Our Helen has been to London for a meeting with Defra officials on food policy and community food enterprises. Defra (Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) is refreshing the previous Government's Food 2030 report. A mix of organisations with a strong track record of supporting community action on food and inspiring examples of on-the-ground activity from across the UK, were invited by Peter Couchman of The Plunkett Foundation, to put forward their ideas and opinions.
The event was attended by The Plunkett Foundation, Co-operatives UK, Growing Communities, Soil Association, Bridport Food Links, The Peoples' Supermarket, Wessex Community Assets, Making Local Food Work Programme, the Social Enterprise Coalition, and Kindling.
Peter Couchman explained: The roundtable style is an approach that social enterprises have been promoting in Defra. The idea is to engage with us before the policy consultation is launched. This means that civil servants can consider social enterprise options at the earliest stages.
The meeting was a first for Kindling and so we weren't quite sure what to expect, and one of our small team spending a day-and-half in London was quite an investment for us. However, we found an interesting discussion with many ideas surfacing, and Defra officials committed to continued discussions with the community food and social enterprise sector.
Helen introduced the work we are doing in Greater Manchester and focused on public procurement and talked about the role the public sector could play in supporting community food initiatives by simply purchasing sustainable food, and the ways those working in that field have found to overcome various challenges. A range of other issues were discussed including seeing social enterprises and community food initiatives as an important part of the food supply system and of influencing behavioural change in the drive to make the food system more sustainable.
As a result Kindling has been asked by a Defra official to provide information about our recently completed Sustainable Fayre report on how Manchester Fayre could purchase local organic (hence sustainable) food, offering economic, social and environmental benefits for the region.
The 80 page report is the culmination of ten months work and significant findings include:
- Manchester Fayre can create significant carbon savings as part of Manchester City Council's drive to reduce its carbon emissions by 41% by 2020. Several hundred tonnes can be saved each year through the simple tweaking of menus and ingredients.
- There are a number of financially viable approaches to increasing sustainable food within the region.
- There is no legal barrier to prioritising sustainable food through the existing procurement framework.
- It is a misconception that EU regulations prohibit the specification of sustainable food – in reality the European Community encourages 'green public procurement'.
- There is local capacity among organic growers to supply fresh produce for a scaled up soup pilot.
- Considering externalities, other financial benefits and future food price trends, sustainable food offers value for money in its broader (and true) definition.
- Manchester Fayre could lead the way to a sustainable food system for the region, by building direct relationships with growers, encouraging organic agriculture and positively engaging suppliers to purchase food that is fresher, fairer and better for the environment, local economy and long term food security of Manchester.
We'd like to thank Plunkett Foundation and Co-operatives UK for their ongoing work to influence Defra and others at central government, and we hope we get invited into the corridors of power again.