A German paper (Elmar H. Schlich and Ulla Fleissner, The Ecology of Scale: Assessment of Regional Energy Turnover and Comparison with Global Food, Int J LCA 2004 examines the embodied energy of two products - juice and lamb - in relation to the food miles issue.
It compares fruit juices from Brazil with those of European and more local German origin. It also compares lamb from New Zealand with lamb from local German farmers. Lamb meat was investigated because it is shipped around the world as a frozen natural food and not concentrated, like juice.
The business size of the food producers was also compared. The report refutes the claim that that regional food production and distribution processes are less energy intensive than global systems. It argues that small farmers need more energy to produce and distribute their products than bigger units.
It concludes by arguing that ecological quality is mainly influenced by operational efficiency and not by the marketing distance itself.
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