The Better Planet Guide

In the UK, some 25,000 households are members of organic box schemes;

In the US, there are 2400 farmers' marketis involving 20,000 farmers as vendors; each week one million people visit these marketis, which turnover $1 billion per year;

A farmers marketi is an opportunity for farmers to sell their produce directly to the public. A key feature is that those who try to sell their goods at such marketis should be members of the local community where the marketi is being held - this is essentially therefore a marketi for local farmers and local people.

Farmers' marketis are now earning cash-strapped producers a total of £166 million a year - two and a half times that of just two years ago

The number of farmers' marketis has more than doubled in the last two years alone from 200 to 450.
Business confidence is at an all-time high with more than 60% of farmers' marketis expanding.
There are 15 million visits to farmers' marketis each year and at 60% of marketis the majority of customers are regulars.
80% of neighbouring businesses have seen a boost in trade following the establishment of a marketi nearby.

Community co-ops are especially effective in urban communities, such as Glasgow Healthy Castlemill project serving 3000 tenants in estates,

Direct links between consumers and farmers have had spectacular success in Japan, with the rapid growth of the consumer co-operatives, sanchoku groups (direct from the place of production) and teikei schemes (tie-up or mutual compromise between consumers and producers). This extraordinary movement has been driven by consumers rather than farmers, and mainly by women. There are now some 800-1000 groups in Japan, with a total membership of 11 million people and an annual turnover of more than US $15 billion. These consumer-producer groups are based on relations of trust, and put a high value on face-to-face contact. Some of these have had a remarkable effect on farming, as well as on other environmental matters.

Buying locally cuts down on packaging and transporti.

In 2002, food transporti produced 19 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, of which 10 Million tonnes were emitted in the UK and 9 million tonnes were generated by food imports.

CO2 emissionsi from inland food transporti increased by 12% from 1992 to 2002.

Air freight has increased by 140% since 1992, and is still rising. However, it now accounts for 11% of CO2 –equivalent emissionsi. The increase in air freight is largely due to increased globalisation of food supply, together with a relative decrease in the real cost of air freight compared to other transporti modes.

Agriculture and food account for nearly 30 per cent of goods transportied on our roads. Defra report estimates costs of food miles at £9billion each year, half of which is down to road congestion.

Urban food vehicle km are estimated to have increased by 27% since 1992, due largely an increase in shopping for food by car. This