Flickr user somebody 3lse chose this $4.99 package of almonds at a store in Canada “because it was the cheapest.” Going by the information on the label, the almonds, she estimates, traveled approximately 22,000 km. during processing and packaging (California to Vietnam to Canada).
Photo: somebody 3lseSo does this make you want to go locavore, since so much fuel was likely used in transporting them around the globe, and maybe they’re not the freshest almonds? Or does it support the global food economy: fuel costs are a small part of the production budget, and packaging them in Vietnam probably kept down the price.
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If packaging in Vietnam reduces the price, so be it. I’ll buy these almonds.
Assuming no lead or other substances was added during the processing, almonds probably travel ok. For for more perishable produce (e.g. asparagus) it’s better to buy local and in season if possible.
Of course, fuel is currently underpriced because we aren’t paying upfront for the negative externalities from burning fossil fuels.
Local eating people need to realize, at least where human processing workers are involved, that it is better to employ someone in Vietnam because that person uses far fewer energy resources than a first world worker. To put it another way their slavings result in CO2 savings
Of course the best solution is to invent a durable machine that can do the work automatically because an inanimate machine consumes less resources than a person.
There’s a lot of misinformation when it comes to the fuel efficiency of container shipping. Nevertheless, these nuts probably wash down nicely with “Fiji” water.
I understand the Mormon church owns a significant percentage of world nut orchards (mostly in cashews, but I understand almonds as well); could they use followup processing as a carrot with otherwise intransigent governments to allow access by missionaries? If that’s the case, then the bottom-line economics may be secondary to other missions.
Soon we will have less choice given peak oil.
We’re undermining local food production and processing.
What will we then eat?
I will go locavore when externalities such as greenhouse gas emissions are priced in.
It reminds me of Nishiki (Japanese) imported rice, grown in California, I like to buy here in the East Coast of the USA. The price is much more dear than a local brand of domestically grown rice. I would think fuel costs matter significantly when hauling 20lb bags of rice freight (California -> Japan -> New York).