photograph of site
food miles | 00
SPOILED FOOD
FOOD MILES INFRASTRUCTURE FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE Over 22,000 people reside in Manchester City Centre. The carbon foot print for feeding this population is staggering, but not without hope. Over half of the C02 footprint of the food contained within the average Briton’s fridge is derived form the journey the food makes from the farm to the table. Most of that footprint is derived from food traveling from the super market to the dinner table. As part of the food distribution system, this is the least sustainable leg of the produce’s journey. Growing local, a widely celebrated solution, may help stimulate the local economy but it might not help save the environment. Unless a radical shift is made in how locally grown food is transported to its final destination, Manchester City Center could be looking down the barrel of increased C02 production despite a decrease in food miles.
This issue is not specific to Manchester City, however with a rich history of transportation infrastructure, Manchester City Centre will become the crash test for a new urban agriculture network.
watch where you shop
Tonnes of C02
Produced per Annum . . .
9.4 per capita
1.4 per refrigerator .7 per
trips
grocery
International Quisine
it travels farther than you think
Distance asparagus travels across Atlantic : 6300 miles.
Distance a Manchester citizen drives to grocery store: 3.1 miles.
CAR SICK
a little ride goes a long way
Driving round-trip to the grocery store produces 24x more C02 per kg of asparagus than shipping it across the Atlantic.
Asparagus travels 1000x further by
boat than by car to get to a
Manchester table.
beep beep
eat your vegetables
CUTTING CALORIES AND VITAMINS
ON SALE:
Asparagus travels up to 10 days from farm to shelf, losing 55% of its nutritional value.
LOCAL PROBLEMS close crops increase C02
Area to feed: 2.1 sq. mi Population: 22, 500
Farm land required to feed population above, using traditional agricultural techniques*.
Food Radius now Projected driving radius for local food
1.24 kg C02
*based on continuous cultivation used throughout the majority of the Americas and Europe
3.72 kg C02
PIGGY BACKING existing infrastructure repurposed
0 mi. Growing food locally along existing rail infrastructure equals...
Transporting food using existing train systems equals...
0 mi.
Selling food at existing transportation hubs equals...
0 mi.
ALL ABOARD
farming the railway
To fe ed M anche City Ce ntre wit ster h traditional farmin g
techniques you would have to cover the twork with entire rail ne ting all plan t ’ 0 a 30 re. ructu t s r supe
The Northern Rail system has 130 miles of railway within Northern England