Quote:
Originally Posted by 10023
I disagree. First, if food is coming from the West Coast, Chicago is closer than New York. Second, most of the nation's calories come from the Plains and Midwest, and most of the manufacturing is there as well. I'd say the carbon cost advantages of being in the Midwest are even greater if someone doesn't source their food locally, because the big conglomerates (Kraft, Sara Lee, Kellogg, General Mills, ConAgra, Cargill, ADM, etc) are all in the Midwest.
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This would be an interesting point to figure out. Of course most of the
calories consumed come from the Midwest, but grain also fits more cleanly into shipping containers (whether they be truck, train, box, whatever) than do fresh fruit, veggies, or nuts - and doesn't need nearly the amount of care (or energy) to ship. You don't have to refrigerate wheat. Since most people don't live off of grain alone, you can assume that any place that doesn't have to import as many fresh fruits, etc (like California, Washington, Oregon, Florida, and a handful of other states) would have a substantial advantage.
Side note - All of those conglomerates might be based in the Midwest, but there is plenty of wheat (and other grains) grown in other states. There are General Mills plants all over the place in Idaho and Washington state, for example.