I read with interest in today’s Independent on Sunday that tomorrow the UK Government intends to set out its plans to meet the UN’s food production targets for 2050.
It would appear that as well as intensification of farming, locally producedfood will be at the heart of this drive. If this is true, then it has to be welcomed as decentralisation of food production, as well as most other things, such as power, has to be the way forward for a sustainable future.
For those of you who think feeding the population from gardens, allotments and windowboxes can’t be done, then you need to check out what went on in Cuba over at the Power of Community Website.
For those who fear the intensification model of farming, which stripps hedge rows and relies on pesticides and a high carbon footprint, then you need to watch this inspiring film – A Farm for the Future – and take on board the fact that if we are prepared to change our diets a little, then permaculture can give far greater yields per acre than so called intensive farming, producing a diverse range of crops within the same area rather than just a single crop, and maintain an ecological balance that positively encourages wildlife to thrive.
For those who want a say in the Future of our Food, then defra has just launched an online discussion document – FOOD 2030 – to invite your comments about the future of food and what our food system might look like in 2030.
And for those wishing to get off your backside and actually do something about the future of food, then check out EarthAbbey and be inspired to change your life from the roots up!
3 comments
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August 11, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Sara
Bring on the home harvest! (Said with the enthusiasm of someone who’s just made crisps with golden wonder potatoes from the garden).
August 11, 2009 at 5:31 pm
alanmann
Thanks Sara.
Nice website by the way.
January 7, 2011 at 1:29 pm
philascroft
Hi Alan,
I haven’t read your blog since you slowed down with it. However I was intrigued to read this particular entry. I’m wondering were you have got your information from that intensive farming has a high carbon print? Intensive farming is quite a broad term.
I think that food should be produced within a nation states own lands (for those who can) as the exportation/importation of large quantities of none seasonal food is a greedy disgrace of the western world.
However “For those who fear the intensification model of farming, which strips hedge rows and relies on pesticides and a high carbon footprint, then you need to watch this inspiring film” – this seems a generalisation of an urban observer.
The price of food in Britain has increased little over the past 50 years, with higher costs in regards to labour, fuel, health and safety, land prices the list goes on as British agricultural market is reeling and has been for the last 3 decades. This is mirrored by the obliteration of primary industry under our governments since the 70’s.
‘The media’ machine has done little to help our own agricultural industry by talking up food prices, foot and mouth as well as BSE which are all common problems on the European continent as well as in North America. However the government of those countries protect their agricultural industry because food is so important.
The idea that the British population will somehow be able to feed themselves by growing crops in their gardens, I think, is little far fetched. All this ‘future of food’ seems white middle class fantasy rather than a social reality.
Perhaps the best way for people to ‘get off their backsides’ would be to try and support British agriculture (as it has the highest standards in the world) by being selective about where they shop. The oligarchic supermarkets are where the problem lies here. As they demand cheap food that looks perfect. Consumers need to be more knowledgeable about food we must begin to try and buy local and buy British rather than buying cheap food from whose knows where that has been grown/manufactured by the cheapest possible means.
I fear that as a society we’ve forsaken food and an understanding of how to grow it, cook and appreciate it. We perhaps put it at the bottom of our vast shopping lists as well as our moral obligations towards it.
thanks