Analyzing the international trade-related food miles in Iran

Abstract

The aim of this article was to present a “snapshot” of Iran’s total import-related food miles and associated direct environmental costs in 1999 and 2013. Based on a customized model, the import-related “food miles” was calculated for 14 food groups. The methods used provide new insights to be obtained about how far agricultural products travel from their point of production to the main cities in Iran. We also calculated travel-related energy use and CO₂ emissions based on different transport modes. Distance and agricultural products data were obtained from national and international sources. Produce arriving at the main cities in Iran were typically transported more than 15,456 km in 1999. In 2013, however, average food miles have fallen 47%, largely driven by indirect food imports. In terms of energy use, imported products accounted for 130,855 TJ of energy use in 1999; this was reduced by 10% in 2013. Moreover, these changes account for more than 10 and 9 Mt of food miles-related CO₂ emissions in 1999 and 2013, respectively. There is an opportunity to re-legislate and revise policies regarding both imported and domestically grown food.

Keywords

food miles agricultural products

Introduction

Over the last five decades, agro-food systems have undergone some dramatic transformations as a result of technological advances, particularly in transportation and communications, the dominance of the logic of capitalism in the food industry, reduced geographical barriers, establishment of new global organizations, and increased bilateral and regional agreements. This globalized agro-food system is now characterized by consolidated and mechanized farms, the liberalization of food markets and focus on capital accumulation, chemical-intensive monocultures, uncertainty in prices, a heavy dependence on fossil fuels, food commoditization, GMO seeds and biotech monopoly, influx of capital, and long-distance transportation. Contemporary food systems have substantially increased food production and its availability as well as out-of-season foods, but this has led to a growing disparity among agro-food systems and unequal access to food. While this system currently produces enough food to meet all food demand (Lappé et al., 1998), one-ninth of global population is still undernourished (FAO, IFAD and WFP, 2015). Moreover, the environmental and socioeconomic destructiveness of the conventional agro-food system has been recognized (Lang and Heasman, 2004). The socioeconomic impacts include the loss of communities’ food democracy, decreased biosafety and nutritional value, food-related conflicts and potential viability of “food terrorism” (Collier and Hoeffler, 2000), expropriation and loss of food sovereignty (Menezes, 2001), the erosion of food cultures and dietary change (Norberg-Hodge et al., 2002), and market speculation and threatening the subsistence of smallholder families (Singer and Mason, 2006). In addition, the current structure of the food system and the fast-food industry is a major cause for obesity and related chronic diseases like diabetes (Nestle, 2007). In the environmental dimension the key challenges and impacts include biodiversity loss, soil erosion, deforestation, climate change (McMichael, 2008; Weis, 2010), water overuse and pollution, and soil erosion (Allen, 2004) and destruction or dependence on finite resources (Altieri, 1998).

Since the 1980s, exacerbation of negative impacts and the political economy critique of the contemporary food system (Power, 1999) has led to the appearance of food movements and development of alternative forms of food production. The efforts to identifying and reducing negative impacts has prompted a large variety of analysis and evaluation methods. In this context, “food miles,” orientated from UK literature (Hird and Paxton, 1994), have received an increasing amount of attention and become one of the common methods for evaluating the sustainability of global agro-food systems (Carlsson-Kanyama, 1998; Iles, 2005; Kissinger, 2012). This concept refers to the distance a food commodity travel from the place where it is produced to the place where it will finally be sold or consumed (Hird and Paxton, 1994). Nowadays, related costs and energy and CO₂ emitted along with those travels added to the food miles concept (Watkiss et al., 2005). Shorter food miles do not always offer a lower carbon-intensive alternative to the current food supply chain, because GHG emissions, energy use, and other impacts are not limited to the transportation phase of the food supply chain (Lee et al., 1995), as many researchers and organizations documented that importing some foods has a lower greenhouse emission than local products (Saunders et al., 2006; Watkiss et al., 2005). However, food miles can give a clear vision of the globalization of the mainstream agro-food system and travel distances are the main part of any food supply chain; identifying food miles could thus highlight some points for intervention (Iles, 2005). Furthermore, in some countries which are characterized by a semiarid climate and have limited access to water and fertile soil resources and are net-food-importing developing countries, such as Iran, calculating international trade-related food miles could be a milestone for achieving a more sustainable “glocal agro-food systems.” In these systems, communities and nations produce ecologically sustainable foods in the domestic land to the extent that are possible and import sustainably produced and distributed foods from global markets. To our knowledge, calculating food miles in Iran can rise food-related environmental awareness and promote future comprehensive studies on evaluating the sustainability of imported and domestic agriculture products. In addition, this leads to new regulations and revision of policies regarding both imported and domestically grown food, so that Iran’s efforts to import sustainably produced foods may encourage competitiveness in the exporter countries to produce food in a more sustainable way in order to gain large shares of food markets. This article aimed to identify international trade-related food miles in Iran in two different years (1999 and 2013).

