Thursday, December 22, 2011

Food for Bristol

This report builds on findings in the Bristol Peak Oil report and explores the strengths and vulnerabilities in the current food system that serves Bristol and the city region in more detail. The report is primarily a descriptive baseline study of the main elements of the food system with an analysis of its resilience. It looks at the ‘positive powers’ cities may have in relation to their food systems and it makes suggestions for action. The work of researching and preparing the “who Feeds Bristol” report was commissioned and funded by NHS Bristol and undertaken by Joy Carey, an independent food systems planner and researcher. The document was published in March 2011.Feeding Bristol successfully in the future will depend on the planning that is taking place right now. The future effects of climate change and of peak oil mean that we need to develop innovation in the production, distribution and consumption of food within our local communities. This is a necessity to ensure healthy, sustainably produced food is available to everyone. On 10 March 2010, the Bristol Partnership held a conference at Bristol City Council to discuss elements of these issues and talk about local food projects. Supporting the move towards a more sustainable, healthy city Bristol City Council has an internal Food Interest group that meets quarterly. Membership represents the services in the council that regulate, procure, provide, allocate space for and dispose of food.

If you want to know more about this initiative, please visit Bristol homepage

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Le commerce de proximité : une valeur sûre pour dynamiser les territoires

Une étude de l'Insee publiée en mai 2010 chiffre à 600 000 le nombre de commerces de proximité sur un total de 830 000 commerces, soit 72 %. En terme de masse salariale, les commerces de proximité représentent 1,2 millions de personnes. Très représenté dans l'habillement, le petit commerce spécialisé (boulangerie, boucherie, poissonneries, commerces de journaux, pharmacies, etc.) et les petites surfaces alimentaires des enseignes de distribution, le commerce de proximité se compose d'établissements de quotidienneté dans lesquels le consommateur se rend fréquemment, voire quotidiennement.
Le commerce de proximité est un référentiel économique pour les territoires et les communes rurales. Dans ces communes, il représente 44 % des commerces, soit 10 points de plus que les commerces de proximité situés dans les zones urbaines. Le commerce de proximité dynamise l'économie locale, créait du lien social et maintient un minimum de cohésion territoriale. Toujours est-il que la moitié des communes rurales de France métropolitaine ne disposent d'aucuns commercent de proximité.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Economía de proximidad

Sin olvidar el importante papel que la Globalización ha desarrollado en el acercamiento al “otro”, hay que volver la vista a la Economía de proximidad.

Como destaca Juan José Goñi[1] “Lo global progresa homogeneizando la diversidad, … refuerza el sentido de pertenencia e identidad de lo propio, de lo individual. La alternativa es: lo mío o lo de todos. Valoramos lo mío frente a lo de todos, lo público, que pertenece a muchos desconocidos entre sí. … Con pocas opciones de sentir e influir en lo público abandonamos el interés por aquello que no sea lo rigurosamente particular. Son terceros impersonales los que nos conducen a través de la política, el mercado, los movimientos religiosos y los principios universales del bien público, la libertad, la democracia y la ética, generando una desafección de las personas respecto de los problemas sociales. La sostenibilidad, la eco-economía, la calidad de vida, la diversidad, la solidaridad y otras capacidades de las que adolecen los sistemas vigentes dependen de volver a reconsiderar el valor de lo próximo, la forma en la que nos organizamos socialmente y cómo repensamos la gestión de los bienes particulares y colectivos….”
En esta línea de pensamiento se sitúa el informe de Michèle Deboneuil “La economía cuaternaria, un crecimiento sostenible a construir” dirigido a la secretaria de Estado del Gobierno francés. En él se apuesta por el concepto de economía cuaternaria, como aquélla en la cual los bienes y servicios se reúnen en ofertas agrupadas con el fin de satisfacer mejor las necesidades de cada persona, ¿por qué deberíamos tener cada uno un vehículo en el centro de la ciudad si podemos disponer de un coche en servicio libre? ¿Es necesario invertir en una cortadora de césped si es dos veces menos costoso hacer mantener tu jardín?

El reto es “pasar de un sistema en el que los flujos de consumo o de energía son absolutamente delirantes para ir hacia otro en el que se satisfacen las necesidades de los más cercanos geográficamente y los deseos de los más próximos. Se trata al mismo tiempo de un vivero de empleo considerable que beneficiará al conjunto de la población, en términos de calidad de vida, de bienestar, así como de desarrollo sostenible”.

Extracto de Propuestas en el ámbito económico-institucional en El Blog de la Fundación Novia Salcedo

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

L'économie de proximité, une alternative à la crise

Avec la crise, l'économie mondiale a perdu de son crédit. Les citoyens n'ont plus confiance. Pour éviter la déconnexion, une solution, l'économie de proximité. Une idée défendue lors de la table ronde "Economie de proximité : quand l'économie redécouvre le local".
Le concept n'est pas nouveau. Il est pourtant mal connu du public. Pour Bernard Pecqueur, professeur à l'Institut de géographie alpine de Grenoble, il s'agit "d'une économie qui valorise le contexte territorial où vivent les gens, et crée un ensemble historique, culturel, et de paysage". Cyril Kretzschmar, conseiller délégué à la nouvelle économie à la Région Rhônes-Alpes, défend pour sa part une approche plus pragmatique, "l'artisanat, l'économie sociale et solidaire, et les très petites entreprises (TPE) à ancrage local représentent l'économie de proximité. Cet ensemble pèse près de 80% de l'économie de notre pays". Pascal Canfin, député européen vert, illustre le propos par deux exemples: "Il y a deux gisements majeurs de l'économie de proximité. Les services à la personnes au sens large, c'est à dire relevant du care, et l'économie écologique, qui repose sur un circuit court, notamment en matière alimentaire."
Un système imparfait mais nécessaire
Les intervenants, pourtant partisans de l'économie de proximité, ont pointé les défaillances du système. Premier risque majeur pour Bernard Pecqueur, "le risque d'enfermement. La formule communautariste est un piège mortel". De son côté, Alain Even estime "qu'il faut penser l'économie de proximité comme un développement intégré où les différents acteurs, publics et privés, sont amenés à se rencontrer et se coordonner", pour permettre aux projets de perdurer. Suite à une intervention du public, la question du prix à la consommation de l'économie de proximité a été posée. "Sur un circuit court, à qualité égale, les produits sont moins chers car il faut penser en terme de coût global, répond Cyril Kretzschmar, élu Europe Écologie. Par exemple, si on achète un tee-shirt chinois à 2 euros, son coût réel est beaucoup plus élevé, car il faut tenir compte de son empreinte carbone". Une réponse qui ne satisfait pas totalement Pascal Canfin: "Il faut penser aux citoyens. Avec la crise et l'état actuel du pouvoir d'achat, le consommateur se dirige logiquement vers le produit le moins cher. Du coup, il est préférable d'aller vers des circuits de proximité au gain immédiat en terme de pouvoir d'achat. C'est le cas, par exemple, pour les transports, grâce à des formes innovantes de transports collectifs (taxis solidaires, covoiturage) moins chers qu'une voiture, ou encore pour le logement et les coopératives d'habitants qui produisent des logements beaucoup moins onéreux".

