The fallacy of food miles and the 100 mile diet

Received a note from Wayne Brandt yesterday and he referenced an article from Marketplace magazine about food miles and the 100 mile diet. Wayne wrote that the column really "hit the nail on the head." While I don't have a hyperlink to the column, I'll note a couple of excerpts:

The idea behind the 100 mile diet is for consumers to limit their food purchases to 100 miles. It does not speak to producers limiting their market to that same distance. A pure 100 mile diet plan should limit purchases from purchases from farmers who certify that they will only sell within that distance. Most agricultural producers, even in Canada, would be hard pressed to make a decent living if their market was limited to 100 miles.

It sounds good, in theory at least, to limit purchases to a 100 mile radius. Unfortunately, it would drive a lot of peasant farmers deeper into poverty.


TK: The idea of the 100 mile diet was probably devised in some California coastal community. For those of us in wind swept and frigid Kansas, it does no good despite the laudable intentions. Thanks to Wayne for passing along this opinion piece that does, indeed, dispel the do-good notion of the 100 mile diet.