Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Local or Not? That is the question.

I just read this on one of my favorite, hip blogs HeliumBalloon from my favorite Gen Y blogger pictured below:

Forbes interviews:
With the world population headed toward 9 billion by 2050, Texas author James McWilliams wants more genetically modified food and more subsidies to feed people.

In his new book, Just Food: Where Locavores Get it Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly, McWilliams challenges conventional eating mores and cuts through what he believes to be layers of myth and misinformation.He writes that an imported tomato is more energy-efficient than a local greenhouse-grown tomato. And farm-raised freshwater fish may soon be the most sustainable source of protein.McWilliams encourages us to ask where our food comes from and how it's produced.

He agrees that in the 21st century, "we face a genuine agricultural dilemma, and that is to produce more healthy food on less land with fewer resources. I see the locavore response just as one response, and in the grand scheme of things it's a fairly small response.

When we look at how a crop is grown or how a certain food is produced, transportation is really a small amount of energy used to produce that particular food. It's about 10%, according to several studies. What that means is the energy sink is elsewhere, how that particular crop is produced."
I am certainly not saying that I agree, but it's an interesting perspective.

Read more of his interview with Forbes here.

3 comments:

Layanee said...

I will have to read this book but this premise of more food for more people sounds like an recipe for eventual disaster.

Anonymous said...

Layanee- I agree, there are a lot of things about this theory that rub me the wrong way. What you brought up is one thing, but, in addition, we need to educate our children about WHERE food comes from and HOW it is grown. This will solve most of our obesity and health problems.

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