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Distance, land, and proximity: economic analysis and the evolution of cities

G Duranton, the author, attempts to provide a synthesis of the long-run evolution of cities by taking an economic perspective. He defends the idea that urban growth for preindustrial cities has been limited by the tyranny of distance. Then he argues that technological progress, by fostering mobility, has reinforced economies of agglomeration and thus allowed for larger cities. This has led to the development of industrial cities and the dominance of the tyranny of distance. Nowadays, however, technological progress in communications and telecommunications seems to be challenging the rationale for agglomeration in cities as more and more economic interactions can be realized at arm's length. Increasing mobility may have turned into a threat for cities, hence the prediction about the demise of cities. Nonetheless, it is argued that the `tyranny of proximity' may provide a strong glue to keep postindustrial cities together.

Should you be interested in the book, PLEASE VISIT IDEAS

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Foodprints

From a FOAM reflection

2010 was declared “The year of International biodiversity,” and also a year in which Stockholm was “Europe’s Green Capital.” With these two celebrations, Foodprints explores how the discipline of biomimicry can promote urban food resilience and opportunities for biodiversity to flourish in urban developments. There is an inherent relationship between the city and how food arrives on our plates. We want to investigate how to create “resilient” cities that mimic nature’s ecosystems, where all the elements are interactive, responsive, engaging, conducive to life, abundant in feedback loops, and always making best use of resources. Our goal will be to bring forward a food culture inspired by these ecosystems through the creation of a biologically-centred toolkit which we will apply on the urban visions for Norra Djurgarden area of Stockholm.
We have been threading together both scientific, futuristic, artistic and sensory perspectives to review our urban ecology and the way we feed ourselves. Food becomes our communication device, and we will present our explorations in a måltid designed around experience through the senses. We hope that reaction to the meal and proposals, can inspire guests involved in the development plans for the Norra Djurgarden scheme to create food system resilience as part of the sustainable planning process. In turn, Foodprints has been collaborating with a variety of disciplines in a very creative process: science and biology with the built environment and experiential design, creating a multi-disciplinary cocktail of collaborations and introducing this strong community of solutions to the city.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Accepting complexity’ of the food system

From a lecture of Carolyn Steel, author of Hungry City

Bifurcation in the food system often leads to polarized and unproductive debates about the future of food systems.  Carolyn suggested that we see the true complexity, and go beyond these dichotomous debates.
Working with the enemy: to what extent should researchers and nonprofit organisations work with large corporate actors toward sustainability?  Are we doing anything new if we’re working with the corporations?  Carolyn said that ultimately it is a paradox — there is no ideal solution.  But the important thing to examine is: what are the models that we need to move forward?  Carolyn suggested a control for scale – so that supermarkets don’t get so big and powerful that they no longer need to play by the rules.  But the question of ‘How do we deal with Wal-Mart?’ needs to be attacked with a  ’multi-faceted, multi-front’ approach — seeing the complexities of the reality and the several different types of solutions that might address these problems.
What can encourage systemic changes, other than a ‘crisis’, such as the Havana urban farming (2000) example or the UK Dig for Victory (1940) example?  Carolyn said that in truth we are in crisis, but no one is acting like it’s a crisis.  In reality, we are almost at the tipping point, so the question is ‘what is going to push us over the edge?’
Source: Sustainable Food Blog

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Reform of the European Common Agricultural Policy

Proposals Lack Ambition to Mainstream Sustainainability Says IFOAM EU Group

      On October 12, 2011, the European Commission unveiled its proposals for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2014–2020. The lacks ambition where substantial commitments are needed to shape future farming to ensure the delivery of tasty food and a clean environment says the European group of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM EU Group) in a recent press release.

      According to the group's president, Christopher Stopes, "this CAP reform comes at a time of scarce public funding and austerity discussions - which should be a reason to clearly re-focus funding towards measures that deliver to societal needs". Furthermore he adds "Society wants tasty and healthy food, clean water, diverse landscapes and vibrant rural economies.
      We also need to ensure biodiversity and food security for future generations, and food producers have to deal with climate change. All this cannot be obtained by continuing with business as usual – but although we can see some new greening attempts, the Commission proposals are much too close to that."

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Food miles

Food miles is a term which refers to the distance food is transported from the time of its production until it reaches the consumer. Food miles are one factor used when assessing the environmental impact of food, including the impact on global warming.

The concept of food miles originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. It was conceived by Professor Tim Lang, at the Sustainable Agriculture Food and Environment (SAFE) Alliance.

Some scholars believe that an increase in the miles food travels is due to :
  • the globalization of trade
  • the focus of food supply bases into fewer, larger districts; drastic changes in delivery patterns
  • the increase in processed and packaged foods
  • making fewer trips to the supermarket.
At the same time, most of the greenhouse gas emissions created by food have their origin in the production phases, which create 83% of overall emissions of CO2.

A range of studies compare emissions over the entire food cycle, including production, consumption, and transport. These include estimates of food-related emissions of greenhouse gas 'up to the farm gate' versus 'beyond the farm gate'. In the UK, for example, agricultural-related emissions may account for approximately 40% of the overall food chain (including retail, packaging, fertilizer manufacture, and other factors), whereas greenhouse gases emitted in transport account for around 12% of overall food-chain emissions. The goal of environmental protection agencies is to make people aware of the environmental impact of food miles and to show the pollution percentage and the energy used to transport food over long distances.
Researchers are currently working to provide the public with more information.


More information here.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

EU scientists vet food marketing's health claims

      The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published its scientific evaluations of 2,758 of health claims for the marketing of foods. Only one fifth of these claims were ultimately approved. The evaluations form part of the EU's strategy for encouraging consumers to make informed choices in their diet.
    
      Rejected claims include those where beneficial effects to humans lacked evidence, such as some foods claiming "antioxidant properties" or easing "renal water elimination". Similarly, vague claims such as assertions of added "energy" and "vitality" were rejected.

      But not all food products marketed as good for health fall in this category. Professor Albert Flynn, who chaired the panel in charge of reviewing the claims, said in a press release that EFSA's independent evaluation had concluded that a considerable number of claims made on foods "are backed by sound science, including claims related to a wide range of health benefits."

      Claimed that were approved by EFSA as scientifically-grounded included those on certain fibers and blood cholesterol, walnuts and improved functioning of blood vessels, and the enhanced sports performance through carbohydrate-electrolyte drinks.

More information here.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Is local food better ?