Materials and methods

Case study

Our research area targets Iran, with a population of more than 75.15 million in 2011. Although the area is 1,648,195 km², only 10.7% of Iran’s territory is suitable for agricultural ventures (Statistical Center of Iran, 2014a). Iran also has limited access to water resource, faces a serious water shortage, as the annual average precipitation rate is about one-third of the global average (IRIMO, 2006). However, more than 4 million households are dependent directly on agriculture as the main source of livelihood (Statistical Center of Iran, 2014a). Iran is one of the world’s largest markets for crop products. More than 50% of foods consumed in Iran is imported (Ministry of Agriculture Jihad, 2015a, 2015b) largely due to natural resource constraints (e.g. lack of water and fertile lands) and inappropriate agricultural practices. For example, low efficiency (36%) in agricultural water use is one of the main challenges in Iran. It has been estimated that by the year 2021 water demand will increase to 150 billion cubic meters. This amount goes 15% beyond the country’s total potential renewable freshwater resources (Alizadeh and Keshavarz, 2005). Therefore, virtual water trade and sustainable produced food imports are unavoidable.

Data sets

In this article, several data sources were used to calculate food miles, international agricultural products trade-related CO₂ emissions, and energy consumption for the years 1999 and 2013. We selected these two years due to availability of data for agricultural product imports and transport modes of imported commodities. Data on agriculture product imports and importing countries for 1999 and 2013 were acquired from the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (2015), and Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA, 2015). All imported products were classified into 14 categories (Table 2). In addition, data on throughput of Iranian ports statistics, transport mode (national truck, air, and rail freight data) and destinations of imported products data in Iran were obtained from several organizations including IRICA (2015), RMTO (2000, 2013a, 2013b, 2014), I.R.I. Port and Maritime Organization (2015), Civil Aviation Organization (2000, 2014), Statistical Center of Iran (2014b, 2014c) and I.R.I. Ministry of Road and Urban Development (2012) and Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (2000, 2014). In this article, four types of transport measure were used, truck, sea, air, and rail. The calculated distance for land transportation was the shortest driving or rail distance from the center of any exporting country to the main cities in each of Iran’s 31 main provinces. Given that a commodity’s travel from its origin to final consumption location is often not by only one mode of transport; we also measured the road distance from the center of any exporting country to the main ports of that country and the shortest road or rail distance from Iran’s 14 main ports and 2 main airports to the main cities in Iran. The measured distance for air transportation was the distance from the main airports of any exporting country to the two main airports including Imam Khomaini and Mehr Abad airports. We used an online air and driving distance source (http://www.distancefromto.net) websites for this purpose. Finally, we used online shipping distance source data (http://ports.com) to develop a world ports distance matrix based on the shortest shipping routes from the main port of any exporting country to 14 main ports in Iran. To calculate CO₂ emission and energy consumption, we used average energy consumption and CO₂ emissions for different freight transport modes (Table 1).

Table 1.

Average energy consumption and CO₂ emissions by different freight transport modes.

