Growing Glasgow's Local Food System - Hustings Notes from 3rd May 2011

Many thanks to you all for participating and contributing your thoughts and ideas to a really useful starter document - they are all here!

 

What came out of the event and writing up the notes was seeing the wealth of shared knowledge between us -  food growing, what works and why we need much more of it to happen locally - and where there are gaps the questions are certainly being asked. But local food issues are not on the lips of most politicians unlike those of Frances Curran, Kenn Alder, Alistair Whitelaw and Anna Dyer [ our candidates from the event]

Now that the elections are over and SNP are firmly seated in government we still need more than ever to generate discussion, speak with our newly befriended politicians [yes, Frances, Kenn, Alistair and Anna and all the others aswell] to bring and keep these issues on the agenda [please see the top three issues from each group!!]

What Next?

If you would like to take part in more discussion, share your ideas, post some photos, tell us all what really matters to you about food or inspire us with what's happening in another community we will be setting up a Glasgow Local Food Network group online. We will link you into this resource very soon

Other ways to link up and continue conversations will be:

• The Nourish Conference in October in Glasgow - Scotlands Local Food Sustainability Network www.nourishscotland.org

• The Harvest events in Glasgow in September/October will be city wide so email clem@nva.org for info in the meantime

All the best for now and happy growing!

Kathryn, Abi and Luci

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Growing Glasgow's Local Food System HUSTINGS 3rd May 2011

with

Anna Dyer - Labour

Alistair Whitelaw - Greens

Frances Curran - Socialists

Kenn Elder - Lib Dems

 

CONTENTS

1. Notes from the World Cafe sessions 

a] 3 Main Points that arose from each group 

b] World Cafe sessions - 4 Full write-ups

2. Feedback from Candidates about the evening

3. Audience comments

4. Next Steps

 

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1. Notes from World Cafe sessions and feedback

a] 3 Main Points that arose from each group

 

Neils group with Alistair Whitelaw

1. Joined up Growing

Individuals already have a connection to growing but how to help bigger groups, farms and private sector to get involved in community growing

2.Values around Food

how dom people value food and the food production systems, how much are they involved with that system? How much willing to spend on food - people more willing to spend on than mobile than for food

3. Improved Food Education

Seed saving, food growing and production, processing, distribution, retail, cooking, waste etc, who's doing what, access to land [Land Value Tax]

 

Abi's group with Frances Curran

1. Idealogical shift

This is needed in what we value and how we protect and live sustainably since the status quo in terms of human consumption cannot be maintained 

2. Participatory Democracy

To help communities needs be truly reflected in decision making

3. More local food used

Hospitals, education establishments etc source much more local food - 30-50% is possible and could be encouraged in Scotland

 

Luci's group with Anna Dyer

1. Mapping historic food growing sites

Invaluable source of historic knowledge that showed what was in use, like market gardens and orchards, and in some cases need reinstated

2. Funding for Growing

CCF, one of the main current funders, funds short term and it seems arbitary who gets it - some who just tick boxes and others dont who really need it to help grow their food projects. They dont support developing social enterprises which would create real sustainability

3. Food Jobs

These will be needed in all aspects of the future resilient local food movement and are not being planned for. These include horticulture [market gardens, coops, CSA's, farms], food storage and distribution, retail, restaurant/cafe, policy etc 

 

Kathryn's group with Kenn Elder

1. Joining up gaps in support 

Despite general political support for local growing, growers aren’t always benefitting. Joining the gaps between policy and on-the-ground action is needed so that support is relevant and accessible. 

2. Reconnection to the land

Placing a greater value on good food and encouraging an experiential connection to the land should be encouraged to foster a cultural shift in consumerism. 

3. Resource competition V's collaboration 

Groups and organisation working in this field are under pressure to compete for limited resources  

 

b] World Cafe sessions - 4 Full write-ups

Neil's Group with Alistair Whitelaw

Issues raised

Local Food support groups - 1] Sus Food - A Glasgow Community Food Network already exists as a volunteer network 2] Nourish   3] "C Fine" Network offers accessibility with affordability

Investment is needed such as Slow Money [USA]

Peoples values of Food - what are they?

Cultural issues - stigma of farming and growing your own

There is ignorance around fresh fruit and veg - fruit DOES grow on trees

Awareness of benefits of food and links to food production

Fair trade, nutrition and quality food

What are the steps to get from A] Individual small scale growing to B] large scale commercial/business production. Community collective approaches are a way to scale up individual growing and that can be more beneficial to everyone and more productive too are Community Supported Agriculture schemes [CSA's] 

Commercial "food waste" - need to address and reintegrate this into a sustainable system

Land ownership, land value tax, community right to buy, Landshare [people who have land share with others to grow] 

Where is Food on the list of priorities for governments or local authorities etc and yet it's availability, affordability and quality are essential to our wellbeing? Where do they sit on the Health agenda. 

Planning for an inclusive and robust local food system is essential

Farmers markets are a good thing but they are very meat heavy - need to rebalance with more of what else we grow well in Scotland. Markets like Blochairn, have a limited supply chain and alot is sourced from abroad still

Importance of seasonality to enjoying local food and reducing CO2 emissions, however with veg box schemes for local food this means limited choice and sometimes very limited choice, specifically in Winter

Luxury V essential buys - Levels of disposable income that are spent on food vary within different socio economic communities - supermarkets aren't cheap but provide convenience

Rural communities are more greatly affected by the price of fuel and oil

Schools and education - Cooking skills/home economics, growing skills are all  needed as part of the mix to relearn about food

Investment in the prevention of issues arising is far better than treating the "ills" later

Social eating is increasing - " Come Dine With Me|

 

Abi's Group with Frances Curran

Overview

Frances didn’t see herself as a politician so much as a community activist. As such, the discussion didn’t really focus on specific policy positions of the Scottish socialists as her own opinion. Interesting, nonetheless.