      In 1993, a Swedish researcher calculated that the ingredients of a typical Swedish breakfast-apple, bread, butter, cheese, coffee, cream, orange juice, sugar-traveled a distance equal to the circumference of the Earth before reaching the Scandinavian table. In 2005, a researcher in Iowa found that the milk, sugar, and strawberries that go into a carton of strawberry yogurt collectively journeyed 2,211 miles (3,558 kilometers) just to get to the processing plant. As the local-food movement has come of age, this concept of "food miles" (or "-kilometers") -roughly, the distance food travels from farm to plate- has come to dominate the discussion, particularly in the United States, the United Kingdom, and parts of Western Europe.

      The concept offers a kind of convenient shorthand for describing a food system that's centralized, industrialized, and complex almost to the point of absurdity. And, since our food is transported all those miles in ships, trains, trucks, and planes, attention to food miles also links up with broader concerns about the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from fossil fuel-based transport.

      In this sense, life-cycle analyses of the current food system offer a paradoxically hopeful perspective, because they suggest that, if the goal is to improve the environmental sustainability of the food system as a whole, then there are a variety of public policy levers that we can pull. To be sure, promoting more localized food production and distribution networks would reduce transport emissions.
      But what if a greater investment in rail infrastructure helped to reverse the trend toward transporting more food by inefficient semi-truck? What if fuel economy standards were increased for the truck fleet that moves our food? Or, to name one encompassing possibility, what if a carbon-pricing system incorporated some of the environmental costs of agriculture that are currently externalized?
      Local food is delicious, but the problem -and perhaps the solution- is global.

See more here.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Future of Scotland's food chain

      The importance of Scotland developing a resilient food supply chain and growing more of its own produce has been highlighted in a new report.

      Mapping and Analysis of the Resilience of the Food Supply Chain in Scotland suggests Scotland is currently dependent on imports. It shows that global food chains may be vulnerable to both short and longer term emergency situations which could disrupt this supply.
The research will be used to help businesses prepare for future scenarios such as flooding, health scares and the impact of climate change.

Measures in Scotland's new national food and drink policy which aim to address food security include:
  • Building capacity and skills to produce food and keep food production at the heart of farming
  • Build food security into the delivery of our farming, fishing and aquaculture policies.
  • Support the appropriate legal framework to ensure our food and drink producers, processors, retailers and consumers are treated fairly
  • Fund new research to help meet the challenges of food security in Scotland and the rest of world
      The Scottish Government is also providing advice and additional funding to local producers to help them develop markets for their products and encourage the growth of farmers markets, farm shops and local food initiatives. Work is continuing with the Scottish Retailers' Forum to help producers and processors identify new markets for their products in our supermarkets. And a new Retailers' Charter has been signed by eight of the UK's leading supermarkets.

More information here.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Rencontres PSDR CLAP

 Ces rencontres avaient pour ambition la diffusion et la discussion autour de quelques éléments d'analyse produits par les équipes de chercheurs impliqués dans le projet CLAP.

      CLAP (Compétitivité Localisation Action Publique) :
Ce projet a pour principal objectif d’évaluer les gains et coûts liés à l’agglomération d’activités agricoles et agroalimentaires.Cette évaluation a été menée en étudiant d'une part les déterminants de la localisation de ces activités au sein du grand Ouest, et d'autre part l'impact du contexte local sur la performance des exploitations et des firmes de l’agro-industrie.
In fine, l'ambition du projet est de définir dans quelle mesure, les politiques publiques, peuvent influencer, conforter, la compétitivité des secteurs agricoles et agroalimentaires sur le territoire du Grand Ouest dans une perspective de développement soutenable.

      Un projet du PSDR Grand Ouest (Pour et Sur le Développement Régional) :

C'est un programme de recherches interrégional et pluridisciplinaire  initié par l'INRA et le CEMAGREF en partenariat avec les régions : Basse-Normandie, Bretagne, Pays de la Loire et Poitou-Charentes, dont les objectifs sont :
  • Analyser les processus de développement territorial et plus particulièrement le rôle et la place des activités agricoles et agroalimentaires.
  • Apporter une contribution opérationnelle au développement territorial à travers la fourniture d’outils et méthodes pour ses acteurs, dans une démarche de co-construction.
Ce sont environ 50 personnes qui se sont retrouvées l'espace d'une journée à l'Agropole, accueillies par l'AC3A et la Chambre d'Agriculture de la Vienne.

Plus d'information et source.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Le commerce de proximité

Le plan d’actions en faveur du développement du commerce de proximité présenté en juin 2008 par le secrétaire d’Etat en charge du Commerce, de l’Artisanat, des PME, du Tourisme, de la Consommation et des Services s’articule autour de trois objectifs forts :
  1. identifier les bonnes pratiques et assurer leur diffusion aux plans local et national
  2. réformer les outils de soutien aux projets innovants, fédérateurs et porteurs de croissance pour le commerce de proximité
  3. valoriser le commerce de proximité.

La déclinaison de ces objectifs a mené à conduire les actions suivantes :
  • une campagne d’information en direction des consommateurs confiée à l’Institut national de la consommation (INC) dans le cadre des émissions de télévision « Consomag », de chroniques pour les radios et d’un film pour la presse vidéo.
  • une communication visant à promouvoir les formations, les métiers et les carrières du commerce de proximité est lancée début mars sur le thème « Ma passion, j’en fais mon métier ». Elle comprend notamment la création d’un site Internet
  • une série de quatre appels nationaux à projets innovants et rassembleurs sur les thèmes suivants: « commerce et nouvelles technologies de l’information », « commerce et développement durable », « commerce et services connexes », et « commerce et accessibilité ».
Le premier appel diffusé le 5 juin 2009 a permis la sélection par la Commission d’orientation du commerce de proximité de six projets ( les consulter ).
Le deuxième appel à projet, visant à recueillir les bonnes pratiques sur le thème « commerce et développement durable», lancé le 25 janvier 2010, a permis de sélectionner 6 projets sur 28 présentés ( les consulter ).
Le troisième appel à projet portant sur les bonnes pratiques en matière de "commerce de proximité et services connexes" a sélectionné un seul projet ( le consulter ).
Et le quatrième appel à projet portant sur les bonnes pratiques en matière de "commerce de proximité et accessibilité " a permis de sélectionner 6 projets sur 17 présentés( les consulter )


Plus d'information et source.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Stratégie mobile pour les distributeurs et commerçants de proximité

La stratégie mobile est un enjeu majeur dans nos sociétés actuelles.

La téléphonie mobile évolue constamment, et il n’a fallu que quelques années seulement avant que les consommateurs n’adoptent les téléphones « intelligents ».

Ces (r)évolutions technologiques ont entrainé des bouleversements dans les usages.  Confronté à des habitudes de consommation en mutation, les distributeurs innovants ont dû s’adapter et ont rapidement développé des applications mobiles sur iPhone pour se démarquer de la concurrence.

Les entreprises les plus prospères ont poursuivi leurs efforts en multipliant les développements d’applications ainsi que leur maintenance pour être disponibles sur les autres systèmes d’exploitation disponibles tels qu’Android ou Blackberry. Hier, les principaux indicateurs de performance suivis étaient le positionnement dans l’Apple Store et le nombre de téléchargement d’applications chaque mois.

