Distance is only part of the story

"Food miles" is a simple idea: the further your food travels, the bigger its environmental impact. It's a useful starting point, but it's not the whole picture. A tomato grown in a heated greenhouse in Scotland can have a larger carbon footprint than one shipped from Spain where it grew in open sun. A full lorry driving 200 miles is more efficient per item than a half-empty van driving 20. The real question is not just how far your food travelled, but how it got there, how it was grown, and what you do with it once it arrives. This guide unpacks the concept honestly and offers practical steps that actually make a difference.

Where the term comes from

"Food miles" was coined by Professor Tim Lang at City University London in the early 1990s. It was designed as a simple measure to highlight the environmental costs of global food supply chains. The concept gained public traction in the 2000s and remains a shorthand for sustainable food choices, even as researchers have developed more nuanced frameworks.

What food miles measure (and what they miss)

Food miles count the distance food travels from where it's produced to where it's consumed. On the surface, shorter distances seem better. But transport accounts for only a fraction of food's total environmental impact.

The full picture includes:

How it was grown. Farming methods—tillage, fertiliser use, irrigation, heated greenhouses—often contribute more to a food's carbon footprint than its transport.
How it was transported. A cargo ship carrying thousands of tonnes is remarkably efficient per item. A car trip to a farm shop to buy one bag of carrots is not.
What mode of transport. Air freight is dramatically worse than sea freight, road, or rail. Most imported food travels by ship, but some high-value perishables (asparagus from Peru, berries from Kenya) fly.
Refrigeration. Cold-chain storage and refrigerated transport add significant energy costs, regardless of distance.
Food waste. A locally grown lettuce that rots in your fridge has a worse footprint than an imported one you actually eat.

Myth: Local food is always greener

Local food is often the better environmental choice—but not automatically. Growing conditions, farming methods, and waste all matter. A seasonal, local product grown outdoors almost always wins. An out-of-season, heated-greenhouse local product may not.

When local really does make a difference

Despite the nuances, there are clear situations where choosing local food meaningfully reduces environmental impact:

Seasonal produce grown outdoors. UK carrots in winter, strawberries in summer, salad leaves in spring—these are grown without heated greenhouses, travel short distances, and are at their nutritional and flavour peak.

Reducing air freight. A small percentage of imported food arrives by plane, but that small percentage has an outsized climate impact. Air-freighted foods include out-of-season berries, asparagus, fine beans from East Africa, and some tropical fruit. If it's out of season and perishable, there's a good chance it flew.

Supporting low-input farming. Many small UK farms use fewer chemicals, less machinery, and more regenerative practices than large-scale industrial operations—whether domestic or foreign. Buying from them directly reduces the environmental overhead of long supply chains.

Cutting packaging. Local food bought from farm shops, markets, and veg box schemes typically comes with less plastic packaging than supermarket equivalents.

The simple question

Before worrying about miles, ask: "Is this in season in the UK right now?" If yes, buying local is almost certainly the lower-impact choice. If it's out of season, it either came from far away or from an energy-intensive greenhouse.

The transport hierarchy

Not all miles are equal. The environmental impact of transport varies hugely by mode:

Sea freight — the most efficient per tonne-kilometre. Most imported dry goods, grains, and non-perishable produce arrive this way.
Rail — efficient and increasingly used for cross-European food transport.
Road (heavy goods) — a full articulated lorry is reasonably efficient per item. Most domestic UK food moves by road.
Road (light goods) — smaller vans and delivery vehicles are less efficient. The "last mile" of delivery is often the most carbon-intensive segment.
Air freight — by far the worst. Per tonne-kilometre, air freight emits roughly 50 times more CO₂ than shipping by sea.
Your car — a solo car trip to a farm shop for a small purchase can have a surprisingly high per-item footprint. Combining trips and buying more per visit helps.

