ARLINGTON, Va. – The American Trucking Associations will be hosting Roger A. Cady at a conference next week to dispel what he says is a "myth that purchasing locally grown food is better for the environment" than buying from large grocery retailers.

The presentation, to be held at the ATA's Agricultural and Food Transporters Conference (AFTC) on Monday, Feb. 22, will highlight aspects of Cady's recent report, titled "Demystifying the Environmental Sustainability of Food Production."

The study suggests that buying food from grocery retailers who are part of the "modern transportation network" is more energy efficient and environmentally beneficial than buying from local sources like farmer’s markets.

Although homegrown sourcing is getting traction among some environmentalists, the report explains that linear travel miles are not strictly indicative of total energy use and therefore not necessarily a valid measure of the environmental impact of moving food over longer distances.

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Instead, the report concludes that the energy use per unit of food moved paints a more accurate picture of overall energy use.

A modern refrigerated tractor-trailer, for example, uses the least amount of fuel per dozen eggs while en route to a grocery store, the report states, even if the eggs travel hundreds more miles than being transported from a local farm to a farmers market or to the consumer’s home.

A consumer traveling directly to a local poultry farm is even less fuel-efficient, according to Cady, a Ph.D. who's senior technical consultant at Elanco -- a animal health products supplier and subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co.

"Shipping eggs across then entire U.S. by tractor-trailer to a grocery retailer is still the most fuel-efficient, eco-friendly option.

"This underscores the tremendous efficiency achieved through modern transportation systems and economies of scale."

While the report did not examine all food products, it does conclude that “food should be grown where the agricultural resources and capacity are most suited to efficient food production,” rather than close to population centers.??

The full report can be found here.