Standard Process Inc.

The Benefits of Thinking Locally

January 2008 News From The Farm SP News Article

Christine Mason,
Farm Manager

One of the doctors that visited Standard Process for a tour this summer came to me and said, "Christine, just think about how much fossil fuel Standard Process conserves by supplying so much raw material from a farm located only a mile down the road from the manufacturing plant." What an interesting perspective. I am on the Organic Advisory Council for the state of Wisconsin and one of the exciting initiatives right now is a "Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin" program being launched in our state budget. Of course, it took a visitor to make me see that, with this organic farm right next to the manufacturing plant, Standard Process has been embracing the heart of this local food initiative all along.

Now that the holidays are over and we have some winter opportunities to slow down and hibernate a bit, I would like to suggest a thought-provoking book I recently read which ponders the long-distance food dilemma and addresses the concept of eating locally, among other interesting topics. The name of the book is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, written by Barbara Kingsolver with a 2007 copyright from Harper Collins. It is a very entertaining book to read while being informative at the same time. I think that you would enjoy the time spent within its pages.

By page four, Kingsolver explains that the "average food item on a U.S. grocery shelf has traveled farther than most families go on their annual vacation." Later she states, "Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators as our cars." The book goes on to discuss how each food item in a typical U.S. meal has traveled an average of 1,500 miles. Transporting a single calorie of perishable fruit from California to New York takes about 87 calories worth of fuel! How insightful for a doctor to realize how much fossil fuel we are saving by producing our own Brussels sprouts at the same location as the factory.

The fact that most food travels so much distance naturally brings quality issues to my mind. How much nutrition is left when our food has traveled so many miles in a refrigerated semi? At Standard Process, we can control that variable in quality by assuring that crops are harvested and processed all within the same day, within the same company, and in the same neighborhood.

I'll wrap up by quoting one interesting side bar from Steven L. Hopp within the book: "If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That's not gallons, but barrels." Interesting food for thought. Read the book and see what you think!