Question

Vera decides to eat the same kinds of foods as before, but to purchase as many of these foods as possible from local farms. Will her change in purchasing habits affect her ecological footprint?

Answer 1

Answer:

According to research, it does not affect her ecological footprint. It is reduced only in cases where farmers use rotational farming, multi-cropping, and polyculture.

Explanation:

In recent times, buying organic food from local farms has become more popular because of the amount of chemicals that many fruits and vegetables from supermarkerts have due to the use of fertilizers and pesticides. This indicates that, by consuming organic aliments, there is a reduced probability of ingesting toxic chemicals. Plus, it supports local farmers, which is a great advantage.

These benefits led to believe that consuming organic food could affect or lower our ecological footprint. However, according to research from 2017, purchasing local or organic food does not reduce our ecological footprint. This study showed that both types of agriculture release the same amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. However, there are some techniques, such as rotational farming, multi-cropping, and polyculture that could reduce land use and could actually reduce our carbon footprint.