Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Executive summary

Introduction

• Objectives

Changes in Iowa's food system

Energy use in the food system

• Life Cycle Assessment
  

• Energy costs for marketing and transportation of food products

Food miles -- the distance food travels from farm to consumer

• Calculating food miles for table grapes using a weighted average source distance (WASD)
  

• Other uses for the WASD
  

• Using the WASD to calculate food miles for produce arriving at the Chicago,
  

• Illinois terminal market
  

• Comparison of food miles -- Iowa local food system examples

Food miles, fossil fuel use, and greenhouse gas emissions

• Comparing fuel use and CO2 emissions for three food distribution systems

Discussion

• Application of results: using food miles to estimate fuel use and CO2 emission reductions without local data

Conclusions

• Application of findings to consumers
  

• Locally grown food as the "load less traveled": importance of considering the entire food system

Recommendations for action

• For Iowa consumers
  

• For Iowa farmers, retailers, and food brokers
  

• For food system researchers and educators
  

• For state and federal policymakers

Tables
Table 1 [PDF] Number of commodities produced for sale on at least 1 percent of all Iowa farms for selected years from 1920 to 1997
Table 2. Energy use in the U.S. food system
Table 3. Weighted Average Source Distance (WASD) for table grapes with Des Moines, Iowa as consumption point
Table 4. Truck WASD estimations, and truck, rail, and foreign arrivals as percent of total arrivals
Table 5. Distances traveled for three locally grown meals compared to distance if same food items were supplied through conventional channels
Table 6. Comparison of WASD for food transported to institutions for three Iowa local food system projects with WASD for the same food items sourced from a conventional system
Table 7. Energy use and emissions for different modes of freight transport
Table 8. Origin of production states used to estimate distances
Table 9. Estimated fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, and distance traveled for conventional, Iowa-based regional, and Iowa-based local food systems for produce

Endnotes