Why do we bring in outside food?

1. Why do we bring in outside food? James Dunn Agricultural Economist Penn State University

2. Recent Food Scares • Chinese pet food with melamine • California spinach • Mexican green onions • Mad cow disease • Bird flu • Genetically modified foods

3. Reasons to Buy LocalCincinnati Enquirer – August 7, 2007 • Support local businesses • Food safety • Fossil fuel use • Taste • Nutrition

4. Does Eating Local Food Save Energy? • No long-distance transport • Where do you buy it? • How much driving around does this entail? • How much do you buy per trip? • Long-distance transport of food doesn’t use much energy per pound • Full semi-truckloads often travelling partly by rail • The Economist cited research that half of energy use in food transport is by consumer • If you preserve food to keep it through the winter it uses a lot of energy ( even commercially)

5. Some questions • Could we feed ourselves with locally grown food? • Is locally grown food safer? • Do we need to import food? • Is food from elsewhere riskier than domestically raised food? • Is our food safe? • Is it riskier than 10 years ago?

6. Could we feed ourselves with locally grown food? • No! • And if we tried it would be prohibitively expensive • And we would have very little variety • Lack of specialization would sacrifice all economies of size • We are surrounded by cities and very little farmland • Lots of labor needed – immigration issue

7. Is locally grown food safer? • Probably not! • Bigger, specialized farms can concentrate on details • Small, multi-product farms have too many balls in the air • Food safety problems are because of mistakes

8. Do we need to import food from abroad? • Not necessarily • We would lose variety in our diet • Food costs would go up • No bananas, coffee, tea, chocolate • No grapes in the winter • We export enormous amounts of food • They won’t buy our stuff unless we reciprocate

9. General Characteristics of U.S. Agriculture • U.S. has about 5% of world’s people • 17% of cotton • 43% of corn • 60% soybeans • 6% of land • 22% of apples

10. Economies of Size in Farming • Larger farms can specialize more • Use equipment better • Spread management over more units • Get better rates on shipping and purchasing • For crops, maximum size hit limits because of distance • For animals, limit very large

11. Agriculture is regionally specialized • Corn belt • Wheat belt • California fruit and vegetables • Pennsylvania dairy • Infrastructure needs enough producers • Processing plants, machinery dealers, handlers all need volume to compete

15. Is food from elsewhere riskier than domestically raised food? • It is hard to say • Maybe. We have less control and they have less accountability • Lots of our problems come from the US • Meat problems • Spinach

16. Is our food safe?Is it riskier than 10 years ago? • It is much safer than before • 24 hour news makes us more aware of problems elsewhere • Biggest food risk by far is in preparation • Lots of food poisoning at home and in restaurants

17. Long-term vs short-term risk • Short term – food poisoning • Long term – pesticide residues, carcinogens, GMOs? • Biggest long-term food risk by far is what we eat and how much – obesity, heart disease, diabetes

18. My own view • I buy at the farmer’s market to a degree • Local sweet corn is vastly better • Like to buy local if it makes sense • I do not buy organic food • I love the variety of food available – bing cherries on New Year’s Day, strawberries year round • Wallner’s Garden

19. For consumers the good old days weren’t all that good • Canned beans and corn • Apples, oranges and bananas in winter • Lots of potatoes, onions, and carrots • No fresh fish • Food was more expensive • Much less fresh produce • Much less variety

20. Real price indexes of food, farm milk, and retail milk

21. What would happen if we had to buy local • Expensive food • Limited selection • Poor quality • Farmers in poverty – multi-product farms ended for good reasons • How about New York City?