FOOD...THE GREAT TRAVELER; FOOD MILES

Just suppose you decided to produce all the food you eat...
The first thing you would notice is that you have little time for anything else. On those little farms that once dotted the land the farmer worked most of the day to produce food for his family and, with a little luck, some extra produce for sale in the town or for barter with other farmers. And not just the farmer but also his family; and the more family to help the better. That was the main reason for big families. Once I lived in a little town in the mid-north of South Australia. Actually, twice I lived in that little town as it was the town where I was born and to which later I returned as a pastor for the local Baptist community. The second time I lived in Clare my neighbor across the street was the 13th child in a family of 2o children, 13 of whom had survived childhood. They had all helped to work their parents' farm.
That is the reason we have longer school holidays in the summer...so that children could work on the farm during the harvest time.
The second thing you would notice is that your diet would become greatly restricted; essentially made up of the fresh seasonal food grown locally, stored preserves, and food that would last from one season through the next.
Nowadays the farmer mainly produces large crops that are sold away for processing in the food industry for eventual sale in the supermarkets. If they are of a mind to, the farming family can grow vegetables in their garden and run some animals for their own eating or chickens for the eggs. More likely, the family will drive into town to shop at the supermarket.
Farmers still tend to work from dawn to dusk as this is the natural way of things when you enjoy the work and like the outdoors. Using modern farming equipment the average farmer can grow food for many more than himself, perhaps for as many as 300 families.
All this is possible because of cheap energy the form of sunlight and fossil fuels (stored sunlight from yesteryears) enabling the farmer to multiply the benefits of his labor manifold. It starts with fossil fuel to make the fertilizer he puts on the fields, continues with fuel for his machinery, goes into the pesticides he applies to his crops, enables the transport of farm product from the farm to the food factories, and finally to the supermarkets. The role of energy does to stop there as we then drive from our homes to the supermarkets to purchase the food we need.
The result is a wonderful array of foods from near and far, much more replete and varied than was possible in the local stores of yore.
So how far did the food you buy at the supermarket travel? Economists are beginning to look at Food Miles. In the US, the average distance is between 1300 and 1500 miles! If you think this is surprising, consider that a recent Australian study of 29 food items commonly purchased showed that these had traveled an average of just over 70,000 kilometres (43,759 miles). Now I know that Australia is a long way for everywhere else but this seems incredible. Perhaps a bad selection of items?
Hmmm...this would explain the ten or so 18 wheelers for every car Uma and I saw on the way down to Texas! Apparently, since most of America's food is transported by just four or five transport companies, a clever terrorist group could virtually disable the nation by knocking out these companies. Apparently this is a threat under serious examination by Homeland Security.
More immediately serious is the looming threat by truckers to cease delivery for several days to protest the rising price of diesel fuel.
Walmart is becoming concerned about this issue and has adopted a "buy within 100 miles" policy wherever possible. My local supermarket has a policy of purchasing produce from local farmers and features particular farmers each Saturday. Farmers' Markets are springing up all over.
Buying locally does not always guarantee a reduction in the 'carbon footprint' of the food purchased as an article in the current Newsweek shows (Technology Section: "Sounds Good, But ...").
However, it is becoming evident that the rising cost of fuel may significantly affect food distribution and raise the price of food to much higher levels. Beyond that, the food distribution system may falter.
If one were to take this seriously, what changes might one make?