The food travels thousands of miles from farm to consumer. Some people think that it would be better to our environment and economy if people only ate local produced food. To what extent do the advantages outweigh disadvantages?

With the increasing price of imported

foods

and carbon emissions caused by transportation, whether or not local residents should consume local

crops

instead

of imported

foods

has become a widely debated topic. As soon as the public is concerned about our current environment and

economy

, the advantages are much more than the disadvantages.

Firstly

, some cities may require imported

foods

as the production of local

crops

is far from enough for the residents to consume. As an example, in Hong Kong, there have at least 700000 residents staying in

this

big international city, and the trend keeps rising at the moment. Even though most architecture does not require much space for planting

crops

, it is known that small cities may lack space for the growth of

crops

,

conversely

, a concentration on local production may lead to a crisis in hunger.

Nevertheless

, there are more merits than drawbacks in

this

situation, as the community may experience a wide variety of localized

food

under improved air

quality

and

economy

. There is no doubt that local

farmers

may lose competitiveness when compared with imported commodities, due to the huge architectural growth and low prices in other countries. If the market is focused on local industry,

farmers

will have less competition and they may lower the price of localized

foods

.

Therefore

, the public may experience a lower cost of

food

, which

also

allows revitalizing of the city's

economy

and helps improve their

quality

of life.

However

,

farmers

in cities may be fond of growing organic

foods

.

For instance

, it is well known that Hong Kong

farmers

are famed for using reusable fertilizers

such

as left-over kitchen waste in the production of

food

. Since citizens stop relying on imported

foods

, air

quality

can be improved as less petrol is used for overseas transportation.

This

does not only protect the environment by using less harmful chemicals but

also

increases the community's air

quality

. In general, the merits are huge in the aspects of

economy

and environment and they outweigh the drawbacks in

this

situation.

Therefore

, the government should enforce laws prohibiting overseas

food

and encourage the public to consume more localized

foods

.