WHY NOW?
ENVIRONMENT
The Environment
Across the globe, consumers are making more conscientious food choices to reduce their carbon footprint. Oregon’s food industries have a special opportunity to support this trend by increasing the availability of local foods, saving the atmosphere from the carbon cost of food transportation.
Quick Facts
24% of anthropogenic carbon emissions are from the food sector (Source)
Wild seafood has a lower carbon footprint than red meat, cheese, and chicken (Source)
Re-importing (shipping seafood overseas for processing, and then shipping the processed seafood back to the USA for consumption) nearly doubles the carbon footprint of our food. For example, China took 31% of all American seafood exports in 2018. Of that, about 57% came back after processing to the U.S (Source)
Sourcing Oregon’s seafood from Oregon saves on transport costs and timelines, and can reduce carbon emissions by 76%! (Source)
The Oregon Ocean Cluster brings together policymakers, impact investors, funders, producers, nonprofits, researchers, creatives, and community organizers to accelerate solutions that advance policy and investment for sustainable blue food systems, and unlock actionable pathways toward a resilient, equitable food future.