Aujourd’hui, nous assistons à un profond changement dans la stratégie mobile des distributeurs et des commerçants de proximité. Tout d’abord, nous passons d’une communication de marque à une diffusion d’informations pratiques pour le consommateur (horaires d’ouverture, plan d’accès, parking à proximité…) et surtout d’informations commerciales locales mises à jour régulièrement (promotions, coupons de réductions, opérations événementielles,…).

Plus d'information et source : Les Echos

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Agriculture in an urbanizing society


Research on multifunctional agriculture and changing urban-rural relations is highly fragmented,  both disciplinarily and geographically, which is due to the multiplicity of activities, the multi-scalar character of multifunctionality and the geographical contextuality of expressions of multifunctional agriculture. Hence, this conference aims to advance the scientific state of the art in research on multifunctional agriculture and urban-rural relations by bringing together scholars from a wide range of disciplines (sociology, economics, spatial planning, land-use planning, regional planning, urban planning, crop sciences, animal sciences, soil sciences, architecture, etc.) from many parts of the world. rking group convenors of the conference invite you to submit abstracts for the April 2012 conference in Wageningen, The Netherlands. 20 different working groups will be organised during the conference. Deadline for submitting abstracts is 20 December 2011. IN WG 14 the topic will be: Public food procurement. Most schools, colleges , universities, hospitals , prisons and other public institutions  receive their food supplies from different  sources and programmes. Countries have different structures and  indicators of success. They also face different problems, challenges and sustainability is a question. Producers’ views and how food is purchased also varies. It is important to show value for money, volume and types of food purchased by the programmes to improve livelihoods, nutrition, health and reduce poverty in selected regions. Are there existing policies, guidelines and plans for public food procurement? Who are the actors and how do they adhere to the rules and regulations?
Worldwide, school feeding programmes are a common concern and have similarities and or differences. A reflection on aid effectiveness and sustainability reveals challenges in especially resource limited countries. It is a concern to relate how decisions are made for public food procurement and priorities set  for resource allocation. Whose responsibility is it (donors, international agencies, national and local governments, farmers and individuals) and therefore the sharing of experiences on programmes is important for ensuring sustainable food security. For one of the millennium development goals focuses on sustainable development.
It is known that rural areas produce food for the cities, yet in some countries urbanisation is fast growing, with the youths migrating to cities and food production going down. In addition, climatic change is impacting on the food security, how is public food procurement going to be sustained to improve smallholder agriculture?  For most home grown school feeding programmes are meant to support  these small farmers and improve their household incomes.
As a result food systems and chains can be changed and transformed by agencies and states/ local governments. Agricultural crises are affecting food production and the economic crunch is leading to high food prices which makes a significant drawing to public food procurement channels. What would be the effective measures for ensuring  sustainability? What are the supply chains and  demand likely to be met as the world changes?
Abstracts for this working group can be submitted to:
Juliet Kiguli | Makerere University, Uganda | jkiguli2002@yahoo.com
Convenors:
Juliet Kiguli                  Makerere University, Uganda
Nashiru Sulemana        University for Development Studies, Ghana    
Kevin Morgan               Cardiff University, United Kingdom

Thursday, October 20, 2011

New Connections in Food Research : Cardiff University

Place to Plate: New Connections in Food Research
2 April 2012
Cardiff University

This is a conference by and for Ph.D. and early-career researchers studying food. It is inter-disciplinary and welcomes participation and contributions from diverse perspectives.
Early-career researchers are invited to share their interpretations of the themes to challenge us to realise new connections between places, disciplines and concepts. Food students are encouraged to inspire their peers to learn from unusual allies and to seek answers in unexpected sources. In the spirit of new connections, the conference will also trial innovative ways of preparing an academic conference and aim to establish an enduring inter-disciplinary and international network in food studies.
Bookings will open in early 2012. In the meantime, you are invited to have your say in how the day will run. Visit http://placetoplate.wordpress.com/ to suggest ideas for the programme and to find out more.
Themes“Food is what connects us all to each other and to the natural world, which makes it an incredibly powerful medium for thinking and acting collaboratively.”
- Carolyn Steel author of Hungry City.
What we eat and where it comes from are fundamental questions in light of today’s global challenges around issues such as health, agriculture, development and sustainability. A sound food system is central to the resilience of society, economy and environment, and, as one of life’s
essentials, food is unique in its power to communicate such concepts to the public. But whilst food is a topic which can touch almost every academic discipline, research is too frequently confined by subject boundaries.
This conference will bring together those studying food, no matter what their backgrounds, to generate unique and enlightening perspectives that can break disciplinary boundaries and forge new relationships both conceptually and personally. It will consider questions such as:
    What does a resilient food system taste like?
    Can food be a key to unlocking transition?
    What is the recipe for a healthy community?
    Is good practice a moveable feast?
    Fair for whom: where is the justice in sustainable food?
    Are we going global, local or glocal?
    How do we eat: do we understand the socio-cultural issues of food?
And, of course, we invite your participation in defining panel and roundtable themes: this is, after all, a conference for us and by us.
The conference has received funding from Cardiff University Graduate College.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Communicating Solutions about Food Waste

Bryna Jones , Director of Communications at Hardy Stevenson and Associates Limited,
As planners and communicators, we tend to underestimate the difficulty involved in changing behaviour. CBSM assumes that there are a variety of barriers that exist to behaviour change. Because behaviour change is complex, carefully selecting the behaviour to be promoted is vital to starting a campaign well. After the behaviour has been identified then the barriers and benefits associated with the selected behaviour must be isolated. For example, to dissect the issue of food waste, we would start by using a tool such as a problem tree to assess its specific problems, causes and effects. We can use the outcomes of this exercise to choose one behaviour change that will measurably reduce the negative behavioural trend within our chosen population.
Once these steps have been completed, we can move on to designing a strategy that utilizes behaviour-change tools to address barriers and benefits. Piloting the strategy is vital to success. The cornerstone of sustainability is delivering programs that are effective in changing people’s behaviour. If the pilot doesn’t provide measurable outcomes, then it’s time to revise, or select a more appropriate behaviour change. Once a program has been broadly implemented, evaluation must occur to understand its long term effect.
Strategic communications is involved at every step of this process.We must carefully select the language we use, the communications tactics we implement and the ways we measure the success of the campaign. Each campaign will be unique given the issue, audience, behaviour to change, and its barriers and benefits, but there are two key points to be aware of:
    Providing information is not enough
    Scaring people (or making them feel guilty) is unlikely to engage them
People are motivated:
    To know and understand what is going on – they hate being disorientated or confused
    To learn, discover and explore – they prefer acquiring information at their own pace and answering their own questions
    To participate and play a role in what is going on around them – they hate feeling incompetent or helpless
In order to communicate sustainable development successfully, we must link our communications to these needs and motivators, using audience research to decide which communications tools and tactics will be most effective. Making communications personal and practical, by overcoming barriers to change and promoting its benefits, is at the heart of CBSM. This is how we can encourage people to live more sustainable lives.

