Local versus Distance?

image of Llyn Padarn and Snowdonia moutain range in the background

Comparative Merits of Consuming Vegetables Produced Locally and Overseas

The advantages of ‘eating locally’ are often expressed in terms of greater freshness, nutritional value, environmental sustainability, health and safety.

This project aims to bring a range of scientific and social scientific perspectives to bear on evaluating such claims, with specific reference to the production and consumption of vegetables.

Assessments will be made of the nutritional contents, greenhouse gas emissions, and resource requirements across the life cycle of selected vegetables as they progress from field to table.

International comparative data will be collected, from sites in the UK, Europe and Africa. The project combines the expertise of soil scientists, biochemists, health economists, agriculturalists, environmental scientists and sociologists from the University of Wales Bangor and the University of Surrey ( University of Surrey).

This is an interdisciplinary research project funded under the Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) Programme of the Research Councils, UK (ESRC, NERC, and BBSRC)

Principal investigator

Professor Gareth Edwards-Jones, University of Wales Bangor.

Project Manager

Dr. Barry Hounsome (b.hounsome@bangor.ac.uk).