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Food miles action against Kenyan horticulture exports suspended

01 March 2009

The Soil Association is to terminate its support for a campaign to label imported horticulture and floriculture products with an aeroplane sticker designed to highlight the carbon footprint of imported products. According to press reports, the campaign had been encouraging people to buy goods which had travelled a minimal distance to market. The Kenyan Flower Council has welcomed the move. This follows an investigation which showed that carbon emissions per capita in Kenya are only 2% of what they are in the UK, and that travelling 6.5 miles to a local supermarket to do your shopping left the equivalent carbon footprint of ‘flying a pack of Kenyan green beans to the UK’.

Editorial comment

There had been growing concerns in east and southern Africa that food miles campaigners could undermine the market for exported horticulture and floriculture products. With the decision of the Soil Association to take a more nuanced approach of monitoring the contribution of air-freighted foods to peoples’ livelihoods and communicating the development benefits of organic agriculture in developing countries, these concerns have been eased.

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