Telecoupling through tomato trade: what consumers do not know about the tomato on their plate

Abstract

A large share of our food comes from international supply food chains that are difficult to trace. Therefore, consumers are not aware of their environmental and social effects. We analysed the tomato supply system for Germany. Tomatoes consumed in Germany are produced either in The Netherlands by Polish workers and using large amounts of energy, or in Spain by West African workers and depleting the aquifer. The analysis shows the long-distance effects of food consumption that should be considered when designing strategies for a sustainable global food system. Comparable results can be expected for other food products traded around the world.

Keywords

• Almería
• Spain
• environmental effects
• Germany
• global drivers
• global food trade
• inequality
• social effects
• Westland
• The Netherlands