developing sustainable urban food systems

8/14/2019 Developing Sustainable Urban Food Systems

1/23

Feeding ManchesterOctober 2009

Kath Dalmeny

Policy Director of Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming (www.sustainweb.org)

Also Trustee of Growing Communities (www.growingcommunities.org)


2/23

CAMPAIGN for standards for

food, and food education

HELP BUSINESSES to use

more sustainable food

RAISE AWARENESS of

food and climate change

BUILD NETWORKS to share

experience and support

DO RESEARCH into food,

health and sustainability

HELP GOVERNMENT develop

food strategies and policy

This is what we do at Sustain

CAMPAIGN to get new

legislation to drive change

HELP

COMMUNITIES

take back

control of

their food


3/23

Non food

81.6%

Catering

1.5%

Agriculture

7.4%

Fertiliser

manufacture

1.0%

Food

manufacturing

2.2%Packaging

0.9%

Transport incl

overseas

2.5%

Home food

related

2.1%

Retail

0.9%

Figure: Greenhouse gas emissions from the food chain, shown in relation

to total UK greenhouse gas emissions (Food Climate Research Network, 2007)

Greenhouse gas emissions from UK food consumption


4/23


5/23

Biomass of fish in 1999


6/23

Fairness in the supply chain


7/23

Self-sufficiencySelf-sufficiency ratios for a sample of

commodities 1980-2005 Defra (2006) Fig 6-2, p 34


8/23

Use local and seasonal ingredients

Support environmentally friendly farming (e.g. organic)

Eat more plants;eat less meat, grown to higher standards

Eat only sustainable fish

Choose Fairtrade-certified products

Avoid bottled water

Promote health and well-being - cook with generous portions

of vegetables, fruit and starchy staples, cutting out the junk.

And of course, dont forget energy, water and waste

What is sustainable food?


9/23

Use the power of the public purse

Change mainstream food

Build supportive local and national policy

Help communities take control Get organised

How do we bring about change?


10/23

1 in every 3 meals eaten

outside the home are in publicly

funded institutions (schools,

hospitals, care homes, etc.);

and 1 in 4 people is employed

in the public sector, so has

tremendous influence.

Why isnt all of our money (2.2

billion per year) being spent on

healthy and sustainable food,

served by well trained staff?At the Royal Brompton Hospital, London,

24% of food purchased is local, from an

organic source, and a healthier choice

Use the power of the public purse


11/23

9 LEAs already use MSC logo on menu(Norfolk, Herts, Tower Hamlets, Surrey,Coventry, Havering, Vale of Glamorgan,

Cardiff, Cheshire) Nearly 2,000 schools participating

Over 570,000 children offered sustainableseafood regularly

Sustainable fish in schools


12/23

Change mainstream food


13/23

The problems


14/23

Communities taking control


15/23

Community food work

Set up to address social or environmental need: Values driven

Heavily reliant on local skills and facilities, and voluntary labour Can be supported or blocked by local policy on e.g. land / funds

One way or another, having to face up to the money thing

Service delivery Trading Grant funding

How can community food projects become sustainable* and

contribute to resilience? Especially when they are.

* In the broadest sense of the word long-lasting, but also

economically, environmentally and socially sustainable.


16/23

OrganicLea:

Hornbeam Centre

Cookery classes andfarm visits

Service

delivery

Bridport Centre for

Local Food

Pumpkins on Prescription!


17/23

Communities and

producers trading directly

share more of the value

(and values!)

Trading


18/23

Trading:

Growing

Communities


19/23

Growing Communities box scheme supplies fruit and veg to 484households across Hackney

providing sustainably produced fruit and veg to over1,000 people in our community every week.

The box scheme and farmers market together provide a key outlet for44 small-scale farmers and

producers who are local and organic. This includes 4food producers from our immediate area: our

newest producer is Hatice Trugrul who makes traditional Turkish pancakes, using organic ingredients

from farmers at the market.

75% of the veg and 24% of the fruit supplied by our box scheme came directly from local farms

while 59% of our fruit and 81% of our vegetables are fairly traded. 780 bags of fruit and

vegetables are packed each week over 96 tonnes annually. The average distance travelled by

producers to the market is 56 miles.

Over1,500 people shop at the market every Saturday. 94% of customers at the market walk, cycle

or take public transport to get to the market. Annual turnover of producers at the market is nearly

500,000.

Salad production from our sites reached 260 bags per week this year. Yields were the equivalent of

24 tonnes per hectare per year and we generated just over8,800 from sales of Hackney grownproduce from a total land area of0.5 of an acre.

The turnover of the organisation as a whole for last year was around 330,000. 100% of that income

was self-generated. We employ 18 part-time staff. 80 volunteers worked with us over the last year

along with 2apprentice growers.

In July 2008 we introduced a Pensioners discount for the box scheme. We already accept Healthy

Start vouchers which allow people on low incomes to get discounted veg or fruit bags. 30% of people

joining the box scheme considered themselves to be on a low income.

At Growing Communities, we monitor our Key Principles to see what we are achieving over the

course of each year. Here are some of our results for 2008.

What Growing Communities is achieving


20/23

Growing Communities Food

Zones

www.growingcommunities.org


21/23

Patchwork Farm

Apprentice Scheme

Starter Farms

Growing Communities: next steps

Replication


22/23

We need to back it up with (here are just a few examples):

land use and planning policy, protecting food growing land (and

requiring it for new homes), and retail diversity public procurement policy buying sustainable food

training a green collar army in horticulture, food trading

building distribution infrastructure that can work with less (or no) oil

sharing models that work

telling permanent stories about mutuality, resilience and trading

Supportive local and national policy

People growing their own food is great. People running social

enterprises trading food is even better. Communities, and farmers,can make a good living that protects the environment

Local food strategies can help


23/23

Capital Growth:www.capitalgrowth.orgFood Climate Research Network:www.fcrn.org.uk

Food Co-ops:www.foodcoops.org

Growing Communities:www.growingcommunities.org

London Food Link:www.londonfoodlink.org

Making Local Food Work:www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk[Social enterprise support; Models of good practice; Research,

evidence and evaluation; Governance training; Support or advice to

set up food co-ops, Country Markets, co-operative farmers markets]

Real Bread Campaign:www.realbreadcampaign.org

Sustain:www.sustainweb.orgSustainable food guidelines:www.sustainweb.org/sustainablefood

Find out more

developing sustainable urban food systems

Documents