Puzzle for November 21, 2008

This is National Geography Awareness Week

The chart below shows the average distance various kinds of produce (fruits or vegetables) have to travel to make it to the Chicago distribution point from where they are farmed. For example, it shows that grapes have to come an average of 2143 miles to be sold from the Terminal Market. That means they're probably coming from California.

There are lots of things we could ask about the data in the chart but to end National Geography Week, let's ask some questions about the routes this produce has to travel. So two questions today (it's Friday, let's celebrate!):
Which vegetable is supplied the most from Mexico?
How many times further do grapes travel than corn? Why is that?

A food mile is the distance food travels from where it is grown or raised to where it is ultimately purchased by the consumer or end-user. A Weighted Average Source Distance (WASD) can be used to calculate a single distance figure that combines information on the distances from producers to consumers and amount of food product transported.

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