Grain Shipped Under Sail Reduces Carbon Footprint
by Jeff Nield, Vancouver, British Columbia 
on 11. 7.08
Farmer Roy Lawrence and CSA members - Matt Lowe
Local eating advocates often cite reduced shipping emissions as a good reason to source food from as close to home as possible. The concept of reduced food miles equaling reduced carbon output quickly becomes clouded when economies of scale, production methods, and efficiency of shipping methods is taken into account. A group of farmers, activists and citizens in British Columbia have removed any hint of uncertainty by creating a local low carbon grain chain.
Keep reading to see how they did it.
Examining totes of grain - Matt Lowe
The towns of Creston and Nelson are progressive communities in the heart of British Columbia's interior. Matt Lowe of the West Kootenay EcoSociety founded a grain CSA to help satisfy a demand for locally grown grains. By early 2008 Lowe had signed up 180 members who each had committed $100 to receive 100 pounds of grain come harvest. A local bakery also committed to 2,000 pounds.
My initial motivation to have grain grown locally was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I never imagined that there were farmers out there eager to grow grains with horses instead of tractors and I certainly had never thought that anyone would propose to transport the grains via sailboat!
Loading grain to be shipped - John Steinman
After the heritage varieties of wheat were grown, harvested and packaged, the grain shipment was loaded at Kuskanook Harbour on the eastern shore of Kootenay Lake. The sailors took one and half days to sail the length of the lake and into its western arm to a private dock in Nelson. CSA members were out in force to help unload the sailboats and collect their zero carbon grain, including red fife wheat, khorasan wheat, hard spring wheat, spelt and oats.
CSA Members Unloading Grain Shipment - John Steinman
At a time of immense global challenges; skyrocketing prices of fuel, uncertain supplies of oil, a farm income crisis, climate change, food safety concerns and a decline in the nutritional composition of our food supply, the Nelson-Creston Grain CSA is a promising sign that alternatives are indeed possible.
via Deconstructing Dinner
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I enjoy these types of article; it shows what people can do thinking outside the box without buying some all new "green" high-tech product that will be obsolete in 6 months. Make more of these!!!!!
I like the article, but a bit disappointed as I was hoping for a nice big square rigger! :)
JC,
I hear you. :)
In the meantime, I'll take my hat off to these Canadian farmers and thank them for the example they have set the world. Now, how about persuading the Indians and Sri Lankans to build Tea Clippers like in the old days and getting them to ship their tea to the West on it? Also using sailships to ship coffee and cocoa as well to western ports using wind?
We all can dream happy dreams, can't we?
Considering the expanded range you get by sail versus, say, animal drawn wheeled vehicles (zero carbon), this certainly expands the area one could call local, and would work well in coastal areas too...