?The ongoing food miles debate has moved on to carbon footprints, but that could boost UK-grown produce and improve supply chains, says William Burgess, CEO of Produce World.

The debate about food miles is always an interesting one. Whenever there's a no-news day, the Daily Mail will come up with the same old line about food miles, blaming the supermarkets for making us buy food from the other side of the world.

It's always the Kenyan green beans that get used, but the debate goes much further when you get down to the detail. Customers always have a choice - for example, they can buy UK in-season produce if they want.

But if we don't buy beans from Kenya, what effect will this have on the people of Kenya? They desperately need to sell their products to raise hard currency to pay for schooling, housing and other needs.

I think the government should promote free trade across the globe and remove all trade barriers and tariffs. This would help Africa to trade its way out of poverty. When governments interfere in markets it always ends up creating unintended consequences.

I would also like to see a tax on all carbon-based fuels (including air and shipping fuel) so that we factor in the environmental impact of carbon on all goods and services. This would allow the market to operate effectively. The more carbon released, the more expensive the goods. Consumers would favour cheaper and more environmentally friendly products.

Such a system would support locally grown UK produce, improve efficiencies within the supply chain and contribute to pricing levels.

When we look closely, I think we'll find large-scale production and centralised distribution are more carbon-friendly than small vans and tractors running around the country. The supermarket model of distribution works, despite the claims of the local food lobby.

The other big issue is packaging. We need packaging to protect the product and give information to the buyer. So we need to either use biodegradable packaging or recycle it. Again, if the oil used in packaging manufacture were taxed this would encourage the purchase of recycled materials.

If it became a legal requirement for all packaging to be made from recycled materials, this would create a huge demand from packaging manufacturers to buy waste from businesses and consumers.

Imagine, instead of paying for your wheelie bin to be emptied you actually sold your waste to the rubbish collectors!

Topics