Buying locally does make good sense as a concept if you wish to do your part in being a sensible consumer. For example, why buy garlic from China when they grow like weed in the back yard without you even caring for them and easy to store (and taste a lot better).On the other hand every evening I look out my window I see the city of Tartu lit up like it is on fire. The cause is not due to excessive street lighting (yet) but the green houses growing cucumbers - all year round. Since I am aware of this (I am reminded every evening) I can not make myself buy these cucumbers in the shop even if it does not get more local. I am fairly certain that the energy used to grow these things in -10 to -20 degrees Celsius outside temperature takes more fuel than transporting cucumbers from Netherlands or Spain (where they also grown the with aid). In the end I decided not to eat cucumbers out of season, unless we really needed them for something. I wonder how many think these things through in Estonia.
This is not unique off course. It is really difficult to understand where your items come from. My veterinary colleagues in Finland tells me animals are transported very long distances to be slaughtered and then back again to be processed as meat. Closer slaughter houses exist, but it is still cheaper to transport the animals hundreds of kilometers. This information rarely reach a consumer, and even rarer affects the consumer mentally. I am not surprised if the same happens to groceries.
This is not unique off course. It is really difficult to understand where your items come from. My veterinary colleagues in Finland tells me animals are transported very long distances to be slaughtered and then back again to be processed as meat. Closer slaughter houses exist, but it is still cheaper to transport the animals hundreds of kilometers. This information rarely reach a consumer, and even rarer affects the consumer mentally. I am not surprised if the same happens to groceries.
We need one independent place where people can look up information about these things (transportation, pesticides used, slaughtering technique...) and other qualities (taste, independence of food chains, success in complying with food and production safety, fair price...) to a product other than just price. If not the conscious consumer will not see the real product choice behind coupons, client cards and different sales strategies every half year. Much like it is impossible to get a clear idea of the best choice of bank, insurance, gas station etc. If we do not have transparent choice then we need to gather information.
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