Unwrapping food supply chains and their climate impacts

So, we're going to talk to you about the where of supply chains. So, where does our food come from? And these can be long and international supply chains, or short and more local supply chains.

So, an example of a local supply chain is Apples, although they can come from abroad, we do produce apples in the UK. So, they're mainly grown in Kent in the southwest and some in the Midlands as well. So, this can facilitate a really short food supply chain where we get beautiful apples grown and you might have a farmer or some labourers picking and collecting those apples and then they get transported to a local green grocer’s. That's a really short example, there you can just purchase your apple and eat it.

On the other hand, very long supply chains exist for food. Most of them are quite long actually. And they will involve several stages so we can use the example of chocolate to illustrate that. Chocolate doesn’t grow in the UK. It is grown in Parts of Africa and Central and South America. It will get our harvested there and it will go through several stages before it reaches us as consumers. So, for example from being harvested it will be transported perhaps up to an exporter that will ship it again. It will arrive in the UK. It might get transported again, to go to a processor and then finally again transported to get to the consumers perhaps or a supermarket or other platforms where we would buy it.

And the length of these supply chains then has very large implications for their carbon footprint, the amount of people involved, from where those resources are taken from, and who's paid along the way.

The where is also significant in light of the changing climate in the global North we've come to rely on extended food supply chains. For instance, in the UK, we import a significant amount of food and this food comes from locations that are already being disproportionately affected by climate change in part resulting in significant decreases in food productivity. For example, Spain produces the majority of fruit and veg consumed across Europe, but it is already being disrupted by changing weather patterns and it is estimated that crop yields will decrease by a further 15 to 30% as global temperatures increase. 

Growing food more locally and in a wider range of places therefore also helps to compensate for the damage that is already happening as well as reducing further impacts.

So, when should we eat particular foods?

Ideally, we would eat foods that are in season. So, for the example of apples we can eat them at the time, but we can also engage in processes that can extend the life of an Apple. So, this could be storing or preserving those apples to eat at a later date.

When we take the example of chocolate, well, it's never in season in the UK, but that doesn't mean we should not consume it; what that means is that we need to really value where it has come from and where it's grown and all that goes into bringing it to us as consumers.

As for when to eat it, revaluing chocolate as a treat and luxury product would help by not putting strains on already exhausted natural ecosystems. We need to reconnect with the natural cycles and break away from expecting all foods to be available at all times. This is something that individuals should consider but primarily will require radical change in how supermarkets and other organizations operate and what they offer.

In an effort to eat seasonally, we also need to be aware that climates are changing across the world and that this can create different seasons for food, but also it's about educating ourselves as to when particular foodstuffs are in season and where they come from but also retailers could take a role in this through labelling and providing more information that is accessible to consumers.  

And finally, there are local policy implications and for example, let's say School meals to be in season and to be aligned with what is produced at that time of year.