References	CO₂ emissions	Energy consumption	Transport mode
References	(gCO₂/t-km)	(MJ/t-km)	Transport mode
Wee et al. (2005), Davis and Diegel (2007)	45	0.3	Rail
Hensher and Button (2003)	200	2.77	Truck
Davis and Diegel (2007)	200	2.77	Truck
Kristensen (2002), Corbett and Koehler (2003)	18.9	0.2	Sea
Steenhof et al. (2006), Facanha and Horvath (2006)	358.6	10	Air

Methods

Over the last two decades, a series of methods for calculating food miles has been developed and gradually replaced by more advanced techniques. The weighted average source distance (WASD) formula is one of the first methods for calculating food miles, introduced by Carlsson-Kanyama in 1997 (Hill, 2008). WASD can be used only for single ingredient products (Hill, 2008). Later, the weighted total source distance (WTSD) was developed by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and resolved the previous formula defect. It can be used for calculating multiple-ingredient product foods miles. However, the major limitation of both WASD and WTSD is ignoring transportation modes and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Those limitations were largely resolved by the weighted average emissions ratio which was developed by LifeCycles Organization, in 2004 (Hill, 2008). However, calculating food miles via the WTSD formula for all multiple-ingredient foods and agriculture products at the international level is complicated or even impossible due to data limitations, particularly in developing countries. In this article, we proposed a customized approach based on developments from these former formulae.

Food miles calculator:

x^{m} = \frac{\sum_{i = 1}^{n} d_{i}^{m} w_{i}^{m}}{\sum_{i = 1}^{n} w_{i}^{m}}

where m indicates the transport mode (e.g. truck, air, sea, or train); $d_{i}^{m}$ , i = 1,…, n, are the m-transport mode distance between the source i and destination; $w_{i}^{m}$ , the weight of each transported items from source i and n, denotes different locations of the production origin, and hence total food miles will be

x = \sum_{m} x^{m} = \frac{\sum_{m} \sum_{i = 1}^{n} d_{i}^{m} w_{i}^{m}}{\sum_{i = 1}^{n} w_{i}^{m}}

Energy consumption calculator:

E^{m} = p^{m} \sum_{i = 1}^{n} d_{i}^{m} w_{i}^{m}

where p^m is average energy consumption for m-transport modes as reported in Table 1 and hence total energy consumption will be

E = \sum_{m} E^{m} = \sum_{m} \sum_{i = 1}^{n} p^{m} d_{i}^{m} w_{i}^{m}

CO₂ emissions calculator:

C^{m} = q^{m} \sum_{i = 1}^{n} d_{i}^{m} w_{i}^{m}

where q^m is CO₂ emissions for m-transport modes as reported in Table 1 and hence total CO₂ emissions will be

C = \sum_{m} C^{m} = \sum_{m} \sum_{i = 1}^{n} q^{m} d_{i}^{m} w_{i}^{m}

where C^m is CO₂ emissions, q^m is CO₂ emissions for m-transport modes, $d_{i}^{m}$ , i = 1,…, n, are the m-transport mode distance between the source i and destination, $w_{i}^{m}$ , the weight of each transported items from source i and n, denotes different locations of the production origin.

The methods used in this article allow for new insights to be obtained regarding how far agricultural products travel from their point of production to the main cities in Iran. It also calculates the food miles-related energy use and CO₂ emission based on different transport modes. There are many food miles in the processing of food in origin countries, and food retailing in Iran which are outside the scope of this study due to data limitations. Moreover, our research is based on this assumption that all foods are single ingredient products and food travel to airport and ports from every importing country has been via road transport. These are the limitations of the study.

Results and discussion

Overview of Iran’s agriculture products imports (1999, 2013)

Table 2 shows the value and volume of total exports of agriculture products to Iran in 1999 and 2013. It also indicates the major sources of supply. While the volume of agricultural products has increased by more than 37%, the value of imported goods has increased about 5 times over the 15 years. The major sources of Iran’s food supply are the US continent. However, the US and UN economic sanctions against Iran has led to indirect food imports in 2013, largely from the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland. Although the composition of food imports varied slightly in 1999 and 2013, cereals (including rice, maize, and wheat), oilcake, palm oil and oil, and sugar raw centrifugal represented more than 88% of Iran’s total food imports. Compared to the base year (1999), fruits and vegetables have experienced the highest growth and wheat imports have dropped by about 36%. The volumes of oilcake import have increased about six times, and milk, dairy, meat, and fish have quadrupled.

Table 2.

Summary of Iran’s agricultural product imports.

