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The David Lin Report · Friday, September 4, 2026

The hidden cost of food: 40% of calories are fuel for transport

The average food item travels 1,500 miles from farm to table, with transportation fuel accounting for a significant portion of the energy required. Approximately 4% of the total calories needed to get food to the consumer's plate are used for this transportation.

The tape

2 quotes
So the average, the average morsel of food in America travels 1500 miles from field to plate.
It takes 15 calories of of energy to put one calorie of food on your plate. Four of those 15 calories are diesel fuel for transportation.
Heard on The David Lin Report — “Diesel Prices Explode; Are Your Grocery Bills Next? | Joel Salatin, published Friday, September 4, 2026. Heardvine summarizes and quotes with attribution and timestamps, and links to the original everywhere.
Transcribed via Gemini audio transcription · $0.06
The hidden cost of food: 40% of calories are fuel for transport — Heardvine