Know where our food comes from

All too often we forget to think about where our food comes from.

OKay, sure, it comes from the grocery store. Need food? Go to Kroger, Public, Aldi, whatever. Buy food. Now we know where it comes from. What's the big deal?

Nope.

Fine, go to McDonald's, Burger King, Barbaritoes, call Papa John's. Problem solved. Right?

Nope.

So what do we mean "Know where our food comes from?"

Well, before it was at Kroger, before it was at Papa John's, where did it originate?
(No, not the central distribution warehouse, ORIGINALLY)


Let's take what the average person in the US (me at this point) has for breakfast:
Oatmeal made with soy milk and topped with walnuts and syrup, orange juice, banana, coffee with cream and sugar.

Oatmeal likely is grown in the Minnesota, South Dakota, or Wisconsin. Soy milk, made from soy beans likely grown in Illinois or Iowa. Walnuts from California. Maple syrup from Canada. Orange juice from Florida, bananas from Costa Rica, cream from a dairy probably within the southeastern regional for my coffee from Tanzania (that's in east Africa).

The closest origin of my breakfast is the cream for my coffee. Nothing else is vaguely local. The most critical part of my breakfast (COFFEE) comes from the other side of the planet.

And that's just breakfast.

Adapting to climate change means adapting to shifts in local climates, it means adapting to shifts in climates EVERYWHERE. A drought or a hail storm in the midwest, a cat 5 hurricane in Florida, invasive species in costa rica, or God forbid any thing in Tanzania, and my breakfast changes.

I can substitute some items for others, but if these areas are impacted, likely others will be too. And probably not in a good way.

100 years ago breakfast would have been from much more local sources. If major shifts in climate happen quickly, it might have to again. Local eggs, fried sweet potatoes, chicory coffee... Not too bad.

Right now, I don't have to change, thank heaven's, but remembering where my food comes from, puts the specter of climate change in a different focus. I can change too. I can adapt.


But am I ready for that?
Probably, except for the coffee.

And that will be a serious crisis.


All information  on crop sources from:
US Dept. of Agriculture: http://www.usda.gov/nass/PUBS/TODAYRPT/cropan15.pdf