Offsetting CO₂ emissions through native re-forestation

A major reason for establishing the Eltham Farmers’ Market was to help improve the environmental sustainability of our food system. As part of that, we now offset the estimated carbon dioxide emissions of the stallholders travelling to and from the market every Sunday.

The word ‘local’ is an important part of our vision of what makes a food system sustainable. The more local the food is to the market, the lower the food miles and the less carbon dioxide emissions are released into the atmosphere. However, even transporting food relatively short distances to the market generates carbon dioxide emissions.

From March 2019, we have been offsetting estimated emissions generated by our stallholders travelling to and from the market. More specifically, we have partnered with Greenfleet to plant an equivalent amount of biodiverse native trees to offset the calculated CO₂ emissions. The aim is to reduce the net food miles (after offsets) of the food you purchase at the market towards zero.

Here are the monthly totals for stallholder kilometres, estimated CO₂ emissions, offset cost and the number of trees planted.

Year	Month	Stallholder kilometres	Estimated CO2 emissions in tonnes	Offset cost	Trees planted
2022	March	24,100	7.9	$142	24-32
	February	24,100	7.9	$119	24-32
	January	22,800	7.5	$112	22-30
2021	December	27,700	9.1	$136	27-46
	November	26,600	8.7	$131	26-35
	October	34,100	11.2	$167	33-45
	September	26,300	8.6	$129	26-34
	August	35,400	11.6	$174	35-46
	July	26,300	8.6	$129	26-35
	June	28,300	9.3	$139	28-37
	May	36,100	11.8	$177	35-47
	April	26,700	8.7	$131	26-35
	March	25,500	8.3	$125	25-33
	February	22,700	7.4	$112	22-30
	January	23,000	7.7	$115	23-31
2020	December	24,000	7.8	$117	23-31
	November	32,000	10.5	$158	32-42
	October	30,000	9.7	$145	29-39
	September	27,000	9.0	$135	27-36
	August	37,000	12.2	$183	37-49
	July	29,000	9.6	$143	29-38
	June	30,000	9.8	$148	30-39
	May	38,000	12.5	$187	37-50
	April	24,000	7.7	$116	23-31
	March	32,000	10.6	$160	32-43
	February	26,000	8.6	$129	26-34
	January	22,000	7.2	$107	21-29
2019	December	32,000	10.4	$156	31-42
	November	28,000	9.0	$136	27-36
	October	28,000	9.3	$139	28-37
	September	30,000	10.0	$150	30-40
	August	26,000	8.6	$129	26-34
	July	28,000	9.1	$136	27-36
	June	32,000	10.5	$157	31-42
	May	30,000	9.7	$145	29-39
	April	25,000	8.4	$125	25-33
	March	31,000	10.3	$154	31-41

Click here to see where all the stallholders are from and what distance they are travelling to get to the market. All of the stallholders are from within Victoria (or border regions in a couple of examples), with around half from within North East Melbourne (15 from Nillumbik and a further 30 from the surrounding suburbs). This is a much higher proportion of truly local stallholders than is generally achieved by other Melbourne farmers’ markets and this is because we prioritise stallholders who are truly local.

Join us in helping to make the Eltham Farmer’s Market as sustainable as possible:

For more information, contact Richard Rowe by email.