Unlike most countries around the world, Australia is a sunny, fertile and lush country where we can grow and farm just about everything we need. But are we buying it? Research shows that we might not be - food imports into Australia have increased from $4 billion in 1988-1989 to $14 billion in 2016-2017 and now amount to over 15% of our food consumption. For a number of reasons, this isn’t good news...here’s why:
Imported goods rack up thousands of food miles
If you haven’t heard of food miles, they’re the distance that food travels to get to our plate. You’d be surprised to know that the average shopping basket in Australia has travelled over 70,000 kilometres!
This is terrible news for the environment. Food is more often than not getting to us on a fossil-fueled vehicle, so every additional mile means more emissions and more bad news for the environment and climate change.
Food from overseas isn’t as traceable as food here
When farmers grow food in Australia, they understand its entire life journey, from being a tiny seed to becoming a delicious banana loaf mix. They know what soil is used to grow it, what process it’s been through when it’s harvested, and who has handled it.
When you buy food from overseas, traceability can become an issue. Even if good practices are used in the manufacturing process, it’s hard to know what’s happened before and sometimes it’s hard to know what has happened at all. A lack of traceability can leave consumers with many unanswered questions and a lot of doubt.
Farming wipes out old growth forests
We’ve got some great environmental protections here in Australia, but overseas some government aren’t so strict.
Often, entire old growth rainforests and the species they contain can get wiped out to make way for farmable land.
Would you really want to eat food from overseas, knowing that to create it, entire habitats were destroyed?
You create and support local jobs
Did you know that in Australia, there are 85,681 farm businesses? And that each farmer produces, on average, enough food to feed 600 people?
By buying local, you’re supporting your local farmer and creating more jobs and opportunities for us to create the world’s best food, right here in our backyard.
Support your local farmer and try some of our nutritious and mouth-watering teff.