New study shows typical N.S. meal is a come-from-away
Posted Jul 27, 2010 05:44:59 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A new report being released in Halifax today has some surprising findings on how far your food travels to get to your fridge.
The three-year-long study by the Federation of Agriculture and Ecology Action Centre examined 60 food items on store shelves in Nova Scotia and found the average travelling distance is 4,000 kilometres.
Report co-author Marla MacLeod says it’s not always easy to find out where our food is coming from.
“It’s difficult as a researcher, it’s difficult as a consumer,” says MacLeod. “The signage tends not to be very good, so you have to track someone down and they may or may not know where the produce is coming from or where the meat is coming from.”
Macleod says consumers may be shocked to learn that farmers are getting less and less of a cut of the money spent on food in Nova Scotia.
“Right now, it’s sitting at about 13 per cent, and in 1997 it was closer to 17 per cent,” she said.
Farmer and agriculture federation director Beth Densmore says fewer people are choosing farm life because of the long hours and low pay.
“If we can actually get our products into the stores, we could make a living,” she said. “I honestly believe if the consumers put enough pressure on the retailers, we’ll have more product there.”
Densmore says consumer intervention is key to getting more local product on grocery store shelves – and she says it’s slowly starting to make a difference.
“There actually are more products out there now than what there has been over the last three or four years,” she said. “It is starting to pick up a little bit because consumers are asking for local.”
The report will be released Tuesday night at the Westin Hotel.
