Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

One reason I am interested in aquaponics is because of wider enviromental issues. So here's a discussion on Food Miles.

the link :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/food_matters/foodmiles.shtml


What are food miles?

Put simply, 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 substantially to the carbon dioxide emissions that are contributing to climate change - which is why food miles matter. A new report by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra - UK) says that food miles rose by 15 per cent between 1992 and 2002.

Why does our food travel so far?

Food travels further these days partly because the centralised systems of supermarkets have taken over from local and regional markets. It defies common sense, but a pint of milk or a crop of potatoes can be transported many miles to be packaged at a central depot and then sent many miles back to be sold near where they were produced in the first place.

Also, because of the way the food processing industry works, ingredients travel around the country from factory to factory, before they make their way to the shops.

Then there’s imported produce. Ninety-five per cent of the fruit and half of the vegetables in the UK are imported. The amount of food being flown into the UK doubled in the 1990s and is predicted to rise further each year.

To take one example, strawberries are flown in from warmer climates to satisfy our desire for permanent dietary summertime, and air freight has a far bigger impact on the environment than sea or road travel has.

Another reason for mounting food miles is comparative labour costs. For example, some British fish is now sent to China (where labour costs are much lower) for processing, then sent back to the UK to be sold.

Consumers are also directly responsible for increased food miles.

Consumers are also directly responsible for increased food miles. We now travel further for our shopping and use the car more often to do it. Each year, the average UK adult travels about 135 miles by car to shop for food, more often than not making trips to large, out-of-town supermarkets.

How far has your food travelled?

a few years ago, we spent a week in Kunnunnurra. while we were there, we picked watermelons so we could afford a flight over the bungle bungles. I asked the manager where the watermelons ended up being sold. right here mate, he said. they got picked, packed in a truck, sent to the distribution centre in PERTH then sent back to the supermarket in Kununnurra. wot the!!!!

what a joke.

yeh good planning then it goes thru all the hands to take a swipe at the coin

The thing I reckon thats great about aquaponics is the ability to grow large amounts of good quality food close to the source of where it is to be eaten.

Actually there are many reasons why local food production will become much more important in the near future.

Some years ago, we lived just down the road from a large vegetable grower and exporter. His trucks would sometimes pass each other.....one with tomatoes purchased in Brisbane and the other with tomatoes obtained in Adelaide.....as they sought....to take advantage of short term price fluctuations.

Quite often, the truck drivers wouldn't know the destination of the load until they drove out the gate.....high risk/high reward food distribution.

At the same time, the small local growers would often be forced to dump a complete load of tomatoes because they couldn't sell them for enough to recover the cost of the carton.....much less the tomatoes......because the local market was oversupplied with interstate tomatoes.

Insanity. As the price of oil rises we will see a lot less of that kind of lunacy.

yep

Ever heard of 'Oil Chokepoints'?

http://www.converger.com/eiacab/choke.htm

It is indeed possible that changing political circumstances in our world might make this term appear on the front pages of the newspapers.

for example, if there was ever a closure of the Strait of Hormuz (the worlds biggest potential oil chokepoint) - a narrow waterway in Iran - the result would be an immediate oil price hike to well over $150USD per barrel - which would translate to over $3 AUD per litre.

There would also be a very serious recession resulting from this as well.

I know its not the end all and be all of oil consumption but we really all should be driving electric cars.

the greatest travesty of all is that we could have been.

If ever you get the chance watch "Who Killed The Electric Car" and demand from GM & Ford and the bloody goverment that they do something to introduce them.

GMHs featured automobile at the Sydney Motor Show was the "Hummer" for gods sake@@!%!

Thankfully there are several small manufacturers in the US with 300km + model electric cars and "SUV"s

Sorry I wont mince words, but how on earth did we all get convinced that we needed 4 wheel drives????

I agree with the previous comments.

But Id suggest that we should have a variety of fuel types to choose from - much more than now - and including electric cars.

For Example :

Ever heard of Hythane?

http://www.hythane.com/

This is a very clean burning fuel made from Natural Gas and Hydrogen (actually 20% hydrogen)

Aust has vest reserves of Natural Gas. We sell this landed to China for around 9 cents per litre.

A car converted to CNG will run equally well on a fill of either : CNG Hythane or straight Hydrogen.

Theres no excuse for citizens in a country like Australia to suffer because of future oil supply problems.

But the way we are going, I think that we are headed this way - because we arent doing enough on this - a big lack of leadership from out political representatives.

Which is why alternative approaches to things like growing local food are so valuable and important.

Could not agree more Blueman.

That is one of the main drivers for a number of us. I note your are a fellow Melbournian? I hope you noticed that we have a meeting coming up?

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... sc&start=0

Fair comment and agreed Blueman.

The last time I attended a permiculture meeting the topics of food miles and of material miles were covered...
Material miles were the same as food miles, just talking about building materials, tools we use etc, and their true cost - this naturally evolved into a lengthy discussion about energy wasteage and conservation

This economic need for as many companies/organisations to get "their share" of the money is IMO one of the major reasons why renewable energy sources aren't getting a fair run.
Take for example my favourite, wind power, the company that manufactures the machinery gets paid, the company that runs the turbine gets paid for the electricity, but NO ONE else does (essentially).
With coal or nuclear powered energy, there are huge on-going costs (digging up the fuel, transport, etc). Renewable energy just doesn't have the same money spinning abilities.
The government and industry "giants" can't handle the idea of "free" energy.

2c