Usman Multidisciplinary College
There used to be a time when fruit and vegetables would only appear in shops in season. Apples were only bought in autumn when they were harvested; strawberries were sold and bought in summer. It was impossible to find food grown in far away countries.
Nowadays, we can eat just about everything at any time of the year. But, at what price of our planet? Products are transported by ecologically unfriendly vehicles which are responsible for carbon emissions. What’s more, some food products (for example tomatoes in our region) are often grown in one place, then travel somewhere else to be packaged and then travel back to near where they were grown to be sold!!!
The aim of the project is to find out how much food is imported in the region and which of the products could be produced or packaged closer to where we live, and what the benefits could be. We assumed that the more food we grow the less food is imported and the less we pollute the environment.
We have collected different food labels and packaging from local supermarkets.
We’d like to attract attention to the fact that most products come from abroad although they are grown in our region.
For example, in local supermarkets there are apples from different countries. Some are imported to Russia from Brazil, others are from Moldova.
However, apples are locally grown and can be successfully sold in the same area.
Pears are imported from Turkey. They are packed in Russia, in Moscow and then transported to our region.
Tomatoes, sweet corn, onion, garlic, sweet peppers are also brought from foreign countries such as Senegal, Iran, China, Azerbadzhan and others.
So, we have the following results. In the local supermarket 35 % of products are from Russia while 65 % of all fruit and vegetables are imported to Russia from abroad.
Since 2020 the whole world have been living on lockdown. This situation makes transporting food difficult as boarders are closed.
What benefits do we get if we grow food locally.
Firstly, we care about nature. We don’t transport food from other countries so planes don’t emit fumes. It helps to reduce environmental impact.
Secondly, we care about ourselves and other people as locally grown food is healthy.
More than that, it also helps bring our community together and gives people the opportunity to make a difference.