Source: Sustainablecitiescollective.com

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Colloque de présentation des résultats de programme PSDR Grand Ouest

Le colloque de présentation des résultats du programme PSDR Grand Ouest se tiendra les 7 et 8 décembre 2011 à Nantes (Hôtel de Région des Pays de la Loire).

Ce programme lancé en 2008, avait pour objectifs d'analyser la place et le rôle des activités agricoles, agro-alimentaires et de la pêche dans les processus de développement territorial et d'apporter une contribution opérationnelle au développement des filières et des territoires du Grand Ouest.

Le colloque sera organisé autour de trois sessions durant lesquelles les résultats marquants des différents projets seront présentés :

         1. Marchés - Territoires et compétitivité

         2. Développement des territoires et environnement

         3. Élevage et territoire

 Au cours de ces deux jours, une place privilégiée sera accordée aux réactions et discussions à partir de ces contributions.

Le programme de ces journées est accessible à la rubrique "Programme" sur le site dédié au colloque et en pièce jointe.

Nous vous remercions de retenir dès à présent la date et de diffuser cette annonce dans vos réseaux.

Inscrivez-vous dès à présent (inscription gratuite, mais obligatoire) car le nombre de places est limité.

Pour en savoir plus :

Cellule d'animation PSDR GO LERECO
Centre de recherches INRA Angers-Nantes
Site de la Géraudière - B.P.71627
44316 NANTES Cedex 03 - France
Tel: 02.40.67.51.71 / 02.40.67.52.49
Fax: 02.40.67.50.74
Email: psdrgo@nantes.inra.fr

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Climate Change and Sustainable Development: Ethical Perspectives on Land Use and Food Production

From 30th May to 2nd June 2012 the 10th Congress of the European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics (EurSafe) which will be held in Tübingen (Germany). The conference theme is Climate Change and Sustainable Development: Ethical Perspectives on Land Use and Food Production.
Climate change is one of the major framing conditions for sustainable development of agriculture and food production. This is connected to ongoing changes in and of land-use practices which are related to local, regional and global scales, often dubbed as ‘glocal’ situations. That characterisation also applies to the closely related land and waters use domains of forestry and fisheries.
Agricultural and food ethics and its adjacent fields need to address well known, but aggravated ‘old’ problems. These are, among others, desertification due to temperature increase, changing precipitation regimes, unsustainable and/or unfair land-use and water regimes, pressure on arable land due to the loss of coastal areas, soil degradation and suburban sprawl, and the strain placed on both environment and animal welfare as a consequence of a growing worldwide demand for animal products. Also the manifold socio-economic implications on justice and fairness have to be investigated from different ethical perspectives.
At the same time, however, climate change creates specific effects: There are and will be new irreversible changes of natural and anthropogenic systems. Mitigation and adaptation measures to counter or slow down climate change have already resulted in considerable changes in agri- and silvicultural land-use. This is mainly but not only due to the significant increase in growing plants for energy supply (“biofuels”). Another perspective is the purchase or long-term tenancy of arable land or of water rights in the countries of the global south by wealthy nations and by transnational enterprises. In the case of animal production, specific dilemmas arise when a narrow focus on carbon efficiency favours intensive production systems which are decoupled from many traditional agricultural considerations.
These issues are only some of the many dimensions which demand reflection from an agricultural and food ethics perspective and thus examination by the community of scholars involved in EurSafe. The 10th EurSafe Congress will address the topic of climate change and sustainable development under four main perspectives: (1) food production, (2) preservation of natural resources, (3) lifestyles (4) general philosophical and historical issues of climate change, sustainable development and food ethics. There are overlaps, so sessions within the programme will examine different foci providing a stimulating and challenging array of contributions to the Congress.

More information about the 1oth EurSafe Congress can be found at the Congress website.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Cantines : le ministère place les menus sous surveillance

Le décret sur les règles nutritionnelles est paru dimanche 2 octobre 2011. Les professionnels redoutent l’absence de dialogue avec les services de contrôle. Le ton est donné: « Nous allons surveiller les menus, avertit Bruno Lemaire, ministre de l’agriculture. Il doit y avoir :
    plus de produits laitiers,
    plus de fruits au dessert,
     le moins possible de friture,
    et une alternance entre viande et poisson dans la semaine ».

Attendu depuis un an, le décret et l’arrêté détaillant les règles nutritionnelles à suivre par la restauration scolaire sont parus au Journal Officiel ce dimanche 2 octobre 2011. Ces règles fixent notamment la taille des portions mais aussi la fréquence à laquelle tel ou tel groupe d’aliment doit être présentés aux enfants, sur une série de 20 repas.

Agrores craint l’inspection coercitive – Le décret prévoit que les services vétérinaires vérifient l’application de cette réglementation sur la base des menus et des fiches techniques des plats présentés au cours des trois derniers mois. « Il est essentiel que ces inspections soient constructives, qu’elles permettent d’instaurer un dialogue avec les professionnels, sinon ils vont se braquer, prévient Christophe Hebert président de l’Association nationale des directeurs de restauration municipale (Agores). Or j’ai eu l’occasion de rencontrer les responsables des services vétérinaires en charge de la restauration collective, lors de réunions au ministère. Leur conception des contrôles est coercitive. Pas question de faire du conseil, c’est le retour du bâton qui s’annonce ».

PLUS D'INFORMATION ET SOURCE: LA GAZETTE DES COMMUNES

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Swansea Food Connections

Evidence showed that the diets of the people of Swansea were (not eating) healthy (Health In Wales 2001/2002 - National Assembly for Wales (2000) Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2000). The research showed that there were inequalities in diet between those on higher and lower incomes, and the most striking difference was in the variation in the amounts of vegetables and, in particular, the amount of fruit, eaten by those with lower incomes.
Evidence also showed that those on low incomes, or those who had to rely on public transport, often found it difficult to access shops offering healthy food choices. In addition, the food available to them was likely to be more expensive. Thus the need to reduce the inequalities was identified.
The need to establish such a project was linked to
•the work on the Health, Social Care and Well-being Strategy for Swansea. This aims to improve the health, social care and well-being of all the citizens of Swansea, by ensuring that everyone is supported to achieve the best level of health and well-being possible. It also aims to ensure that communities and individuals are well informed and, as far as possible, take responsibility for their own health and well-being. Taking a preventative approach, one of the aims of the Strategy is to encourage organisations to work together to promote healthy food, and link this to physical activity.
•At a national level, the need for such a project was linked to the Welsh Assembly Government and Food Standards Agency Nutrition Strategy “Food and Well Being, 2003”. This aims to improve the diet of all people in Wales, particularly prioritising low income and vulnerable sectors of the population.
If you want to know more, just visit FOOD VISION

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Estudio sobre el comportamiento de los consumidores transfronterizos

BIHARTEAN con los estudiantes del IUT de Baiona presenta la síntesis de una encuesta sobre el comportamiento de los consumidores de Gipuzkoa en Iparralde y de los de Iparralde en varias ciudades de Gipuzkoa.
Los estudiantes han realizado 300 encuestas en varios lugares de Iparralde y de Gipuzkoa:
- Biarritz, San-Juan-de-Luz y el centro comercial BAB2
- San-Sébastian centro, Irùn Mendibil y el centro comercial Garbera
En estos documentos, se pueden apreciar los resultados mas sobresalientes :
- en el primero se trata del comportamiento de los consumidores de Gipuzkoa en Iparralde
- el segundo resume el comportamiento de los consumidores de Iparralde en Gipuzkoa.

