Food: UK or Overseas Produced

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
Fair Miles: Recharting the food miles map
Today's food is well travelled. A pack of green beans in a Northern supermarket may have journeyed 6,000 miles, or 60. But while food miles loom large in our carbon-aware times, transporting it counts for less than you might think. There is a far bigger picture. Food is more than a plateful of emissions. It's a social, political and economic issue that involves millions of small farmers in poor countries who export produce to the North. They have built lives and livelihoods around this trade. By buying what they grow, you've clocked up 'fair miles'. This pocketbook delves into the realities of the produce trade between Africa and the UK, examining both sides of the equation in search of a diet that is ethically, as well as nutritionally, balanced.
http://www.iied.org/pubs/display.php?o=15516IIED

Rural Economy and Land Use Programme
Comparative merits of consuming vegetables produced locally and overseas: Fair and evidence based carbon labelling
This note summarises key findings from a Rural Economy and Land Use Programme research project, which sought to explore the advantages and disadvantages of consuming locally produced fruit and vegetables, compared with crops grown overseas and imported. The note highlights that carbon accounting and labelling for food products are new factors for producers and consumers to take into consideration, and they may have serious implications for developing countries which export food. This kind of labelling is extremely complex, and in order to provide useful information, it must include an analysis of the entire lifecycle of the product.
http://www.relu.ac.uk/news/policy%20and%20practice%20notes/Edwards-Jones...