As things stand currently, getting food from the farm to the table comes at a cost to the environment. That’s the bad news. Between growing crops, maintaining livestock and utilizing farmland, the agriculture industry is responsible for 20 percent of human-caused greenhouse gasses.
The good news: The farm-to-table movement aims to minimize the threats to the environment brought about by agriculture. The initiative seeks to support and expand the practice of locally grown — ideally organic foods — to minimize the industry’s negative environmental impacts. Its goal is to decrease the steps between where the food is produced and where it is consumed.
When food is locally sourced and consumed, there’s less resource-depleting processing, preparation, and packaging necessary. Shorter transport distance translates to less fuel used and fewer emissions produced, to get the food to its ultimate destination. Given that one-third of food produced is wasted between its harvest and consumption, the shorter the distance the food must travel helps ensure that more of what is produced will be utilized. Where feasible, farm-to-table is a simple, elegant, and green solution to today’s agricultural environmental challenges.
Did you know that Alpine Bank has a green initiative? It started in 2005 and has won awards and earned globally recognized credentials. Learn more here.
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