Fuente: Diputacion de Gipuzkoa

Thursday, September 22, 2011

What are local food jobs?

Sustainable agriculture certainly requires more people-power than conventional farming methods, but despite the long hours a farmhand might work, they are exempt from overtime pay and are likely not paid at all during the off-season. Beyond the farm, much of the Good Food movement is being carried out by non-profits, who (especially in this economic climate) are increasingly relying on poorly-paid or unpaid interns rather than full-time staff. But the real story behind local food system job creation may potentially lie in the promotion of jobs in the local distribution, processing, and wholesaling sectors. As the global agricultural system has taken over these sectors have declined in many parts of the country.  While these jobs may be less sexy than the idea of a small-farmer, they are certainly still very necessary to truly scale up the impact of a regional food system.
Earlier this year, Green For All, a green collar job advocacy group released a report called "Green Jobs in a Sustainable Food System."  The report outlines the workers employed in each sector of the food system and spotlights a few innovative approaches to employment in each section, including the fair-wage organic produce distributors Veritable Vegetable, and companies that include workforce training programs as a part of their business model, like Sweet Beginnings LLC.  The value of this report is the reminder that a local food job is not inherently better than a regular old food system job.  Good Food Jobs provide opportunities where they might not have existed otherwise, but also pay well enough to support a family, are conducted in safe working conditions, and provide ample space for personal autonomy and professional growth.
A pessimist might point out that if the economy keeps tanking we might end up creating a class of poorly paid farm and food-workers who provide edible treats for our increasingly wealthy elite overlords. Hyperbole aside, the food system world holds a lot of promise for job creation and community economic development, but it shouldn't be pursued blindly.  Careful consideration needs to be paid to the quality of jobs we are advocating for, not just the quantity.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Ombudsman: Commission clarifies permitted food contamination levels after Fukushima nuclear accident

The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has welcomed the European Commission's clarifications concerning the maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination for foodstuffs in the EU, following the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan. The Ombudsman had asked the Commission for these clarifications after several citizens complained about a lack of information concerning changes made to the maximum levels. In its opinion, the Commission explained that, immediately after the Fukushima nuclear accident, the maximum radiation levels permitted in foodstuffs imported from Japan to the EU were higher than those permitted in Japan itself, but were lowered to the Japanese levels a few weeks later.

Complaints about lack of information concerning contamination levels

In March 2011, an earthquake and tsunami damaged the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan, which led to increased radioactive contamination in the surrounding area. In the weeks following the accident, the Ombudsman received several complaints from citizens suggesting that there was a lack of information about changes made to the maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination for foodstuffs, imported from Japan to the EU.

The Ombudsman opened an inquiry to obtain precise information on the maximum permitted levels before and after the Fukushima accident. In its opinion, the Commission explained that immediately after the accident, the EU activated the emergency mechanisms it had adopted in the wake of the Chernobyl accident. These included maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination for foodstuffs, such as baby food or dairy products, as well as for feed. These levels were higher than the Japanese levels. In April 2011, therefore, the Commission decreased the maximum permitted levels to bring them into line with the Japanese levels.

The Ombudsman commended the Commission's detailed explanations which he considers useful for European citizens. In the interest of providing citizens with a maximum of information on the matter, he decided to publish the Commission's opinion together with his decision. Both documents are available at: http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/decision.faces/en/10827/html.bookmark

The European Ombudsman investigates complaints about maladministration in the EU institutions and bodies. Any EU citizen, resident, or an enterprise or association in a Member State, can lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman offers a fast, flexible, and free means of solving problems with the EU administration. For more information: http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Urban food growing in city re-development

Growing food inside cities as tool or contribution to the re-vitalisation of city quarters, neigborhoods or completely new city developments is currently in high fashion. The examples of successful integration of food growing or even bigger…urban agriculture in city development, however, are still scarce. Designers and artists are at the forefront of imagining what it can be like. For example, the PeerGroup currently runs a project with a neigbhorhood in the city of Groningen which took on the responsibility to care for pigs at a brownfield site in the city.  But to actually combine creative imagination with the reality of re-development of a place, its people, culture and institutions is quite something else. In Cologne they have tried this recently with open space methodology and the ideas of Continous Productive Landscapes. A process of planning and discussions was organised to re-develop the working class neighborhood Ehrenfeld. Food and food growing were explicitely taken into account here.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Stafford Borough Council’s experience

At Stafford Borough Council’s first Environmental Forum in October 1997, delegates recommended that a Local Food Links Initiative in the Stafford Borough area be developed as part of the Local Agenda 21 work being undertaken. ‘Workshops’ produced a draft Action Plan from which a range of initiatives has subsequently been established.
This was further enhanced by the Council’s Environmental Working Party on the 6th May 1998 which agreed that a ‘Food Festival’ be arranged later that year.
There were opportunities to provide a range of projects under the Local Food Links Initiative, which aimed to promote and achieve a more sustainable food system. In addition, as part of the Council’s Economic Strategy, there was a commitment to promote trading between local businesses and the development of local supply networks.
Progress has been made in the following areas:
•Stafford Food Festival
•Farmers’ Markets in Stafford
•Existing shows promoting local food
•Demonstrations of local food
•Local events organised in conjunction with the Farmers’ Market linked to National Campaigns e.g. Apple Day, Fairtrade Fortnight, Great British Breakfast, health events etc.
•Taste of Staffordshire Awards
•Production of Farm – School Link Education Pack, supporting the National Curriculum
•Use of allotments via the Allotment Mentors Scheme
•Tourism Awards include Local Food Category
•Ensuring allotment usage is high
•Support of Staffordshire Orchards Initiative
•Staffordshire Local Food Directory of Farms, Shops, Deliveries etc. (updated 2005)
•Support of Healthy Living, Nutrition and Diet projects
To learn more, please visit FOOD VISION

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Consumer driven food networks

