Food miles — Geography, 11–13
How far food travels, and why distance alone does not tell the whole environmental story. Geography, 11–13 years.
What food miles measure
Food miles are the distance a food product travels from where it is grown or made to where it is eaten. They help you notice transport in a food supply chain, but they are only one part of its impact. Farming methods, packaging, storage and the number of products in one lorry also matter.
Why ask about distance?
Food may cross several borders before reaching a shop, so transport uses fuel and links our meals to distant places. Food miles became popular as a simple question: can a shorter supply chain reduce pollution and make food systems easier to understand? The question is useful, but it must not turn into the rule that local is always better.
Calculating a journey
A packet of rice travels 900 km by ship, 120 km by lorry and 10 km by van. Add the stages: 900 + 120 + 10 = 1,030 food miles, or kilometres in this example. Do not count the distance in a straight line on a map; count the actual route taken by the food.
Shortest is not always cleanest
It feels sensible that local food must be better because it travels less. But a tomato grown in a heated greenhouse may use more energy than one grown outdoors and transported farther in a full ship. The fair comparison includes production, transport, storage and waste, not just the number of kilometres.
Choices in shops and kitchens
Shops and households can use food-mile information when choosing seasonal food, buying from nearby producers or reducing unnecessary deliveries. A school can compare the journeys of two lunch ingredients and ask how they were grown and packaged. The aim is not to ban distant food, but to ask better questions about the whole journey.
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