Australia now imports more than a third of its fruit supply and almost twenty percent of its vegetables. (Barrett 2011, par. 1) With this information known should we in Australian look to purchase more of our food locally? There are many benefits for us as a country to purchase more of our food locally, the issue of climate change in the world has taught us that decreased carbon emissions are beneficial for the environment, food security in Australia is important the global food crisis of 2007/08 was a stark reminder that imported goods can be subject to huge price fluctuations which cannot be controlled by us, and from purchasing locally grown produce we are able to strengthen local economies and increase job security in our region.

The issue of climate change has been an ongoing debate in society for quite some time now, while we are very aware of the impact that our everyday lives of commuting to and from work have on the environment we are less mindful of the effect that the importation that some of our food have on the environment. In an Australian study data was collected to establish the kilometres travelled by a typical basket of groceries and greenhouse gas emissions produced. (Gabella and Abraham 2007, page 3) The study showed that a typical grocery basket had travelled over 20,000 kilometres and greenhouse gas emissions equalled that of over 4000 cars on the road. With such large numbers being produced by both sets of data it can easily be seen that by reducing our reliance on foreign food imports we can lower the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by importing our food. Australia can look to the example set by Cuba in the 1990’s who were faced with sanctions that reduced their oil imports significantly, Cuba was able to change its method of food production and was able to bring it closer to their population. Urban gardens were built in the