Commodity	Quantity (1999)	Value (1999)	Major sources of supply (1999)	Quantity (2013)	Value (2013)	Major sources of supply (2013)
Commodity	(metric ton)	(×1000 $)	% of weight imported	(metric ton)	(×1000 $)	% of weight imported
Soybeans	393,985	98,010	Brazil (35%), Canada (65%)	287,299	191,595	Switzerland (43%), Turkey (24%), Brazil (23%)
Milk and dairy products	16,186	37,252	New Zealand (49%), Denmark (11%)	70,373	365,350	United Arab Emirates (61%), US (11%), Germany (7%)
Tea and coffee	26,474	56,098	United Arab Emirates (37%), Sri Lanka (27%), India (26%)	74,382	356,459	India (34%), Sri Lanka (31%), United Arab Emirates (23%)
Meat and fish	44,999	83,353	Brazil (44%), Australia (12%), Denmark (10%)	154,208	625,470	United Arab Emirates (32%), India (20%)
Fruits and vegetables	2033	2540	Sri Lanka (53%), United Arab Emirates (42%)	538,130	802,114	China (24%), Turkey (23%), Philippine (23%)
Other edible items	466,292	213,276	Canada (55%), Brazil (29%)	553,956	1,361,627	United Arab Emirates (40%)
Barley	423,487	53,556	Germany (36%), Kazakhstan (16%)	665,409	239,768	Turkey (27%), Russia (20%)
Other non-edible items	94,251	67,813	Russia (74%), Iraq (8%)	1,392,608	1,387,054	United Arab Emirates (26%), China (21%)
Palm oil and oil	1,011,823	522,355	Brazil (70%), Argentina (22%)	1,656,524	1,866,926	Singapore (31%), United Arab Emirates (19%)
Sugar raw centrifugal	1,339,410	280,800	Brazil (46%), South Africa (16%)	1,609,463	864,135	United Arab Emirates (40%), Brazil (20%)
Rice	1,021,806	325,842	Thailand (52%), Uruguay (14%)	1,962,874	2,308,883	India (68%), Turkey (12%)
Oilcake	505,456	155,860	Brazil (42%), India (30%)	2,915,135	1,863,779	India (40%), Switzerland (18%)
Maize	1,007,222	137,996	Canada (35%), US (24%)	4,026,957	1,543,645	Swaziland (35%), UK (23%), United Arab Emirates (13%)
Wheat	6,155,936	801,301	Canada (41%), Kazakhstan (26%)	3,967,183	1,457,616	United Arab Emirates (58%), Kazakhstan (16%)
Total	12,509,358	2,836,051	—	19,874,501	15,234,420	—

Source: Authors’ calculation based on data from IRICA, 2015.

Over the last two decades, like most of the developing countries, the rapid pace of urbanization in Iran (Statistical Center of Iran, 2011) and income growth have not only acted as a main driver of the food imports but also changed the structure of food consumption in Iran. While the demand for wheat has decreased, per capita consumption of fruits, vegetables, and meat has grown significantly. The per capita wheat consumption has declined 33% over the past 15 years, from 253 kg per year in 1999 to 170 kg in 2013. At the same time, total meat consumption (red meat, poultry, and fish) grew to 39 kg per person, 12 kg above the average annual consumption in 1999. In 1999, the per capita consumption of fruits and vegetables was 175 kg/year. Fifteen years later, it has risen to 397 kg (IRICA, 2015; Ministry of Agriculture Jihad, 2014a, 2014b, 2015a; Statistical Center of Iran, 2011). Transition of dietary intake patterns and a rise in consumption of meat and fish products adds further pressure on the environment.

Iran’s import-related food miles

Based on detailed national and international statistics on agricultural product transport and our customized model, we analyzed the import-related “food miles” in 1999 and 2013. Detailed Iran import-related food t-km by transport modes are shown in Table 3, which shows that total Iran’s import-related t-km have decreased by more than 35%, from 243 billion in 1999 to 157 billion in 2013. In 1999, sea transport accounted for 86% of t-km, due to the large distances travelled. Truck transport accounted for 13% total t-km (Table 4). Rail and air t-km were less than 1% of total t-km. In 2013, however, sea t-km has decreased to 78% and road transport rose by more than 21%. Rail and air t-km marginally increased (<1%).

Table 3.

Iran imported food t-km by transport mode (1999).