Consumer driven food networks are differently named and organised in every country. At the European Society for Rural Sociology (ESRS) conference we saw many types and forms passing by in the working groups within the theme Food networks and supply chains. GAS groups in Italy, AMAPs in France, CSA’s and Community food co-ops in the UK, food coops in Germany, ‘proximity contract farming groups’ in Swiss, Grupo de consumo’s in Spain, Food teams in Flanders. Consumer driven food networks are scattered all over Europe it seems. It seems indeed but not evenly distributed. There are approximately 15 CSA’s only in the Netherlands and a very recent initiative to create food coops, called ”voko’s”. Uniquely here are the many adoption schemes; adopt a chicken, apply tree or cow. But initiatives are not booming like Italy, Spain or France. In his concluding presentation, Henk Renting offered a few factors for the non occurance of consumer driven food networks in countries such as Portugal, Greece, the Netherlands, Ireland… First of all, farm structure and the scale of farming matters. Where the farming structure is based on large scale farms integrated into the bulk supply chain it is difficult to conver to on-farm processing or direct marketing. The availability of local and/or organic products in the conventional supply chain. The existence of tradition in gardening and the way food is cultured into society.
The existence of a tradition of gardening is an interesting one. Will such a tradition inspire or hamper the establishement of consumer driven food networks? In comparative EU perspective the Netherlands has low levels of food provisioning by self-growing showed Petr Jehlicka and Joe Smith in another working group which would fit low levels of consumer driven food networks too. On the other hand, countries like Poland or Czech Republic have very high levels of food self-provisioning but low incidences of consumer driven food networks as presented by Lukas Zagata. Of course there a complex context around this but it is therefore time to start relating and researching both practices at the same time. Household food provisioning strategies are not yet on the radar of researchers working with alternative food networks.  The fact that work on household food provisioning strategies was presented at other places simultaneously to the working group on consumer driven food networks is illustrative.

Source: Sustainable Food Blog

Monday, August 29, 2011

Atlantic Diet

The Atlantic diet is based, primarily in cooking, grilled, stew and baking rather than frying. The characteristics of the Atlantic Diet are:
• Abundance of seasonal food, local, fresh and minimally processed.
• Abundance of food from plants: vegetables, fruits, cereals, breads and grains, potatoes, chestnuts, nuts and legumes.
• Plenty of fish consumption, shellfish, molluscs and crustaceans, frozen or canned.
• Consumption of dairy products, especially cheeses.
• Consumption of pork, beef and game.
• Consumption of wine, normally with meals and in moderation.
• Use olive oil for dressing and cooking.
• Preferred Culinary preparation: cooking, iron, oven and stew rather than fry.
One of the internationally institutions acknowledged on the subject is the Atlantic Diet Foundation, created in May 2007 by the University of Santiago de Compostela, which was declared “of health interest” by the Xunta de Galicia. In addition, since 2002, it must be mentioned the biannual food and nutrition congress, held in Baiona , that works on the Atlantic diet so as to convert the Atlantic Diet in a global benchmark in healthy eating. Its members say that the pattern of Atlantic Diet should be established taking into account food whose consumption covered traditionally the majority of input energy, nutrients and nutritional components of interest.

MORE INFO:  SABORES GALEGOS

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Experiences in the Mediterranean

Dynamization of the local economies throught interregional coopertaion in the Mediterranean area. Two case studies: CHORD & INNOVATEMED
Regions from Italy, France, Greece and Spain have joined their efforts to implement two European initiatives co-financed by the European programme MED. The awareness of the strong potential of the Mediterranean basin to overcome traditional problems has been the reason.
Next Thursday 15thSeptember will be take place The Final Conference about these two Mediterranean pilots at the Committee of Regions in Brussels. In this act will be analyzed the results of this projects and how the combination of innovation with traditional and high added value features throught clustering process unlock the development of the tourist sector of these  Mediterranean basin regions.
The main objective of INNOVATE-MED, led by Naples Province, is improving the level of technical development of local and regional SMEs so as to enhance innovation and achieve a higher level of competitiveness in the global market.
On the other hand, CHORD is focused in to develop and experiment a common strategy to govern and implement innovative cultural services and promote initiatives based on the cultural attractiveness and heritage of the Mediterranean area.

MORE INFO

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Forth Valley Food Links

Forth Valley Food Links came into being in June 2002 with its mission to help develop the local food sector in Forth Valley and realise the concept of local food for local people.
Of particular concern is increasing the availability of locally grown produce, but until the longer-term (but on-going) efforts to encourage more local growing and supply 'bear fruit', the project must supplement the currently limited local production with produce from farm shops and wholesalers in the area. However the project continues to encourage farmers to look at ways of supplying more of their existing meat, fish, eggs, dairy and processed farm products to markets and outlets within Forth Valley rather than further afield.
In partnership with a variety of local food producers, suppliers, retailers, community groups, agencies and other organisations throughout Forth Valley the project aims to develop sustainable, community-oriented food growing, distribution and consumption.
The emphasis is on increasing the availability of locally-grown fruit, vegetables, meats and other fresh produce, by encouraging greater diversity of production and seeking ways of channelling more of it directly to local markets and outlets.
A Key part of Forth Valley Food Links work concerns the concept of sustainable food production, distribution and consumption. The remit includes a commitment to try to reduce 'food miles' through the projects’ activities.

For more information, please visit FOOD VISION

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

What is food mapping?

Food mapping is an opportunity for policy makers at local and national levels to work with others to develop an evidence base for assessing need, developing action plans and monitoring progress. In doing so, food mapping could help bring about positive change and effectively tackle the interlinking barriers to healthy food access. Food mapping can help inform an appropriate, joined-up and supportive policy framework for improving food access over time” Community Food and Health (Scotland).
Food mapping has been defined as the process of finding out where people can buy and eat food, and what the food needs of local people are. It is a type of needs assessment that aims to identify the geographical areas or communities that have the greatest needs in terms of access to food. This generally relates to access to affordable fresh fruit and vegetables and other healthy foods, however, food mapping may also be used to identify the availability of other specific types of food e.g. local produce or ethnic foods. The area covered by a food mapping exercise could range from a small village or urban estate, to large city or a whole county. Food mapping is one of the first activities that should take place when you are thinking about setting up a food project, and even more so when planning to deliver a programme of different activities to increase access to healthy foods. This is so that you can identify what problems there are with accessing food in an area and then plan initiatives that aim to deal with these problems.

For more information and a toolkit, please visit FOOD VISION

Thursday, August 4, 2011

A place for food in pro-development planning?

