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According to an article on www.cnbc.com,"from the diesel fuel tractors that harvest our crops, to the refrigerated trucks that transport products cross-country, to the labor-saving technology found in the home such as toasters and self-cleaning ovens, the U.S. food system is about as energy inefficient as it gets. And it’s only getting worse." 

"The food industry relied on more energy-intensive technologies to produce more food for more people."

I certainly am no expert on this, but perhaps we need to look at buying locally and regionally. It would appear that the cost of transport would be far less and that should affect the cost to consumers and events caterers, etc.

Here's something that might sound outrageous, but would changing our eating habits a bit help? By this I mean, less processed foods and less meat. Think of the high costs of processing foods that could be avoided by using fresh ingredients. Eating less meat, again, would result in lessening energy resources used for meatpacking.

This ultimately could result in lower food and beverage costs for meetings and events. However, to plan for this, will take, at least in the short term, more creativity and planning for events. Event production folks will need to be aware of alternative and probably more interesting menus.  In addition, it may require hiring more food service people. That sounds good to me. I would much prefer adding to employment than to wasteful energy costs.

The CNBC article in its entirety can be found at http://ow.ly/4M5DQ