Commodity transport mode	Truck (t-km × 10⁶)		Sea (t-km × 10⁶)		Air (t-km × 10⁶)		Rail (t-km × 10⁶)
Commodity transport mode	1999	2013	1999	2013	1999	2013	1999	2013
Soybeans	1246	385	9492	3161	0	0	0	0
Milk and dairy products	28	125	230	379	0.13	0.18	0	0
Tea and coffee	39	113	46	262	0	0.01	0	0
Meat and fish	119	289	604	869	0	9.14	0	0
Fruits and vegetables	3	937	6	4044	0.01	0.01	0	0
Other edible items	1365	1146	10,721	1969	0.71	1.63	0.06	6.8
Barley	638	1552	4436	5481	0.002	0	0	49.7
Other non-edible items	389	2786	276	10,088	1.49	22	0.01	18.0
Palm oil and oil	3017	2246	17,178	7557	0.01	0.04	0	0.03
Sugar Raw Centrifugal	3556	2832	15,220	9800	0	0.02	0	1
Rice	1421	3600	8678	7414	0.63	0	0	0
Oilcake	1250	4730	5904	20,876	0.01	0	0.02	7.6
Maize	3042	6265	22,144	37,843	0	0	0	0.0
Wheat	15,848	6926	116,530	13,201	0.0001	0	0	32.9
Total	31,961	33,932	211,466	122,944	2.98	33.2	0.09	116.2

Table 4.

Iran’s import-related “food miles” CO₂ emissions and energy use, by food category.

Commodity Transport mode	Total t-km (10⁶)		Distance traveled (km)		Overall Energy Use (TJ)		Overall CO₂ emission (×1000 metric ton)		Average CO₂ per unit (g/kg)
Commodity Transport mode	1999	2013	1999	2013	1999	2013	1999	2013	1999	2013
Soybeans	10,738	3546	27,254	12,344	5350	1700	429	137	1088	476
Milk and Dairy products	258	504	15,962	7168	124	424	10	32	615	459
Tea and Coffee	85	375	3220	5041	118	367	9	28	329	371
Meat and Fish	723	1167	16,066	7565	450	1065	35	77	782	502
Fruits and vegetables	9	4982	4377	9257	8	3405	0.6	264	309	490
Other edible items	12,087	3123	25,922	5638	5933	3586	476	267	1021	482
Barley	5074	7082	11,981	10,643	2654	5409	211	416	499	625
Other non-edible items	667	12,914	7076	9273	1149	9962	84	757	887	543
Palm oil and Oil	20,195	9802	19,959	8824	11,793	7732	928	592	917	357
Sugar Raw Centrifugal	18,776	12,634	14,018	7850	12,895	9806	999	752	746	467
Rice	10,100	11,014	9884	5611	5678	11,454	448	860	439	438
Oilcake	7154	25,613	14,154	8786	4644	17,279	362	1341	715	460
Maize	25,186	44,108	25,006	10,953	12,855	24,923	1027	1968	1020	489
Wheat	132,378	20,160	21,504	5081	67,205	21,835	5372	1636	873	412
Total	243,430	3546	—	—	130,855	118,948	10,390	9127	—	—

Within Iran, the vast majority of food, whether domestic or imported, travels by road. It is largely due to insufficient air and rail transport systems. The US and international sanctions against Iran have had significant impacts on Iran’s air transport. In future and post-sanctions it is expected that air t-km will increase. Moreover, the Iranian rail transport system is very inefficient with 11 provinces not having access to the railway network, and often the main ports are not supported by the railway system. Although rail transport development and its substitute for road transport may reduce CO₂ emission and fossil fuel use, the development of air transport would increase CO₂ emission and energy use (Steenhof et al., 2006).

Food distance travel analysis revealed that, on average, produce arriving at the main food markets in Iran cities was transported more than 15,456 km in 1999 (Table 4). In 1999 and 2013, soybeans have the highest average food miles among the 14 categories and with coffee having the lowest average. In 2013, however, the food miles average has fallen 47%, largely driven by indirect food imports and change in importing countries. For example, in 1999, 100% soybeans were sourced from Canada and Brazil. However, in 2013, Switzerland, Turkey, Brazil, and the United Kingdom accounted for 43%, 23%, 22%, and 10% of the total soybean supply, respectively. Similarly, for maize in 1999, the key food mile contributing countries were Canada, the United States, and Brazil, with 23%, 35%, and 16% of total maize supply sourced from these countries, respectively.

