The Environmental Impacts of Your Meal
The Environmental Impacts of Your Meal
Organic Valley MilkThe milk that I use when making ravioli is Organic Valley 0% Fat Free Milk. Organic Valley is owned by over 2,000 family farmers, located all across the United States. My milk probably came from Reuhl Farms located about 70 miles away from me in Jefferson, Wisconsin.
This link allows you to find your local Organic Valley Farmer: https://www.organicvalley.coop/our-farmers/find-your-farmer/
This product probably had some environmental impacts associated with it. The cows that produce the milk are grass fed and this could lead to some negative environmental impacts. There could be wildlife habitat loss since grass feeding requires a great amount of land use. This large land use could also lead to a decrease in native vegetation from the cattle overgrazing. Other possible impacts include water eutrophication, increases in nitrous oxide emissions, and soil erosion.
Organic Valley claims to not take shortcuts such as persistent chemical usage, artificial hormones and synthetic ingredients in order to make more money. They rely on the science of regenerative agriculture in order to make food that is good for consumers and the planet. They don’t believe in sing hormones in food so they let their animals grow naturally and produce milk on their own schedules. The organic farming practice encourages regenerative agriculture and diverse ecosystems which nurtures the whole. This process allows the farmers to keep toxic chemicals off of their farms and out of the animals' feed. These farmers also use natural holistic measures to treat the animals in organic production. According to Organic Valley they have kept 330 million pounds of toxic pesticides and fertilizers out of the environment.
There has been research into whether or not grass fed cattle reduce or increase the carbon footprint and the results are inconclusive. Some studies claim that grass fed cattle produce less carbon emissions than grain fed cattle and is a better environmental solution. Other studies claim that grass fed cattle produce more carbon emissions and are harming the environment more than grain fed cattle do.
The potential environmental impacts of this milk would be local as well as global. These impacts would most likely be seen in the local environment in the short term and eventually their impacts will become more widespread and become a global impact, especially if grass fed cattle does indeed cause significant amounts of carbon emissions.
Like most products, Organic Valley milk has some environmental impacts associated with its transportation, distribution, and consumption. Organic Valley is committed to working with a local-first focus which reduces “food miles” and keeps the supply chain tight and efficient. This means that the product was distributed to the retailers by truck because they would only have to travel a relatively short distance. I bought the milk at my local Walmart and have seen it at other grocery stores in my area. I would consider the milk to be a local product since that is one of Organic Valley’s missions. I was also able to find the nearest farm to me which proved that the product didn’t have to travel super far to reach me. When I buy the milk it is in a cardboard type container, which produces waste. My family and I are environmentally conscious people so when we finish the carton we will rinse it and recycle it. This helps to reduce waste and some of the environmental impacts that come with throwing things in the garbage.
More information on Organic Valley and their farmers and products can be found on their website: http://organicvalley.coop/
Organic Valley Family Farms
McCormick Garlic Powder
The garlic powder that I like to use when making ravioli is the McCormick brand garlic powder. While I am not able to trace exactly where the garlic powder came from I do know that most garlic is grown in China. Garlic powder is created by a process of drying and grounding these garlic cloves.
There are several environmental impacts that come with the production of growing garlic cloves. Fertilizers are usually used to ensure that enough can be produced and this leads to pollution of groundwater and surface water. It also has negative impacts on the soil and the ecosystems that live in and around them. For commercial production garlic requires very heavy fertilization. Farmers use nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium on their crops. These have several environmental impacts associated with them including runoff and fertilizer burn. These chemicals have impacts that can severely impact air quality and they also potentially contribute to climate change. These impacts are local because most of the garlic is grown in one region and it bears more of the impacts than other regions. There is also an indirect global effect as the production leads to pollution which affects the whole world.
Environmental impacts are also associated with transportation, distribution and consumption of the garlic powder. The garlic was probably flown from China and then driven on a truck to the manufacturing plant. The garlic was then turned into garlic powder at the production plant and then shipped to the local supermarket by truck. The garlic cloves had to travel the furthest to reach me. I would consider the actual garlic powder to be local since it was produced in a plant closer to me. The garlic powder comes in a plastic bottle which produces waste once all the contents are out of it. The bottle can be recycled which helps reduce some of the environmental impacts that come with throwing plastic in the garbage.
This video provides a visual of how garlic production has been predominant in China and increased in other countries around the world since 1961: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzTRXc6lWc4
Garlic Production Quantity by Country
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