Just been at my local supermarket and the only choice of onions were from New Zealand 😯 how the hell can that be profitable for the supermarket? I would prefer to buy A from a local source and B from a different vendor but this small town only has one green grocer which is so difficult to get to.

Give me convenience or give me death springs to mind, next weeks shop is going to be planned better I think.

depends on numerous things, method of transport probably being the biggest one – so its deceptive.

Shipped by sea in bulk on modern vessels, then they could well have a lower CO2 footprint than ones grown closer but shipped by wagon.

Mad isn’t it but I am puzzled if it’s a small town how is it difficult to get to the greengrocer?

Interesting one food miles. We get a veg box delivery and I often wonder how (relatively) locally grown organic stuff delivered in a small van* making loads of stops, lots of around town miles vs motorway miles, and loaded relatively inefficiently stacks up against bulk delivery like ninfan says. I suspect it’s not as blindingly obvious as it might seem that local is always better, if CO2 etc. is your main metric.

*I haven’t actually seen the van but I assume it would be the at most the same sort of size as supermarket home delivery ones. It’s probably pretty modern too.

Drac silly one way system and hell to park, badly planned as I said next week change the shop day and not be so reliant on the car.

might sound daft, but then what’s the carbon footprint of a pallet of onions stuck in the hold of a plane that’s already flying from auckland to heathrow?

if it’s a small town or village, I’d wager there’s a farmshop nearby. it’ll be pricier, but you’ll have the feelgood factor. or grow some onions in the back garden.

that’s already flying from auckland to heathrow?

Id guess its the share of the cost, weight wise.

It won’t be zero because the plalne is going there anyway, the emissions costs must be shared.

Production methods in NZ for many items are far more carbon friendly than lots of producers/farmers in the UK, therefore even by shipping in it can be more environmentally friendly.

then again, what’s the carbon footprint of an icecream tub’s worth of gooseberries that you picked yerself at the local PYO farm (probably the same farm with the farmshop), and kept in the freezer until january, so you can make gooseberry crumble? (or blackberries from local hedges, rhubarb, or whatever your favourite crumble is)

Drac silly one way system and hell to park, badly planned as I said next week change the shop day and not be so reliant on the car.

Am I the only that finds that reply ironic on a carbon footprint moan?

not the right time of the year for naturally grown onions in the northern hemisphere?

Am I the only that finds that reply ironic on a carbon footprint moan?

yep, I think one-way systems & limited parking are both great ideas in towns. Apparently there’s this thing now called a “bicycle” you can use to get from A to B?

Apparently there’s this thing now called a “bicycle” you can use to get from A to B?

Ideal for buying onions

Jeez sorry Drac et al I am not perfect and don’t live in a sustainable idyll

Must try harder 😉

might sound daft, but then what’s the carbon footprint of a pallet of onions stuck in the hold of a plane that’s already flying from auckland to heathrow?

Onions surely don’t get airfreighted do they?

Par avonion?

Pigface – Member

Just been at my local supermarket and the only choice of onions were from New Zealand how the hell can that be profitable for the supermarket?

Buy tonnes of them then repack to sell in the supermarket. Simple.

Oh ya … strong £££ exchange and the rip off local price or “high standard” of living help.

Food miles don’t tell the full story. E.g. Tomatoes grown in the UK in heated greenhouses, compared with ones grown in Spain, where heating not needed, and shipped over.

Also if the onions are shipped then the shipping doubles as storage.

Just been at my local supermarket and the only choice of onions were…

Also you’re part of the issue here. Like pretty much everyone we expect all things, all the time. We no longer have any concept of the seasons and availability. If we did, you’d have bought a load of them last autumn from a local source and be working through your stock, not buying them “fresh” each week.

how the hell can that be profitable for the supermarket?

It obviously is as they sell them. Can’t imagine onions are a good example of a “loss leader”

The new Zealand onions may have fed fertiliser from China too..

not the right time of the year for naturally grown onions in the northern hemisphere?

Onions store well so you can have a (pretty much) year round supply from UK growers

Just checking here…

A kilo of Egyptian red onions from Tesco for a quid.

I am wondering where the greengrocer will have sourced their onions from as well. Looking forward to the follow-up now 🙂

Shipped by sea in bulk on modern vessels, then they could well have a lower CO2 footprint than ones grown closer but shipped by wagon.

Unless the shop was next to a container port, all the onions will have come by ‘wagon’ at some point.

What you’ll probably find is that a kg of onions actually costs so little to buy/transport etc that you’d not notice the price differential between UK/European/NZ onions. In fact the VAT is probably more than this, with the largest costs been the Supermarkets ‘selling’ costs.