Food in the City

There's an interesting event coming up in Cardiff - well worth getting to for anyone interested in food security, community engagement on food and getting insights on how we plan our way to a safer future.

It's on Monday 24th at Chapter Arts, and here are the details:

Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff.

The basic necessities of life are air, water, shelter and food and urban planners have addressed them all, with the conspicuous exception of food. Increasingly, however, food production, distribution and consumption are being seen as central to a wide array of policy areas, including the economy, social justice, public health and the environment. Food production is widely regarded as a rural activity, yet this ignores the significance of urban agriculture, an activity that is growing in developed and developing countries alike. Food consumption is central to the Healthy Cities programme of the World Health Organization – of which Cardiff has just become a signed-up member - which addresses such challenges as child poverty and obesity. The global food price surge of 2007-08, when wheat prices doubled and rice prices nearly tripled, has made food security a preoccupation for national policy-makers everywhere. Meanwhile, the production of and access to healthy food is increasingly understood to be an essential part of urban regeneration and planning for sustainable cities. Urban food planning has become one of the quintessential global challenges of the 21st Century.

This conference addresses all these themes by charting the development of a sustainable food policy within Wales, a policy that needs to find space for locally-produced food from Wales as well as fairly traded food from afar. This conference is a timely event because it coincides with the publication of a radically new Food Strategy from the Welsh Assembly Government.

Keynote Speakers: Professor Kevin Morgan, Cardiff University; Andre Viljoen, University of Brighton; Steve Garrett, Director, Riverside Community Market; Elin Jones AM, Minister for Rural Affairs; Steve Knowles, Cardiff County Council; Mike McNally, FareShare; Barny Haughton, Chef and Owner, Bordeaux Quay, Bristol; Professor Cliff Guy, Cardiff University

Community Supported Agrciculture

At a time when there's no clear plan anywhere in the UK (that we can find) that sets out what a coordinated local response to the threats of peak oil mean for food production and security, it's more important than ever that people start to act on the knowledge they have. The blogger calls not acting due to a lack of knowledge ingorance, and not acting when you have the knowledge, ineptitude.

It was heartening and inspiring to be part of discussions in St Davids that have resulted in the establishment of a new CSA scheme. CSA, Community Supported Agriculture, is an enlightened process that relocalises food production, reduces prices, improves nutrition (fresher food) and increases local jobs. Oh, and it helps to bring community together too, around shared interests and action.

Caerhys Community Agriculture has been germinated by organic farmer Gerald Miles, a pillar of community and activism and a small group of local folk. Have a read through the text below that has been sent to interested people, and notice the feel and potential impact of phrases on risk and sharing.

Caerhys Community Agriculture:

Welcome to Caerhys CA .......

Our vision is :

• a community of people sharing and supporting organic food production,  in a spirit of friendship and trust.

Our aims are :

• to produce organic vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs, and enable wider access to local organic meat, dairy products and eggs.
• to enable members to live well and eat well in an organic and sustainable way.
• to support organic farming and food production in the local area.
• to grow a community around the project based on shared work, social activity and a spirit of  friendship
• to grow in whatever way the members feel will help achieve these aims.

The principles of Caerhys CA are :

• that organic growing (of vegetables, meat, dairy products, eggs and fruit) is necessary for the best and most nutritious food for all, maintaining fertile soils and a healthy, diverse environment into the future.
• that supporting local organic farmers and producers is a worthwhile aim for local consumers.
• that co-operation, shared risks and shared benefits, and a spirit of friendship are fundamental to the operation of the group.
• that decisions should be arrived at by consensus wherever possible.  

As a Founder Member:

• I support the vision, aims and principles of Caerhys CA and will comply with the rules of the association.
• I undertake to pay a monthly share subscription of £30.00 by Standing Order at the beginning of each calendar month, beginning in July 2010 and to give 3 months’ notice of ceasing.
• I undertake to pay a yearly joining fee of £24.00, due in January annually.
• I accept the risk that there may be no return or profit on any payments I make to Caerhys CA. As a member of Caerhys CA I support the project through good times and poor.

Worldwatch food update

Global Chronic Hunger Rises Above 1 Billion

"In 2009, an estimated 1.02 billion people were classified as undernourished, 12 percent more than in 2008. This means nearly one in six people on Earth suffers from undernourishment. Undernourishment—or chronic hunger—is defined as regularly eating food that provides less than 1,800 kilocalories (kcal) a day. In comparison, Americans, Canadians, and Europeans on average consume food that provides more than 3,400 kcal per day."



CSA St Davids

Something much more useful than the CSI cloned TV programmes from Channel 5 happened in St.Davids, Wales UK last evening that will result in less drama and better outcomes. Gerald Miles, tractor-driving hero of the 2009 Do Lectures shared his vision for a new kind of food supply business where farmers, community and the environment benefit. For every 50 families in the community who sign up and commit to the farmers who grow their food, a farming job is created, seeds are planted, and a chain of restorative events slowly let loose that build relationships, health and soil.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) schemes in Moray, Scotland and Stroud, England have already shown what’s possible when householders stick together. It seems that, in the long run, it’s not possible for supermarkets, communities and farmers to get maximum benefit; in the past, it’s been where we live and our environment that have lost out.

Now it’s time to turn the tables, and reclaim our food chain. A little Do? Read up about CSA, get 19 other local households together, and start a small CSA scheme of your own. Fresher, more nutritious, cheaper…



CSA dividends

CSA, Community Supported Agriculture has been around long enough for reasonable people to ask themselves "why isn't more of this happening", a feeling that was picked up at today's Soil Association conference in Birmingham:

"People are sick of being told to worry about food. They need to feel empowered. We know of lots of alternative local food systems that are sustainable, resilient, viable and principled. They may not be able to solve the global problem, but they can say: 'Nothing we are doing will stand people in worse stead.'"
Bonnie Hewson, Soil Association CSA Project Manager. The Guardian, 3 February 2010

Having just attended the monthly St Davids Eco City Project meeting, where food and CSA was a big part of our discussions, Bonnie Hewson't comments have even more resonance. Gerald Miles, one of our excellent local organic farmers (we have a good share of them down here) talked passionately about the change from his early days of farming when he employed 25 people part time on the farm to now, when he employs none, and farms holiday makers instead. A St Davids based CSA scheme with as little as 20 households paying £30 a month could make enough difference and certainty of income for Gerald's son to become a farmer rather than leave the farm to find work elsewhere. Nine households at the meeting last night said they'd sign the dooted line. We feel empowered.