I have a different source for the average distance food travels, actually,
"the average molecule of processed food in this country travels 1300 miles
before being eaten" (from the "Empty Breadbasket: The Coming Challenge to
America's Food Supply and What We Can do About It," The Cornucopia Project
of Rodale Press, 1981). They cited the U.S. Dept of Defense, "US
Agriculture: Potential Vulnerabilities", Research Report Prepared by the
Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, California, January, 1969, p. 74.
I suggest you check out the Packer's original source.
>Thanks to everyone who responded to my question about the average distance
>
>food travels from farm to table. For those who are interested, the answer
>
>is below, courtesy of Dave French. (Actually, several of you cited this
>source). Does anyone have a copy of the article that we can circulate? If
>
>
>not, I'll try to track one down.
>
>- Sarah
>
>I asked:
>
>>>I've often heard it said that food travels 1,300 (or 1,100 or 1,200)
>miles,
>>>on average, from farm to table. Does anyone know a source for this
>>>statistic?
>>
>
>Dave responded:
>
>>The reference that I have for this is: The Packer (1992) "From Grower to
>
>>Consumer: An Elaborate Odyssey," 13 June 1992. Unfortunately, this
>>information is second hand. I don't have a copy of the original article.
>
>>There are several publications named The Packer. I believe that the one
>>we're looking for is this one:
>>
>>TITLE The packer. Kansas City, Mo.: Packer Pub. Co., 1968-
>>Vol. 75, no. 6 (Mar. 2, 1968) -
>>FORMAT v. : ill. ; 57 cm.
>
>
>
>>NOTES KEY TITLE: Packer (1968)
>
>
>
>>Weekly
>>The national weekly business newspaper of growers, shippers,
>>receivers, distributors and retailers of fruits and vegetables;
>>subtitle varies.
>>Published: Kansas City, Kan., <1977->; Shawnee, Mission, Kan.:
>>Vance Publishing Corp., <1980->
>>
>>and the volume we're looking for is v. 99. If you actually find a copy of
>
>
>>the article, I'd love to get one also.
>>
>><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
>>Dave French dfrench@doit.wisc.edu
>>Food Science Department University of Wisconsin-Madison
>>1605 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706-1565 608-262-4613
>>813 Maple Terrace, Madison, WI 53705-2112 608-233-5238
>>
>>
>
>
Gail Feenstra
food systems analyst
UC Sustainable Ag. Research & Educ. Program
Davis, CA 95616
(916) 752-8408