment

I disagree we can grow almost anything now with virtually no oil miles or oil use. All my grenhouses are solar and thermal heat exchange powered in winter, and summer no cost sunshine.Take alook at former F1 racing driver Jody Sheckter's farm Laverstoke park 100% organic and biodynamically run!2500+acres!

Sylvie

September 28th, 2010 5:36pm Report this comment

I totally disagree with everything in this article. Every city could grow it's own food, even the tropical varieties. The energy should be free energy of course, whether nano-solar, geothermal or the suppressed kind (another story) and hydroponic systems as well as others (all organic of course) would provide a wealth of highly nutritious food stuffs. Someone needs to read the book by F.William Engdahl 'Seeds of Destruction', URGENTLY!

fred jones

October 1st, 2010 10:44am Report this comment

Like many people who write articles, James Delingpole is deceitful. Comparing food grown in a greenhouse, to food grown outside, is not smart. And when people drive to the farmer's market, they should do other business downtown too, so the cost of fuel for the purpose of buying stuff at the farmer's market is small.

It's not good to deceive people.

Nick

October 2nd, 2010 7:41pm Report this comment

Fred Jones, who is deceiving who here? You cannot grow roses in winter without a greenhouse, or massively expensive energy storage or movement systems. You cannot do "other business" on demand, which bit of business is thge core business? All local transport costs money. Also without the flow of energy the world and our besottedness with action, progress, advancement would be nothing, or at leat be slower. The world, and the universe when we inhabit it further in future, relies on the flow of energy to even exist.

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