Food miles:

Food miles -> the distance food is transported as it travels from producer to consumer
Consumers -> The people who are paying for and eating an item
Producers -> the ones who make or produce the item that is being transported.
Two types of food are produced: perishable and non-perishable
Perishable : these rot quickly and have a short shelf life e.g: bread, fruits
Non-perishable: These have a long shelf life e.g: honey, vinegar

Benefits of Food Miles:

1. Some places can not grow important staples and so are dependent on imported food to
get those products
2. Food miles mean there is a larger variety of foods
3. Helps boost the economy of countries in a bad economic state (export)
4. Better international relations
5. Food that is from poorer countries is cheaper
6. With food miles, many foods can be bought all year round that would normally only be
available for a short amount of time
Disadvantages of food miles:
1. Transporting these foods through long distances causes a lot of carbon emission, and air
pollution, and uses more fossil fuels. This is all very bad for our environment.
2. If a country is importing too much, it can destroy the economy
3. Things that can be grown in the country are instead imported for no reason.
4. Food needs more packaging (waste, bad for environment)
5. Food supply is vulnerable in case of inability to import.
6. Food that has travelled has less nutrients.
7. If food is from other countries, it is harder to regulate the standards

Meat on the Menu:

Rearing animals to be used for meat and food uses up a lot of resources

Resources used -> food, water, energy, land and money.

Animals require crops to eat which are grown on land and also need a lot of area in
order to live as healthy a life as possible.

Tractors and other machinery are used to harvest these crops ->A lot of energy is used

transporting and cultivating crops -> very expensive.

They are also the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions.

The increase in animal agriculture, as the demand for animal products grows, means
that more people are going hungry even though the world produces more than enough
food for everyone if we use a grain based diet.

Grain based diet ---> 180kg of grain for an average person per year
Meat based diet ---> 930kg of grain for an average animal per year, which then continues
to give less food

The animals use up more resources than they give.

For every 6kg of food consumed by an animal, we get 1 kg of meat.

Animals reared on farms for meat, are kept in terrible living conditions and are bred
using factory farming, or a system of rearing animals that uses factory like methods to
produce more food at a minimum cost.
● Animals have little freedom to exercise or move as they are kept indoors in cages
all day long
● Lights are left on longer to encourage animals such as hens, to produce more eggs
● Living in cramped conditions means they are more to vulnerable to catching
diseases which can be harmful to humans too
● Living in unnatural conditions means they have more health and pain issues
● Use of antibiotics to combat disease makes humans and animals more resistant to
these antibiotics
● Produce more sewage which increases pollution in the environment
● Injected with growth hormones to increase the speed of growth

We should instead use better methods of rearing animals (free range farming) such as:
● Keeping animals indoors for part of the year with fresh air, daylight and space
● Only giving them antibiotics when they are ill
● Cleaning their living spaces so they are as sanitary as possible
● Giving them enough space to properly exercise and move