The Miles Food Travels
Objective
Students will understand that the foods and natural resources they consume come from a broad ecosystem due to our farming, transportation, and commerce systems.
Teaching Standards & Connections
NGSS - 3-LS2-1 Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.
Social Studies - Geography and Economics
Materials
“Kentucky Foods” and “Origins of Common Foods” lists, World Map worksheet
Introduction
Most Americans purchase their food and drinks in a grocery or similar store. We often factor in the taste and value when making a purchasing decision but determining where the products originated from can be much more difficult. Many packaged food and beverage items will list the address of a production facility, but this may differ from the location where the ingredients were sourced.
Explain that humans were once dependent upon eating foods and using resources that were near their homes. They formed groups to help each other find food and combine resources for a better quality of life. When food or resources were depleted, they moved to a new location or faced hunger and a lesser quality of life.
Farming can provide a wealth of resources for humans. When more food or resources are produced than what is needed for the local community, they are able to sell them to nearby communities. Trade routes by land or water, and now by air, allow food and resources to be used from across the globe.
Many areas across the United States, however, are now encouraging surrounding communities to purchase locally-grown products. We have the Kentucky Proud program here in Kentucky. This supports the regional economy by transferring money directly to growers and sustaining local jobs. When foods are produced and sold within a smaller region, they may not need to contain certain additives to preserve them for shipping and storage.
This lesson examines the source of food and drinks you typically consume and encourages you to explore locally available food and drink products.
Procedures
Ask a student to volunteer what he or she has eaten that day. Write the list of items on the board.
Mark the items that could have come from a Kentucky farm. This represents a relatively small, local ecosystem.
Then ask where the other food items came from. A list is provided, or you may have one or more students researching where some foods are commonly grown. Many processed food items have company or distributor information listed.
They may also look at the origins of their clothing and “goods” (this should be marked on most items).
Have students plot or color the origins of their food, clothing, and consumer goods on the world map. Then measure the distance between the farthest points on your map and research the distance in miles. This represents the size of the student’s ecosystem.
Discuss if large ecosystems are helpful or harmful to the human population and the environment. Guiding questions: What are the challenges and opportunities of having smaller and larger ecosystems? How does a large ecosystem benefit you? If you depend on food that is only produced in your town, what happens if there is a drought? What are the fuel costs associated with food traveling from across the country or across the world? Does quality of food suffer when it has to travel long distances? Does it make more sense to grow certain foods in a location with the perfect soil and climate, or would you change the soil and climate (greenhouse) to be able to grow food much closer? What are the costs associated with doing this? What foods from other countries could you not live without?
Further Reading