A couple weeks ago, I wrote a story about the feasibility of eating local in the Tampa Bay Area. I got a pile of excellent feedback from readers. Stephen Gran, manager of Agriculture Industry Development for Hillsborough County sent me this link to a directory of farms and businesses in Hillsborough County that sell locally grown products direct to the public. As he says, it’s not an all-inclusive list but it does provide a place for consumers to look.

Several other readers wrote me about how, in driving all over tarnation looking for local products, we in fact risk a greater carbon footprint. Maybe one trip to the big-box store trumps six expeditions to local boutique markets and farm stands? Emily Timoner summed it up eloquently:

“I strongly believe that all of us should do what we can to help take care of the planet and conserve our resources. I believe that what conserves energy will pay off in the long run, but I think the message has to get out in a common sense way as opposed to in a way that only shows one side of the equation…Maybe your article should have been more about how to persuade your local merchants to carry these items as opposed to giving a list of all of the places you could go to get these items.”

Yup, a perplexing problem with lots of wrinkles. On August 6, NYTimes op-ed contributor James E. McWilliams wrote a thought-provoking piece about instances when local doesn’t mean better. He cited the findings of researchers in New Zealand who concluded that New Zealand clover-raised lamb shipped 11,000 miles by boat to Britain produced 1,520 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per ton while British lamb produced 6,280 pounds of carbon dioxide per ton (mostly feed-raised). Thus, it’s four times more energy efficient to ship the lamb a skajillion miles than to produce it locally. The piece prompted lots of dissenting opinions and caused me personally quite a bit of head-scratching.

Europeans are trying to pass laws that require food-miles traveled to be indicated on labels. But maybe eating local is just part of the equation--it supports the local economy, it allows you to eat seasonally and with greater knowledge. But maybe the greater focus should be on sustainability--raising or growing foods the most natural way possible in the places in which it's most efficient to do so.