In 2013, fruits and vegetables food miles have increased by 53%. The main drivers of food miles in this category were imports from China, the Philippines, Turkey, and India. It should be noted that poor road and rail transport infrastructure in west and northwest Iran led to longer food travel times. For example, ground and rail distance from Turkey to Tehran is about 1200 km. However, 23% of fruits and vegetables imported from Turkey traveled more than 7138 km by truck and sea transport. In terms of energy use, importing food transport accounts for 130 855 TJ of energy use in 1999. However, this has reduced by 10% in 2013. CO₂ emissions analysis revealed that imported food transport accounts for more than 10 Mt of food miles-related CO₂ emissions in 1999 (Table 4). CO₂ emissions from food transport decreased by 10% in 2013. In 1999, soybeans had the highest CO₂ emission per kilogram, and fruits and vegetables and tea and coffee had lowest CO₂ emission per kilogram among imported products. In 2013, barley and palm oil and oil had the highest and lowest CO₂ emission per kilogram, respectively.

Figure 1 shows a detailed analysis of food miles-related energy use by specific commodity category and mode of transportation. In 1999, wheat and fruits and vegetables transport had the highest and lowest energy consumption, respectively. The reason is that there was a lot of wheat from Canada in 1999, which is far from Iran. So it would have been better if alternatives were selected from nearby countries. In 2013, however, transport of maize accounted for 21% of the importing food transport energy use; this was due to the fact that in 2013 imports of wheat decreased and imports of corn from Canada increased sharply. Figure 2 shows energy consumption from imported food transport by mode. In 1999, truck and sea accounted for 79% and 21% of food transport energy use. In 2013, the proportion of sea transport decreased in favor of road transport. In both years, the share of rail and air transport has been less than 1%. These changes in the share of transport modes cannot contribute to ecological sustainability because CO₂ emissions from road transport are much higher than sea. Therefore, it is necessary to expand rail transport infrastructure as well as increase the share of shipping in the carriage of food. Finally, in 1999, the contributions of each of four freight transportation modes to total food miles-related CO₂ emissions was 68%, 32%, 0.02%, and 0% for truck, sea, air, and rail, respectively (Figure 3). In 1999, maize transport accounted for 51% of total food transport-related CO₂ emissions (Figure 4).

Figure 1.

Iran’s imported food miles-related energy use by specific food categories in 1999 and 2013.

Figure 2.

Iran’s imported food miles-related energy use by transport mode in 1999 and 2013.

Figure 3.

Iran’s imported food miles-related CO₂ emissions by transport mode in 1999 and 2013 (%).

Figure 4.

Iran’s imported food miles-related CO₂ emissions by specific food categories in 1999 and 2013 (%)

Concluding comments

In this article, a “snapshot” of Iran’s total import-related food miles in 1999 and 2013 was presented. Based on our customized food miles calculator, we analyzed the traveled distance of imported food and other agricultural products from around the world to the main cities in Iran. Food miles analysis revealed that, on average, produce arriving at a main city was transported more than 15,456 km in 1999. In 2013, however, the food miles average has fallen 47%, largely driven by indirect food import and change in importing countries. These travels accounted for 243 and 157 billion t-km in 1999 and 2013, respectively. In terms of energy use, imported agricultural products accounted for 130,854 TJ of the energy use in 1999; this has reduced by 10% in 2013. Moreover, its movements were accounted for more than 10 Mt of food miles-related CO₂ emissions in 1999. However, CO₂ emissions from food transport decreased by 10% in 2013. It should be noted that international sanctions against Iran have had major impacts on the analyses because it has led to indirect food importing. Thus, we cannot argue that Iranian food industry is becoming less freight-intensive.

Within Iran, truck transport accounts for more than 98% food-related t-km. The development of railways and links with neighboring countries, and using less emission-intensive trucks should be advocated. Furthermore, the water efficiency of irrigation practices should be improved by making improved decisions such as soil enhancement measures, irrigation scheduling, and selecting crop varieties with lower water demand. Since the changes in consumer behavior have a strong impact on food systems sustainability, appropriate strategies such as labeling and education should also be adopted. These strategies could help reduce meat consumption and encourage seasonal buying. Future research needs to take into account all externalities of imported and domestic food and assess the ecological and socioeconomic impacts of every food production (both domestic and import).

