See table of food miles data for 30 produce items

Two-page handout [PDF]

The fresh fruits and vegetables you buy at the grocery store probably have logged quite a few miles since they left the farm, but some items spend far less time on the road than others. That's what Leopold Center marketing and food systems coordinator Rich Pirog and ISU student Tim Van Pelt found when the two dug deeper into data they collected for the "Food, Fuel, and Freeways" report issued by the Leopold Center in June 2001.

Pirog and Van Pelt examined 1998 data (the last year data were collected) for 30 different fresh produce items arriving by truck at the Chicago Terminal Market from across the continental United States and Mexico. They calculated a weighted average source distance that produce traveled from where it was grown to reach the Chicago market (using a formula representing both distance and weight of load transported). They found that only pumpkins and mushrooms traveled less than 500 miles to reach the Chicago market, while six fruits and vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, table grapes, green peas, spinach and lettuce) traveled more than 2,000 miles to reach their destination. Their figures include only distance to the Chicago Terminal; distances to retail outlets are in addition to these estimates.

Their study also showed that cabbage, cucumbers, onions, sweet corn and tomatoes originated from 15 or more states, while green peas and table grapes came from only one state (California). Mexico was a source of 21 of the 30 produce items investigated, with more than one-third of the asparagus, cucumber, eggplant, squash and tomato arrivals originating from Mexico.

For more information on how far food travels, check out the report, "Food, Fuel, and Freeways," at the Leopold Center's web site, http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/staff/ppp/index.htm, or ask for a copy from the Leopold Center office, (515) 294-3711, or email: leocenter@iastate.edu