The Hidden Cost of Food
The use of resources and our
environment for food production
Brandi Hacker
The Future of Creation
May 6, 2008
From Farms…

Industrial farms are
major sources
pollution
– Air
http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=99791&rendTypeId=4
• Methane and other
gases emitted
– Water
•
•
•
•
•
http://www.adlaz.org/images/gestationcolor.jpg
Nutrients
Ammonia and Nitrates
Antibiotics
Heavy metals and salts
Water usage
… to the shelves


Fossil Fuels are used
Our food has to travel
– By planes, trains, trucks,
and ships


Most fresh fruits and
vegetables in the U.S.
are shipped from CA,
FL, and WA.
Fruits and vegetables
spend 7 to 14 days in
transit before they
arrive in the store.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Fredmeyer_edit_1.jpg
Where Our Food Comes From

Food Miles= miles
traveled from farm
to tables
 Broccoli
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Agriculture Footprint Brief. July 2003
– Grown within 20
miles of most
homes in United
States
– At supermarket
travels 1,800 miles
to get there
“The Issues Introductio.”
The True Cost of Food

Visit
www.truecostoffood.org.
– View the movie as an
introduction to this
complex issue

Use the discussion guide
to begin the conversation
in your congregation and
other local groups
Facts from the Movie

A gallon of oil is used
per pound of beef.

Twenty-five hundred
gallons of water for
each pound of steak.

For every 10 pounds of
healthy grain you put
into a cow, you only get
out one pound of meat.


Worldwide, we chop
down an acre of
rainforest every minute,
and lose millions of
grasslands acres a
year, to feed and graze
cattle.
Factory farm runoff has
poisoned the ground
water in 17 states and
has polluted 35,000
miles of America's
rivers.
Facts… Continued

16% of the methane
 In 2002, the largest 10%
comes from animals.
of farms collected 65% of
the subsidies; the bottom
 Mono-cropped fields are
half got 2%--$256 a year.
doused with one billion
pounds of toxic pesticides  7 % of our farms sell 72%
a year.
of our food.
 Short-sighted practices
 Eating local saves up to
make the earth lose 24
17 times the gas costs of
billion tons of topsoil a
food you buy in the
year.
supermarket.
 You need more and more  The organic food market
chemicals all the time, to
is growing at 25 percent a
get the same results
year.
Individuals Can Help





Eat in Season
Shop for locally grown
food
Encourage others to
eat and shop local
Learn about a local
farm
Host a harvest party




Put together a local
food directory
Experiment with
drying, canning, or
preserving in season
fruit for later
Plant a garden
Speak to your local
politician
Worldwatch Paper #163, 59.
Questions for Thought…

What surprised you in the information?

Name one thing you could do to start
shopping more locally.
– Or to help others shop locally.
Works Cited
Deumling, Diana, Mathis Wackernagel, and Chad Monfreda. “Eating Up the Earth: How Sustainable Food
Systems Shrink Our Ecological Footprint.” Agriculture Footprint Brief. July 2003. Available from
http://www.rprogress.org/publications/index.htm. Accessed 5 May 2008.
“Guide for Discussion Leaders.” The True Cost of Food. 4 May 2008.
http://www.truecostoffood.org/truecostoffood/leaders.asp#intro
Halweil, Brian. “Worldwatch Paper #163: Home Grown: The Case For Local Food In A Global Market.”
World Watch Institute. November 2002.
“See the Movie!” The True Cost of Food. 4 May 2008.
http://www.truecostoffood.org/truecostoffood/movie.asp
“The Issues: Air Pollution.” Sustainable Table Serving Up Healthy Food Choices. 5 May 2008.
http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/airpollution/
“The Issues Introduction.” Sustainable Table Serving Up Healthy Food Choices. 5 May 2008
http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/
“The Issues: Water Pollution.” Sustainable Table Serving Up Healthy Food Choices. 5 May 2008.
http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/waterpollution/
“Where does our food come from?” FoodRoutes.org. 4 May 2008. http://www.foodroutes.org/whycare.js p