Transportation of food often has less of a climate impact than the way in which it is produced

See The Secret Behind Japan’s Delicious Strawberries: Kerosene: The growing season has become completely reversed thanks to kerosene-burning greenhouses and the big prices paid for the earliest, best berries by Hiroko Tabuchi of The New York Times. Excerpts:

"Japan’s swing toward cultivating strawberries in freezing weather has made strawberry farming significantly more energy intensive. According to analyses of greenhouse gas emissions associated with various produce in Japan, the emissions footprint of strawberries is roughly eight times that of grapes, and more than 10 times that of mandarin oranges.

“It all comes down to heating,” said Naoki Yoshikawa, a researcher in environmental sciences at the University of Shiga Prefecture in western Japan, who led the produce emissions study. “And we looked at all aspects, including transport, or what it takes to produce fertilizer — even then, heating had the biggest footprint.”

Examples like these complicate the idea of eating local, namely the idea embraced by some environmentally conscious shoppers of buying food that was produced relatively close by, in part to cut down on the fuel and pollution associated with shipping.

Transportation of food often has less of a climate impact than the way in which it is produced, said Shelie Miller, a professor at the University of Michigan who focuses on climate, food and sustainability. One study found, for example, that tomatoes grown locally in heated greenhouses in Britain had a higher carbon footprint compared to tomatoes grown in Spain (outdoors, and in-season), and shipped to British supermarkets."