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

Alizadeh

Keshavarz

(2005) Status of agricultural water use in Iran. In: Water Conservation, Reuse, and Recycling: Proceedings of an Iranian-American Workshop. Washington DC, USA: National Academies Press, pp. 94–105.

Allen

(2004) Together at the Table: Sustainability and Sustenance in the American Agrifood System. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press.

Altieri

(1998) Ecological impacts of industrial agriculture and the possibilities for truly sustainable farming. Monthly Review 50(3):60–74.

Carlsson-Kanyama

(1998) Climate change and dietary choices—how can emissions of greenhouse gases from food consumption be reduced? Food Policy 23(3):277–293.

Civil Aviation Organization (2000) Statistical Yearbook of Iran’s Air Transport in 1999. Tehran Province: Mehrabad Airport Communication Technology and Statistical Investigation Office.

Civil Aviation Organization (2014) Statistical Yearbook of Iran’s Air Transport in 2013. Communication Technology and Statistical Investigation Office.

Collier

Hoeffler

(2000) Doing well out of war: an economic perspective. In: Mats

Berdal

Malone

David M

(eds) Greed and Grievance: Economic Agendas in Civil Wars. Colorado: Lynne Rienner, p. 91.

Corbett

Koehler

(2003) Updated emissions from ocean shipping. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 108(D20): 4650. DOI: 10.1029/2003JD003751.

Davis

Diegel

(2007) Transportation Energy Data Book, 26th ed. Oak Ridge, TN: ORNL-6978, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

10.

Facanha

Horvath

(2006) Environmental assessment of freight transportation in the US. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 11(4): 229–239.

11.

FAO, IFAD and WFP (2015) The State of Food Insecurity in the World: Meeting the 2015 International Hunger Targets: Taking Stock of Uneven Progress. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO.

12.

Hensher

Button

(Eds.) (2003) Handbook of Transport and the Environment. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

13.

Hill

(2008) Food Miles: Background and Marketing. ATTRA National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, National Center for Appropriate Technology, Butte, Montana: Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (Organization), ATTRA, pp. 1–12.

14.

Hird

Paxton

(1994) The Food Miles Report: The Dangers of Long-Distance Food Transport. London, UK: The SAFE Alliance.

15.

IRI Ministry of Rood and Urban Development (2012) Comprehensive Statistics Books and Transportation of Country’s Urban Planning. Tehran, Iran: Statistics and Plan and Urban Planning Integration Office.

16.

Iles

(2005) Learning in sustainable agriculture: food miles and missing objects. Environmental Values 14(2):163–183.

17.

Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (2015) Statistics of total Iran’s imports and exports. Tehran: Economic Deputy, Center for Statistics and Economic Information.

18.

IRIMO (2006) Country Climate Analysis in Year 2005. Tehran, Iran: Islamic Republic of Iran Meteorological Organization.

19.

Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (2000) Statistical Yearbook of Iran’s Rile Transport in 1999. Tehran, Iran: Deputy of Planning and Economic of Transportation, Communication Technology Office.

20.

Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (2014) Statistical Yearbook of Iran’s Rile Transport in 2013. Deputy of Planning and Economic of Transportation, Communication Technology Office.

21.

IRI Port and Maritime Organization (2015) Annual throughput by port: 1999-2013, 2015 Available at: http://www.pmo.ir/en/statistics/annualreport (accessed 27 December 2015).

22.

Kissinger

(2012) International trade related food miles—the case of Canada. Food Policy 37(2):171–178.

23.

Kristensen

(2002) Cargo transport by sea and road-technological and economic environmental factors. Marine Technology 39(4):239–249.

24.

Lang

Heasman

(2004) Food Wars: The Battle for Minds, Mouths and Markets. London: Earthscan.

25.

Lappé

Collins

Rosset

. (1998) World Hunger: 12 Myths. New York: Grove Press.

26.

Lee

O’Callaghan

Allen

(1995) Critical review of life cycle analysis and assessment techniques and their application to commercial activities. Resources, conservation and recycling 13(1):37–56.

