 |
|
Our presenter
sits down to a meal.
Where has all this food come from?
How has our food changed over the years?
Much of it has come from distant countries to meet a demand for
out-of-season produce;
or simply to compete with locally-grown food.
At a supermarket, three teams of students compete in a supermarket
sweep, trying to find the food that has travelled the furthest.
Their few items have together travelled 40,000 miles to appear on
our tables - lamb from New Zealand, cheese from Australia, coffee
from Colombia. Cheap imports and demands for regular supplies have
led to a decline in the number of good local varieties of apple.
Once, 2,000 varieties of apple were grown in the UK; now only a
handful are commercially viable.
'Cash crops' are grown by poorer countries solely for export. In
Costa Rica, cash-cropping of bananas leads to environmental
destruction through pesticide use and waste. Workers are affected
by poor conditions and low pay, or by the side-effects of sprays
used on crops. The bananas grown for export follow strict
regulations of size and shape and are enclosed in insect-resistant
bags. The plantation is a 'green desert' - devoid of birds or
insects.
The pressure for profit has affected the way we farm. Chickens and
pigs are battery-farmed. On an organic farm near Coventry, we see
how meat can be produced less intensively, using home-grown hay and
no pesticides or herbicides.
What can you do? You can think about what you buy, where it came
from, and who benefited from its production. Students compare
locally-grown products with those of overseas producers. In a blind
tasting, organic and intensively farmed products are
compared.
Click here to go to the Main
Message. |
