What's Happening with Local Food in the UK?
Successful CSAs | Community Food Projects | Health & Fitness projects
There are lots of interesting business and projects happening within the U.K. Here we highlight some of the most interesting and inspirational!
Successful CSAs
Community Supported Agriculture businesses vary greatly – in size, structure, products and distribution. This is true for the Highlands and Islands, as elsewhere. The Eat Local section of the website allows you to read about CSAs in the Highlands and Islands. Profiles of a number of CSAs in the UK can be found on the Cultivating Communities Website. Here we highlight some from further afield to give a flavour of the diversity.
Whiteholm Farm is an organic farm selling beef, lamb and pork direct to customers, either by mail order, drop offs to agreed points or farmers' markets. The farm has also opened a Resource Centre, encouraging local people and groups to visit the farm and learn more about food production; self catering accomodation is also available within the centre. Recently the farm added an on-site butchery and processing unit. This has allowed people to order what cuts they want, and to control the quality and preparation of their meat.
The farm sells meat direct, but has also launched a community food project run as a CSA. Thirty to 40 members pay a monthly charge, and order meat on an ongoing basis. The administrator of the scheme is a member. The farm in this way has a guaranteed income, and the customers know they will receive a regular supply.
The farm continues to increase its turnover, with the biggest barrier to expansion being insufficient time to administer the different aspects of the farm as well as the traditional raising schedules. Marketing demands also take time.
GLASU - a network of CSAs in Wales
This project is helping to establish a cluster of CSAs in Powys, a large and sparsely populated rural area of mid Wales. In 2003, the CSA project set out to establish ten pilot CSAs in Powys, each with twenty shareholders; create trusting relationships between growers and local consumers; increase the availability of locally produced vegetables, fruit and meat; help make local CSA produce available to local caterers; and increase awareness of local food, working with Powys Food Links. The GLASU project has helped stimulate new startups, with grants, business support and training.
After 18 months in operation the project has assisted 22 local businesses, leading to 7 new CSAs, which are safeguarding the viability of 8 small farms and creating 16 jobs in the area.
GLASU is taking a two stage approach – expanding local production first and then ‘adding value’ to this as a second stage – through local processing, and working with other agencies to link produce to local schools and social target groups. The team estimate it takes two years to get into full production (stage 1) and then another 3 years to link fully to realise the community benefits and create a self-supporting network among the CSA (stage 2).
The GLASU project is the first to set out to develop a cluster of CSAs in the UK through providing direct support and assistance to producers and consumers. It has drawn on US CSA development models and achieved most of its aims within 2 years. It is succeeding in creating CSA in a relatively remote rural area, where little community agriculture existed before.
Community Food Projects
Food Links
Food links are projects which link producers and consumers, with an approach based very much on networking, and particular in providing information. There are at least 27 in the U.K., all of which were set up in the last 8 years. Most offer a range of services to stimulate local food activity, and operate at several, often overlapping, geographical areas. Examples of Food Links organisations include:
Forth Valley Food Links
Provides information on local producers in the Stirling area of Scotland. Activities include a website, e-bulletin, small grant funding scheme, and publicing events and training. The website also hosts a directory of producers in the area.
Larder Bytes www.larderbytes.com
Larder Bytes Ltd sources the best local produce in Fife, Dundee and Angus, and delivers it to the best local restaurants.
Premium local suppliers list the quantity and availability of their produce, the Chefs browse through the products building their menus and shopping lists around produce at its peak.
Larder Bytes coordinates the collection and delivery of orders from local producers to some of Scotland's top Hotels and Restaurants.
Devon Food Links
One of the longest established and largest scale food links groups. It employs 6 full time posts and provides information, advice and training, as well as opening up access to public sector procurement of locally sourced food. During its first three years it helped set up 15 farmers' markets, establish 18 box schemes, and helped 19 local shops to become local food retailing speciailists. In this period 113 new jobs were created in the local food sector.
Health & Fitness Projects
The NHS, local councils and Scottish Executive are all supporting projects which link local food to healthy lifestyles. These include:
Community Food & Health
Scottish Executive funded project working to improve diet and health by providing funding for community initiatives, information and toolkits, and a website with news and funding information.
Back to top
|