Main points

Ideological shift needed in the way things are done generally; need to move to a participative democracy made up of 50% local people, area by area > social forums. 

Appropriate distribution of funds to support upskilling and ideological shift.

Hospitals and schools could source produce within 30 mile radius – perhaps as a gradual increase in %. Been done in Italy! This is a specific Scottish Socialist policy.

Other points

Communities should be empowered to ‘own’ public land. If the council won’t support it the land could/should be occupied 

Teach environmental and sustainable skills in schools.

Subsidies for box schemes – supporting small scale rural producers

How to support an infrastructure to distribute food locally 

Funding volunteer programmes

Supporting small scale producers

- young people?

- Community land scheme?

Final thoughts

Is this ideology??

What does a sustainable food economy look like?

 

Luci's Group with Anna Dyer

Issues raised

The need for social enterprise support since it develops real sustainable and less reliance on funding like CCF [Climate Challenge Fund] etc

Co-ops are a useful as ways to run market gardens or community food schemes [CSA's]

Climate Challenge Funding [CCF] - many communities are very reliant on it and when they don't get it it creates problems for that community who maybe havent been able to to encoraged to build in real sustainability measures. It can seem arbitrary who receives the fund and it can just be a tick box exercise for some successful groups

Land currently for community growing can be on short leases or insecure tenure which creates vulnerable for the longevity of that project so having longer and more secure tenure is important to community development

We used to know alot about the plants in our gardens and that has mostly been lost - it needs reinstating

Peak Oil and Climate Change - how knowledgeable and believing are politicians about these urgent issues? Anna said SNP see CC mitigation as the installation of renewable resources like wind and wave power. She felt the SNP target here was unrealistic and we could learn from communities outside the UK for better strategies where there is less focus on wind and water

The importance to recognise and map historic places for food growing [allotments, community gardens, market gardens, orchards] as these show patterns of historic and perhaps current/future need?

Contaminated land in Glasgow is a problem to grow on? Raised beds are possible but there are plants that can really help decontaminate areas and also most toxins dont carry through into the plants so its much less of a problem when growing food

The cuts in spending are promoting regeneration with jobs that aren't good for the deep changes we need to make socially and economically. Green jobs are needed in communities, especially food growing, local manufacture and home insulation

The cuts have affected the planning department in managing to get planning passed efficiently

Anna felt food growing issues are not really being discussed by other people during this election - education, health and travel are really on the agenda

 

Kathryn's group with Kenn Elder

Issues raised

There seems to be political ‘good will’ towards community growing and more sustainable food production but the benefits of supportive policies are not being felt by organisations and groups working in this area. 

Opportunities for people to experience at first hand how their food is created should be more available. This could be as simple as planting a tree and might encourage greater appreciation for good food.

The prevalence of cheap, mass produced food of low nutritional quality will remain a challenge. Pressure at a governmental level must be applied to supermarkets to adopt socially and environmentally responsible policies. 

Supermarkets have great influence in dictating consumer trends and could be doing more to encourage informed, responsible food buying. Equally, the influence supermarkets have over farmers and producers encourages monocultural production and extravagant food waste. This needs to change.

Local authorities are beginning to adopt a more collaborative approach to local growing but there is still much that could be done to empower people and encourage local community growing. How can we better promote what existing support is available and make it more accessible? 

The existing funding framework often sets up organisations in contest for small pots of short-term funding. Much more could be achieved if funding was sustained and encouraged resource sharing perhaps? 

The Single Outcome Agreement framework is inappropriate and unwieldy. There needs to be more thought given to the appraisal of funded work. 

The evaluation of community led projects is an ongoing challenge. Collaborative approaches to understanding how much is being achieved across a wide area could help us to document progress and identify opportunities/ shortfalls. 

Small organisations struggle with the constant demands of renewing funding and evaluating work effectively. 

The challenge of renewing funding means we risk losing organisations we have invested in. This means we lose the specific skills, knowledge and influence that have been carefully built up. Nourish may become an example of this. 

It is often difficult to engage a wider audience with sustainable food issues, and this means politicians are reluctant give the topic the attention it deserves. If politicians could promote these issues, they could help to generate a cultural shift in attitudes to food. 

 

2. Feedback from Candidates about the evening

Alistair Whitelaw - Greens

Alistair realised there's alot happening despite the system. What can the Greens do to help - loans schemes for local producers? He said alot that was discussed tonight echoed with  the Greens policies

 

Kenn Elder - Lib Dems

Kenn heard about lots of new organisations and what they were doing and wants to help more. On reflection, some of their policies need to be clearer he feels. He has taken some ideas away that he will take forward with his party. The event has helped him to think

 

Frances Curran - Socialists

Frances thought it was a good evening. There are lots of activists in communities, lots of skills, but lots that disempowers people. What structural changes need to happen to change and support community action? She felt we need a bigger vision and that its important to be part of a movement that helps people grow more

 

Anna Dyer - Labour

Anna thought the event showed peoples great enthusiasm and a varied range of projects.

She has practical experience as a volunteer so knows what that is like for us all. She wants to empower people in the funding process and has experience here too. She felt that he local government doesn't know how much money is coming in and thats a problem for everyone

 

3. Audience comments

Clem - Hidden Gardens and NVA

Everyone here is already committed. How do we use this format in more general events, to help a cultural shift?

John - Childrens Orchard

Growing is a political issue

Greig - North Glasgow Community Food Initiative

Write up this and other information for a manifesto? For political partys to see and for other groups too?

 

4. Next Steps

Write up the notes from the event, distribute and see if people want to take any of this discussion further

 

LER 24.05.11