How far does YOUR food travel?

A Leopold Center report on how far food travels before reaching Iowa dinner tables has logged a few miles of its own.

The report, “Food, Fuel and Freeways: An Iowa perspective on how far food travels, fuel usage, and greenhouse gas emissions,” was released in late June. Since then, the Center has distributed 750 copies of the report and responded to dozens of requests from reporters for more information. In July, lead author Rich Pirog was interviewed by Max Armstrong of WGN Radio in Chicago, whose syndicated Agri-Voice farm show goes to 86 stations.

Information from the report also will be used by several Iowa and regional groups working with community-based food systems, and by educators in college food system courses. One professor in Maine requested copies to use in an introductory humanities class for first-year students.

The report looked at the distance traveled by fresh fruits, vegetables and meat served as part of three Leopold Center-funded projects that used locally-sourced food grown by Iowa farmers. The local foods traveled an average of 45 miles from farm to point of sale, compared to 1,546 miles of transport for the same items from conventional sources.

The report also compared the miles traveled by 28 fresh produce items grown in Iowa in local, regional, and conventional systems. Findings showed that the conventional system used four to 17 times more fuel and emitted five to 17 times more CO2 than the local and regional systems, depending on the system and the type of truck that was used.

University of Northern Iowa professor Kamyar Enshayan, Leopold Center intern Ellen Cook and ISU student Timothy Van Pelt helped Pirog with the report. Copies are available by request or at the Leopold Center web site.