FOOD MILES: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION OR VEILED PROTECTIONISM? LUCA BALESTRIERI MATTEO BARBIERI MASSIMILIANO CARENA MAINI BERNARDO RANIERI PROFESSOR PAOLO FABBRI

THE FOOD MILES CONCEPT Food Miles concept: the distance food travel from its point of origin to the point of consumption Different point of view about this topic: supporter of local foods and supporter of imported foods Relationship between food miles and environmental harm: creation of advertising campaigns, retail measures, governmental and non-governmental policies and social movements

Advertising campaigns: British Dairy Crest vs New Zealand Anchor, persuasion of British consumers based on food miles Retail measures: Tesco, Wallmart and Marks & Spencer have proposed a series of programs based on local foods puchases Several governmental actions aiming to increase local food production and consumption; but also NGOs are following the “buy local” direction SUPPORTER OF LOCAL FOODS

Climate Choices-Children Voices: a website teaching children to eat local foods Spreading of restaurant all over the world proposing menus based only on locally-grown products Main goals behind the food miles concept: keep money in the local community, increase of local food prices and trade, protectionism toward fresh local foods GOALS RELATED TO FOOD MILES

IS FOOD MILES REALLY GOOD FOR ENVIRONMENT? It seems logical that purchasing imported food that is transported from around the world would cause more environmental harm than buying the same items locally. DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIROMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS STUDY: comparison of emission associated with tomatoes imported from Spain to those grown in U.K. greenhouse. The authors saw that U.K. growers used significant amount of energy to heat the greenhouse and it is preferable to import fresh produce rather than growing it in out-of-season condition in U.K.

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY STUDY The researchers compared the greenhouse gases emission generated by producing U.K. lamb, dairy products, apples, and onions for the domestic market on the one hand, with the GHG emissions generated by producing these same items in N.Z. and transporting them to U.K. The study shows significant differences between N.Z. and U.K. farming methods for these products. In the case of lamb, N.Z. farmers utilize far less fuel and fertilizers in production process than U.K. producers. In the case of onion U.K. require more energy inputs. This data demonstrates that food miles alone do not provide an accurate picture of the GHG emission that will result from consuming local versus imported product.

“FOODMILES ARE NOTHING BUT A MISLEADING DISTRACTION” AGRESEARCH STUDY In order to determine the GHG footprint of N.Z. and U.K, the study noted that the emission coming from production and distribution of lambs in U.K. is higher than international shipping and all other transportation systems combined. Food miles are inefficient in production because the vast majority use more fertilizers, pesticides and fuel for the equipment utilized in the farm and in the food processing. “ Greenery has become the new protectionism” to protect a country’s own economy from foreign imports.

Could a successful WTO challenge be mounted against food miles ? -Food miles policy into the WTO context A food miles labelling scheme could affect some members that operate in the WTO context. -Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) It is a structured procedure for the resolution of disputes between WTO members that achieve a resolution, if the previous consultation did not reach an agreement. Measure (Article 3.3 ) Responsibility public private Japan-film case

Possible bases for a food miles policy -Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) Technical regulation (mandatory) i.e. GMO Standards (voluntary with a straight regulation) Conformity Assessment -General Agreement on Tariffs and trade (GATT) Art. I.1. Most-Favored Nation (MFN) Exception Art. XX Exhaustible natural resources Not clear Code of Good Practice

DEVELOPMENT CONSIDERATION AND ALTERNATIVES TO FOOD MILES Imperfection of food miles concept LCA ANALYSIS  takes into account the GHG emission resulting from all the stages of the production process to identify a product’s overall “carbon footprint” Type of transportation is taken into account LCA takes into account numerous factor Marks & Spencer example

LIMITATIONS OF LCA Time consuming, expensive and not susceptible to particulary accurate calculation Does not takes into account post-sale activities Discourage developing countries

ALTERNATIVES APPROACH The impact of the energy used in storage on the GHG emission How a product is transported from a seller to home? “Eat local” approach is imperfect

Paper “Food Miles: Environmental Protection or Veiled Protectionism?” Meredith Kolsky Lewis – Andrew D. Mitchell; September 18,2014. Michigan Journal of International Law, Vol. 35, No. 3, 2014

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