How to spot air-freighted food

Labels rarely say "air-freighted." Look for country-of-origin labels on perishable, out-of-season produce. Fine beans from Kenya in January, asparagus from Peru in December, and berries from outside Europe in winter have almost certainly flown. If the product is both perishable and from a distant country, air freight is likely.

Beyond miles: what else matters

If you want to reduce the environmental impact of your food, food miles are just one lever. Others are often more powerful:

Eat less meat (or choose it carefully)

Livestock farming—particularly beef and lamb—generates significant greenhouse gas emissions from methane, feed production, and land use. Eating less meat, or choosing grass-fed animals from farms with good land management, makes a larger difference than optimising your food miles.

Reduce waste

Roughly a third of food produced globally is wasted. In UK households, food waste is a major source of avoidable emissions. Planning meals, storing produce properly, and using leftovers have a bigger climate impact than choosing local over imported for many products.

Eat seasonally

The simplest rule with the biggest payoff. Seasonal produce requires less energy to grow and store, tastes better, and is more likely to be available from nearby farms.

Choose unprocessed

Processing, packaging, and refrigerating food all add to its footprint. Whole, unprocessed foods—a cabbage, a bag of flour, a piece of cheese—generally carry lower embedded energy than their processed equivalents.

Five practical shifts

You don't need to overhaul your entire diet. These five changes cover most of the impact:

1. Eat with the seasons

Follow our seasonal guide and build meals around what's abundant in the UK right now. This single habit does more than counting miles on every item.

2. Buy local for fresh produce

Farm shops, farmers' markets, and veg box schemes are your best sources for seasonal, short-supply-chain fruit and veg.

3. Avoid air-freighted perishables

Skip out-of-season berries, fine beans, and asparagus from distant countries. Choose UK frozen or preserved alternatives instead—frozen UK peas in February beat air-freighted fresh mangetout.

4. Waste less

Store food properly, plan meals flexibly, use leftovers, and preserve seasonal gluts. Our storage guide and preserving guide cover the practicals.

5. Combine trips

If you drive to a farm shop or market, make it count. Buy enough for the week. Combine it with other errands. Better yet, walk, cycle, or use a delivery veg box scheme.

Progress over perfection

You don't need to source every item locally or avoid all imports. A few consistent shifts—seasonal eating, less waste, fewer air-freighted items—add up to meaningful change over time. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

The bigger picture: local food systems

Food miles are one lens on a bigger question: how do we build resilient, sustainable food systems? Buying local supports:

Farm viability. Direct sales give farmers a fairer share of the retail price, helping small farms survive.
Soil health. Many small UK farms practise regenerative or low-input methods that maintain soil quality.
Biodiversity. Diverse, smaller-scale farms tend to support more wildlife than monoculture operations.
Community. Markets, farm shops, and CSA schemes create connections between growers and eaters that strengthen local economies.
Resilience. Short supply chains are less vulnerable to disruption from global events, fuel price spikes, or trade disputes.

The environmental case for local food is strongest when it's part of a broader shift towards seasonal, diverse, and waste-conscious eating—not as a standalone metric.

What to ask a farmer

"How do you get your produce to market—do you deliver, or do customers collect?"
"What farming methods do you use? Any cover cropping or low-till practices?"
"Do you grow in open fields, polytunnels, or heated greenhouses?"
"What's the most sustainable thing I can buy from you this week?"

Quick checklist

[ ] Prioritise seasonal, UK-grown produce for fresh fruit and veg
[ ] Avoid air-freighted perishables (out-of-season berries, beans, asparagus from distant countries)
[ ] Buy from local sources where practical: farm shops, markets, veg boxes
[ ] Reduce food waste through better storage, meal planning, and using leftovers
[ ] Combine shopping trips—don't drive for a single item
[ ] Remember: how food is grown matters as much as how far it travels

Ready for more?

Explore what's in season right now to make the most impactful choice at the shops, read our farm shop comparison for a balanced look at your options, or try a veg box scheme to automate seasonal, local eating. Every meal is a small decision—and small decisions add up.

Food Miles Explained: What They Mean for Your Plate