Sustainable Food Sources What does this mean?

Building a Sustainable Local Food System  Forging Links for a Sustainable Food System – West Yorkshire Food Link  Food is not simply a consumer issue, but involves communities of participants in the food supply chain, from farmers to consumers. Food cuts across many issues, from economics, society and the environment to health, education and culture.  Food is not simply a consumer issue, but involves communities of participants in the food supply chain, from farmers to consumers. Food cuts across many issues, from economics, society and the environment to health, education and culture.

‘sustainable’ mean  What does ‘sustainable’ mean to you?  An activity is sustainable if we can keep on doing it, not just in this generation but in future generations. There are 3 dimensions to consider: economic, environmental and social.

First, a food system has to start with food production that is environmentally sustainable.  It’s about what we produce;  It’s about producing enough, not too much;  If we over produce meat, for instance, if we over produce meat we are creating green house gases during the production.  The food has to get to the retailer without using excessive amounts of energy to transport it. At the very least that means we need to think about sourcing our food from within the UK.

Buy local!  The retailer should ideally be located close to the consumer. Partly this is because “shopping miles” account for almost half of all “food miles”.  The retailer should ideally be located close to the consumer. Partly this is because “shopping miles” account for almost half of all “food miles”.  But local retailers bring other benefits, including making their communities feel safer and more friendly, and providing a market for local suppliers and local tradespeople.

Impact on the non-renewable fossil fuels.  Finally, I think we need to be much more mindful of food security. The world’s food supply faces huge challenges from peak oil, water depletion, climate change, the switch to biofuels and so on. I think we’re all living with a false sense of security that comes from assuming that if we can’t grow our own food, someone else will.

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