Have you considered growing your own food? If not, you might want to start thinking about it now.
Growing your own food delivers a lot of benefits. Not only is it better for your health and cheaper than buying it from the grocery store, but it does wonders for the environment too. Here, we’ll look at just some of the ways growing your own food benefits the planet.
Reducing Waste and Carbon Emissions
One of the biggest environmental benefits of growing your own food is that it reduces waste and carbon emissions. If you were to look into the actual impact the food industry has on the environment, you’d be surprised.
According to some experts, produce tends to travel for around 1500 miles before it reaches your plate. Produce is typically transported in semi-trucks with around 34,000 pounds worth of cargo, which can do around 5.5 miles per gallon. For every gallon of diesel burnt, it releases 22.38 pounds of carbon dioxide. So, if you were to break it down, every pound of food transported releases 0.18 pounds of carbon dioxide. This is simply the figures for the pollution released during transportation.
When you grow your own food, it doesn’t have to travel anywhere. So, you’ll be drastically cutting down your own carbon footprint. Of course, it also reduces waste. You’ll only be growing enough to feed you and your family, so there will be a lot less waste than there is with commercially-grown food.
Reducing Harmful Fertilizers and Pesticides
Another way that growing your own food benefits the environment is that it reduces harmful fertilizers and pesticides. While many farmers have switched to more environmentally-friendly products, chemical fertilizers and pesticides are still used heavily in the industry.
Not only are these chemicals bad for the environment, they are also bad for your health. The chemicals seep into the surrounding soil and water supplies. When you grow your own food, you can ensure no harmful chemical products are used to grow them.
Eliminating the Need for Packaging
Packaging has become an important talking point in the bid to reduce global warming. When you buy food from the grocery store, it often comes in plastic packaging. This is known to have a severe impact on the environment. In contrast, when you grow your own food, you don’t need to use any packaging.
If everyone were to grow at least a portion of their own food, it would drastically cut back on harmful packaging.
Reducing Monocropping Practices
Finally, did you know monocropping is a common practice for US farmers? It basically means growing one type of crop through government support. They rely a lot upon chemical fertilizers and chemicals, and it greatly reduces biodiversity.
Genetically engineered seeds are also frequently used, which can reduce the nutrients within the soil. By growing your own food, you’ll reduce the need for these monocropping practices, in turn benefiting the environment.
As you can see, there are a lot of environmental benefits that can come from growing your own food. So, if you care about your eco footprint, switching to growing your own produce can make a huge difference to the planet.
