Fashionable food miles not the full story

Researchers from Lincoln University have published a follow-up to their 2006 report on food miles.

While their initial findings created controversy, the researchers are sticking to their guns.

They’ve added more data to support their claims that NZ dairy products sold in the UK are more environmentally-friendly than locally produced products, despite having travelled halfway around the world.

Their original report compared energy use and CO2 emissions between NZ and UK dairy production.

Thanks to our less intensive production system, they found the UK uses twice the energy to produce a kilogram of milk solids. This includes the energy to transport our products to the UK.

Their latest report, which adds greenhouse gas emissions, found the UK had 34% more emissions per kilogram of milk solids produced and 30% more per hectare than NZ production, again including shipping to the UK.

Source: Saunders C & Barber A. Research report: Comparative energy and greenhouse gas emissions of NZ’s and the UK’s dairy industry. Lincoln University, July 2007