THE price of food should reflect the size of the carbon footprint

[Anthony Butcher]

Farmers Guardian - Achieving a balance between food miles and fair trade for world’s poorer countries

THE price of food should reflect the size of the carbon footprint that it takes to produce and transport it, according to the Government’s trade and development minister Gareth Thomas.

Speaking in London at a debate on food miles and the value of organic exports for people in developing countries, Mr Thomas said the environmental cost of flying food to Britain must also be weighed up against the benefits of that trade to poorer farmers.
“The only fair option is to ensure that the prices of the goods that we consume, including organic produce, cover the environmental costs wherever the goods are from,” said Mr Thomas, adding that this must not be to the detriment of farmers in Africa that rely on the trade for their well-being.
According to figures presented at the debate by the International Trade Centre, 83 per cent of all organic fruit and vegetables flown into the UK comes from less developed countries. But as British consumers become more concerned with climate change issues, the logic of flying organic food around the world to satisfy this demand has come into question.


The Soil Association, which jointly organised the debate as part of its food miles consultation, is considering several proposals to solve the problem including the withdrawal of organic certification from air-freighted produce.
This proposal faces strong opposition from the ITC, whose research project concluded that any limits on air freighted organic produce would seriously damage developing world farmers for no environmental benefit.
Alexander Kasterine from the ITC said: “Organic certification has been hugely successful in reducing poverty for thousands of African farming families. Any ban on air-freighted products could be catastrophic for these people whilst making no contribution to mitigation of climate change.”
Experts argued that food miles alone are not the best way to judge whether food is sustainable and accused the Soil Association of certifying British products that are highly energy intensive, compared to low-put organic farming in sub-Saharan Africa. Ernest Abloh, chief agronomist at Blue Skies Ghana, which provides support to over 150 farmers said: “Our fruit factory employs 1,700 people and annually injects over £2 million into the local community through salaries alone. We believe that looking after the environment is paramount to our future. The impact of our trade on global warming should take into account the entire ecological footprint of a product.”