• June 11, 2007

To meet consumer demand for environmentally friendly products, supermarkets from Whole Foods to Wal-Mart are increasingly stocking locally grown organic produce.

But a new study from the University of Alberta finds that such offerings may not be any better for the planet, reports Supermarket News, once the emissions of long-distance trucking are factored in.

Based on the concept of food miles, researchers found that the annual environmental cost for a city the size of Edmonton, Canada, for transporting organic produce ranged from $156,000 to $175,000 (Canadian) and discharged up to 7,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

Conventional produce came in at $135,000 to $183,000 and discharged up to 7,500 tons of carbon dioxide.

The nearly identical margins indicate there is virtually no benefit to sourcing organic produce as a way of reducing food miles, or the environmental cost of transporting food to points of purchase.

--Sarah Mahoney