The impact of local food production on food miles, fossil energy use and greenhouse gas emission: the case of the Dutch city of Almere

Abstract

This case study is situated in the Dutch city of Almere (185,000 inhabitants), 30 km east of Amsterdam. Almere has to expand towards 350,000 inhabitants in 2030. As part of this expansion 15,000 new houses are planned in Almere Oosterwold, an area where urban agriculture will be integrated in urban development on approximately 4,000 ha fertile polder land. Which amount of food can be produced locally in Almere Oosterwold and what will be the impact of this local production on food miles (or kilometres), fossil energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the future city of Almere? We calculated that 6,200 ha conventional farming land (or 8,100 ha in case of organic production) is needed to produce approximately 20% of the daily food basket of the future 350,000 citizens. This local produce, mostly fresh food, contains 76% products from plant origins (fruit and vegetables) and 24% from animal origins (milk, eggs and some meat). The local production in the presented case reduces the GHG emissions with an estimated 27,000 tonne/year. This reduction is relative small because most of the products in this food basket are already being produced in the Netherlands. A considerable part of the reduction of GHG emissions is realised through the reduction of the consumers transport needed for shopping, the substitution of fossil fuel by renewable energy sources and the use of organic manure instead of synthetic fertilisers. These measures are more or less independent of local food production. This study underlines that other aspects have to be taken into account regarding the reduction of food miles, fossil energy use and GHG emissions of our food system. Influencing the composition of the food basket (for example less meat), redesigning the local food distribution system, influencing consumers behaviour towards food consumption and reducing the fossil energy use are better instruments to reach that goal.