Lesson Thirty: Local Meats
How âlocalâ doesnât always meat expectations
30 lessons!?! How exciting! Thank you for joining me on this exciting and educational adventure! đ
Okay, now, letâs talk local meat.
On a good day meat consumption is a touchy topic. Eating is so incredibly personal to us because itâs rooted in our cultures, dietary restrictions, how we were raised, and so much more.
My goal today is NOT to tell you what you can or cannot do (I am not your mother), but I do think itâs everyoneâs responsibility to learn the consequences of their actions and what the realities are with every bite of meat you take. No judgement. This is all a journey to learn as much as we can so we can make the decisions best for us and the planet.
Today weâre going to be diving into the very popular social perception that itâs okay to eat meat, as long as itâs local. It makes sense right? With local, we get more visibility, fewer food miles, and we are always told itâs best to support local economies.
However, when it comes to local meat, that doesnât always applyâŠ
WHAT?! Yes, you heard.
If youâre to take away anything from this lesson, let it be these two points:
For meat, food miles do not matter much. Beef sourced from 600km away can have lower emissions than beef from 100km away.
Organic and conventional agriculture do not differ significantly in their greenhouse gas emissions.
Letâs start with the basics: what is a food mile?
A food mile is the distance food is transported from the time of its making until it reaches the consumer. Food miles are one factor used when testing the environmental impact of food, such as the carbon footprint of the food.
Mode of transportation can make a big difference. You probably didnât know that cargo ships are the most efficient form of transporting food, did you? (Super proud of you if you did! I definitely didnât until this lesson). Itâs then followed by trains, trucks, and planes.
Flying one ton of food is close to 70x more carbon intensive than transporting one ton via a cargo ship. In a study, product flown from Chicago to Boston had a significantly larger carbon footprint than one shipped 17,700 km from Asia to California.
Despite all that, the carbon cost of transportation is small compared to the carbon costs of production - eg. running the tractors, pumping irrigation, etc. For most food products, transport accounts for less than 10%.
Can you guess it for beef?
The difference in eating local beef vs non-local beef (in terms of emissions) is very small!
That is how beef products can be more carbon intensive if itâs grown and flownâïž from 100km away than if itâs transported by trainđ from 600km away.
What about organic?
While hormone-free and humanely raised animals are ethically preferred, there are a few downsides:
Grass-fed cows produce up to 4x more methane than grain-fed cows. It takes longer to grow them to size, and methane is 84x stronger than carbon dioxide over a 20-year time frame.
âLocalâ causes a massive inefficiency and waste of resources by feeding plant proteins to animals instead of us eating them (Iâll explain this one more at a later date)!
At the end of the day, a cow or pig or chicken will still need a certain amount of food and water to grow to its ideal weight and size. Those farming elements do not have too much of a difference with regards to emissions.
The main differences lie in the ethical realities - aka the treatment of the land and animals. Sustainable farms only raise what the land is capable of handling and they act as stewards of the natural environment. Similarly, sustainably-raised animals are also treated more humanely than traditional factory-farming. That is why everyone should know their values so they can align themselves with companies that support them.
No matter how you dice it, the most effective way to reduce your dietâs carbon footprint is not by buying local, but rather reducing your consumption of animal products. Removing a couple of âmeat mealsâ a week will be better for the planet than buying local meat - so try starting there. âșïž
Also, if youâd like a more comprehensive look at the impacts meat consumption has on our planet and resources, please check out Lesson Five: Meat Consumption.
Do you want more data on beef production? More info about the transportation of goods? Or are you looking for recipes to start adding more plant-based meals into your diet? Let me know!