27.

McMichael

(2008) Peasants make their own history, but not just as they please. Journal of Agrarian Change 8(2–3):205–228.

28.

Menezes

(2001) Food Sovereignty: a vital requirement for food security in the context of globalization. Development 44(4):29–33.

29.

Ministry of Agriculture Jihad (2014a) Study of the Country Protein Production Trend Over Four Decades (1974-2013). Tehran, Iran: Department of Planning and Economic, Center for Information and Communication Technology.

30.

Ministry of Agriculture Jihad (2014b) Statistical Yearbook of Agriculture in 2013. Department of Planning and Economic, Center for Information and Communication Technology.

31.

Ministry of Agriculture Jihad (2015a) Statistics Study of Harvested Area and Crops Production for 36 years (1978-2012). Department of Planning and Economic, Center for Information and Communication Technology.

32.

Ministry of Agriculture Jihad (2015b) Statistics of Agriculture Import and Exports in 2014. Department of Planning and Economic, Center for Information and Communication Technology.

33.

Nestle

(2007) Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. Berkeley: University of California Press.

34.

Norberg-Hodge

Merrifield

Gorelick

(2002) Bringing the Food Economy Home: Local Alternatives to Global Agribusiness. London: Zed Books.

35.

Power

(1999) Combining Social Justice and Sustainability for Food Security. For Hunger-Proof Cities: Sustainable Urban Food Systems. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre, pp. 30–37.

36.

R. Road maintenance & transportation Organization (RMTO) (2000) Statistical Yearbook of Road Maintenance & Transportation Organization in 1999. Tehran, Iran: Communication Technology Office, I.R.I Ministry of Rood and Urban Development.

37.

R. Road maintenance & transportation Organization (RMTO) (2014) Statistical Yearbook of Road Maintenance & Transportation Organization in 2014. Communication Technology Office, I.R.I Ministry of Rood and Urban Development.

38.

Road maintenance & transportation Organization (RMTO) (2013a) The Statistics of Cargo Vehicles through the Road Borders from 2012 to 2013. I.R. Ministry of Rood and Urban Development, Communication Technology Office.

39.

Road maintenance & transportation Organization (RMTO) (2013b) Statistical Yearbook of Road maintenance & transportation Organization in 2013. Communication Technology Office, I.R.I Ministry of Rood and Urban Development.

40.

Saunders

Barber

Taylor

(2006) Food Miles-Comparative Energy/Emissions Performance of New Zealand’s Agriculture Industry. Lincoln: Agribusiness & Economics Research Unit, Lincoln University, pp. 1–103.

41.

Singer

Mason

(2006) The Way We Eat: Why our Food Choices Matter. New York: Rodale Inc.

42.

Statistical Center of Iran (2011) National Population and Housing Census. Tehran, Iran: Management and planning organization.

43.

Statistical Center of Iran (2014a) National Agriculture Census. Management and planning organization.

44.

Statistical Center of Iran (2014b) The Amount of Carried Freight by Railway from the Entrances (2004-2014). Time Series, Transportation, Warehousing and Communications.

45.

Statistical Center of Iran (2014c) The Amount of Depletion of Oil and Non-oil Products from Shipping Fleet: From 1991 to 2013. Time Series, Transportation, Warehousing and Communications.

46.

Steenhof

Woudsma

Sparling

(2006) Greenhouse gas emissions and the surface transport of freight in Canada. Transportation Research Part D 11:369–376.

47.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) (2015) Annual statistics. Available at: http://www.irica.gov.ir/ (accessed 3 December 2015).

48.

Watkiss

Schmith

Tweddle

. (2005) The Validity of Food Miles as an Indicator of Sustainable Development: Final report prepared by AEA Technology Environment for DEFRA London, No. ED50254, Issue 7. Available at: m:\envfes\projects\policygroup\liveprojects\Defrafoodmiles\reports\final\Food Miles final report issue 6 (accessed 3 July 2014).

49.

Wee

Janse

Brink

RVD

(2005) Comparing energy use and environmental performance of land transport modes. Transport Reviews 25(1):3–24.

50.

Weis

(2010) The accelerating biophysical contradictions of industrial capitalist agriculture. Journal of agrarian change 10(3):315–341.