Should we buy foreign produce?

Macha

There was an item on RTE1 discussing imported produce. They interviewed a few farmers from Kenya who said that if the 'West' stop buying food & flowers from these countries, their economies will collapse.

Any opinions?

Gekko

I presume it mentioned the carbon footprint of the food & flowers as well?

There is an interesting argument that foods grown locally ie in UK / Ireland have a higher carbon footprint because they're transported around alot during the distribution process.

Although I can't see that this would be true for very locally grown produce - ie in the same or next county here in Ireland.

Húrin

African countries which grow food for Europeans have food supply problems within their own countries. These farmers should be growing crops to feed their countrymen, not rich Europeans. That is the moral argument

That said, it is "greener" to buy Kenyan flowers than Dutch ones because agriculture is far less mechanised there than in Holland.

However, the fact that so many of the apples sold here are South African, New Zealand or Chilean, is simply a scandal.