UK government speaks up for trade in food

By: Dean Best - 10 July 2007 16:58

A leading UK politician has joined the debate on the concept of food miles.

Lord Rooker, the UK’s minister for the environment, food and rural affairs, pointed to the country’s growing food and drink exports as proof of the benefits of trade.

“We can’t boast about that while at the same time putting barriers up to trade,” Lord Rooker told the UK’s Food and Drink Federation’s annual parliamentary reception at the Houses of Parliament in London yesterday (9 July).

The debate over food miles has proved a fierce one with proponents arguing that the use of the concept can help consumers gauge the impact of their food consumption on carbon emissions.

As argued in these pages, however, critics of the use of food miles believe that the concept promotes a protectionist agenda and threatens the livelihoods of food exporters in developing countries.

The concept of food miles remains easy for consumers to grasp but, in practice, it is too simplistic and we lose sight of a raft of wider sustainability issues. How does, for instance, the issue of Fair Trade fit into a concept of food miles?

It was heartening to hear a UK government minister espouse his belief in the importance of free trade.

Comments on this blog post

I think what Lord Rooker and this blog are saying is that those who argue in favour of food miles in the UK - and point to the fact that it would support local trade - miss the fact that by supporting a food miles system, UK authorities may actually harm the country's food industry because food miles would be contrary to a strong export industry. This then is just another example, alongside issues of Fair Trade, that count against the food miles concept.

Chris Brook-Carter, United Kingdom

There is not the remotest similarity between Fair Trade and Free Trade.... It seems to me that the UK politician's comments were emphasising the fact that fairness and sustainable trade puts in question the simple case against long-distance trade. Free trade might be something on the otherhand which we might want to eliminate if its inhibiting the development of small scale producers and the developing world as well as adding to climate change pressure...

Pauline Tiffen, United Kingdom