Kitchen Garden Forum

Does anyone know how to calculate either of these widely popularised measures when applied to an item of food? I can readily understand the basic concept behind each of them, but am at a loss to know how the values can be meaningfully calculated.

For instance, if I buy cheese from my local farmers’ co-operative creamery, which is less than two miles away, what food miles are involved? How does one factor in the fact that the milk has come from various places in Wales and England? As for the carbon footprint, the same question applies, plus additional factors such as transport, the carbon footprint of the creamery itself as well as the farms where the milk originates, the footprint of the staff, packaging etc, etc. Additionally, don’t these values change depending on whether the ingredients for one piece of cheese have been transported by special courier or in a tanker with the ingredients for thousands of other pieces of cheese.

There are many other much more complicated examples than my piece of cheese. My question is: do the concepts of food miles and carbon footprint mean what people think they mean?

I think it's on of those problems best labelled "A bit of a bugger."

The answer will vary for each delivery to the point of sale.

I suspect that it will always be an approximation. Beans flown on from Chile or Kenya can be marked with the per kg-carried/km-travelled fuel cost of a 747 on top of beans grown in the UK.
Distance travelled in the UK is more difficult, carrots grown in Norfolk could be farm to Soham, Soham to Tesco distribution at Harlow, Harlow to store in Great Yarmouth or Thetford. The distribution chain complicates it, basically the easier way to work it out is seasonality, out of season will have travelled from a different climate zone or been heated.
For the UK we just have to accept that spices and many fruits come from warmer countries and base our consumption on our personal preferences come ethics.
I like citrus, peach, grape, banana, peanut, pomegranete and many spices, so will continue to consume them, but as additions to my basic diet.
As for chocolate, don't tell the wife but I doubt if I will ever totally give that up.

I don't think they can be meaningfully calculated as there are so many variables.

I go with if I can grow it I do - 0 miles
If I can get it at the local Co-op I do - half a mile walk.
Is it grown in Yorkshire? - which quite a few things are in the Co-op - good
Is it grown in the UK? We have to take the supermarket's word for this, but better than being imported.
If it is imported because we can't grow it here - is it Fair Trade or similar, and also if it is imported because it is out of season here - is it ripened naturally and therefore tastes OK, or is it artificially ripened and not worth eating anyway.

There are quite a few more factors which we can take into account too if we can be bothered. How does using electricity to keep your own produce frozen compare with buying something grown abroad in season and transporting it here? Let people who like calculating things do their sums, but we may as well just get on with growing our own and buying British where possible and not worry about it.