By Jess Halliday
The launch of the UK’s new draft National Planning Policy has food and environmental groups fearing for the future of the country’s green spaces and town centre, as the coalition government’s idea of ‘sustainable development’ has a strong pro-development flavour.The draft was launched last week and is open for consultation until October.
It is often easiest to understand the implications of policy proposals by listening to groups wearing the goggles of their own interests, giving them an incredible ability to read between the lines:
A framework that slashes back over 1000 pages of policy to just 58 means slicing through bundles of red tape and turning new projects into reality more quickly and more cheaply. Hurrah, say the developers and building companies.
But a growing body of planners, civil society groups, architects and academics who are enlightened to the crucial role of planning in the food system are not celebrating. Such a light-weight framework is too way light-touch, they believe. It is business-, not community-oriented, and it will become much harder to protect prime growing and organic land from development.
Speaking (ahead of the framework’s official publication) at a one-day conference on Food and Spatial Planning organised by Sustain and the Royal Institute of Town Planning (RITP) on 15th July, Friends of the Earth food campaigner Helen Rimmer, called it “an assault on the planning process”.
Suzanne Natelson of Sustain’s Local Action on Food also expressed concern at the pro-development turn and said Sustain “will be working to influence it”. Sustain already published a report on Good Planning for Good Food, and its cooperation with the RITP has led to the latter developing guidelines on food for planners.
A major taking point of draft framework is how it defines ‘sustainable development’. According to Damian Carrington, writing in The Guardian, the definition provided is “heavily weighted on saying yes to all building work and rather light on avoiding harmful developments”.
Carrington picks out the phrase “a presumption in favour of sustainable development”, and reads it as “development plans – houses, supermarkets, roads, business premises and so on – will be given the green light, unless there’s good case made for not doing so”.
Yet even when civil society and community groups keep an obsessive eye on applications to ensure no such good cases pass unchallenged, developers in the guise of big business have huge clout to mount appeals that local authorities, with coffers accountable to the electorate, cannot counter.
Business first?
Call food problematic and many people will reply: “Where’s the problem? We just go to the supermarket”. Sure, the globalised, retail-led food chain has made cheap food available to the masses in a way that it has never been before. Far fewer people fret about going hungry today than a hundred years ago.
Yet it’s more complicated than just hushing the hunger pangs. Supermarkets are the crucial, final link in the globalised, industrial food supply chain that has lifted cities out of their food context, and placed them in a global one that feeds off oil reserves and exploitation of land and cheap labour.
Food may be cheap at the till, but the bleep of the barcode scanner does not show the externalised costs beyond the price tag. The costs of infrastructure to haul food long distances, for example; the cost of countering emissions from transport and processing; of caring for people suffering the health effects of eating cheap food laden with fat, sugar and salt; of disposing of uneaten food and packaging; and so on. These costs are not paid by supermarkets, but by shoppers – not in store, but in their annual tax bill.
That is why feeding the city should never be left to supermarkets as a single, simple solution. Even when they promise to build new brand new apartments or fund a new classroom, the social sweeteners designed to wear down opposition will never be enough to cover the whole, global bundle of externalities.
And however socially-aware they may wish to be seen, supermarkets must make money – and that means having a high profile in places where there’s a demographic fit with their core target shoppers. If no supermarket is able to see commercial value in poorer, run-down areas, a business-oriented planning strategy could end up widening inequalities in our urban areas.
As Carolyn Steel, architect and author of The Hungry City, explained at the Sustain conference, the city’s problems are not viewed through the lens of food, big cities become food desserts, where “the only people that get fed are the rich people”.
In her view, “supermarkets were invented to eradicate the human – to take the human out of the food chain”.
And if you’ve got no humans, how can you have a community?

Source: Sustainable Food Blog

Monday, August 1, 2011

Experiences from the US

Farmers Market: an essential cog in local food network
After various negotiations, the market opened using a small, unmarked paved area adjacent to tennis courts at the city's East State Street park, near where the Athens Community Center now sits. The first market, held on a summer day in 1972, drew participation from three producers; on the following week, there were five. That summer, market participation peaked at a dozen vendors, mostly vegetable producers.
At the Athens Farmers Market this past Saturday, it proved difficult to count the number of producers and vendors participating in the parking lot of The Market on State mall, where the market relocated to in 1998. It still runs on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. year round, and the same times on Wednesdays except during the cold winter months. In recent years, during the winter, the Saturday market has run on Saturdays with some vendors moving inside the mall.

More info

The Local Farmers Market – A Lot More Than Just Great Food
In many places across the U.S.A. there is a growing fascination within the local communities that comes with urban gardening and the local food market. This may seem strange at first because the local market is a lot more expensive that going to your local “Super Mart” for your groceries but given a little bit closer of a look, you can see why this is becoming more and more popular.
First of all the quality of the food at the local market is flat out about ten folds better. Not only that, but there is a certain amount of pride invested in the food as it is personally grown or created, and taken care of.

More Info

Monday, July 25, 2011

Green Paper on promoting the tastes of Europe

The European Commission has today launched a debate on the future of promotion and information schemes for EU agricultural products. With the publication of a Green Paper on these issues, the Commission is looking at how to shape a more targeted and more ambitious strategy for the future, which will make clearer to consumers – both in the EU and beyond - the quality, traditions and added-value of European agricultural and food products.
Presenting the Green Paper in Brussels today, EU Commissioner for Agriculture & Rural Development Dacian Cioloș stated: "To protect the health of our consumers farmers in Europe face stricter rules on food safety, environmental conditions, and animal welfare than their competitors elsewhere in the world. The European agriculture industry needs an ambitious and effective promotion policy which highlights the added-value of the sector. It is also important for European jobs and growth that the EU agri-food sector can improve its position on traditional and emerging markets. We therefore need to consider how best to adapt our schemes to support this goal."
The paper raises a series of multi-faceted questions and invites all stakeholders - consumers, producers, distributors and official authorities - to give their comments and suggestions by September 30, 2011. On the basis of these responses, the Commission will draft a Communication for publication next year, which should then lead to legislative proposals.
The Green Paper is divided into four sections - the European added-value of this policy; objectives and measures to use on the internal EU market, including on local and regional markets; objectives and measures to use on world markets; and broader questions on the content and management of the policy. The various questions raised, 16 in all, contain different aspects and suggestions, aimed at stimulating responses. For example, they ask about the specific needs for information and promotion, both on the EU market and the external market, and what priorities should be set. There is also a question about multi-country programmes, and what can be done to encourage programmes with a greater European dimension.

Source: European Union

For more information, and to participate in the consultation, see the following site:

Thursday, July 21, 2011

What is a breakfast club?

School breakfast clubs serve food to children who arrive early at school, before formal lessons begin. The way in which the clubs operate depends on the individual circumstances of the school. However, many schools work closely with their school caterer or others to arrange an informal breakfast in a classroom serving fruit, toast, breakfast cereal and drinks.
Breakfast clubs have been operating in the UK for several years and the emphasis of different clubs varies considerably. For example, some breakfast clubs have objectives of integrating study or welfare support, some include play activities, while others focus on providing breakfast and a time for informal interaction between children and school staff, sometimes also involving parents.
A recent study of breakfast clubs summarises four main benefits :
•Improving health and nutrition
•Improving children’s education
•Meeting children’s social needs
•Improving and supporting parent and family life.
A breakfast club involves pupils, school staff, parents and the wider community. It aims to improve the health and well-being of children, as well as the staff and volunteers involved. A breakfast club also underpins the goals of a health promoting school.

For more info and a toolkit, please visit Food Vision

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Manchester Food Futures

Manchester Food Futures is a partnership that embraces a wide range of individuals and organisations with an interest in improving food in the city.
Its ambitious goal is to create a culture of good food in the city, based on the belief that good food is enjoyable, safe, nutritious, environmentally sustainable, and produced ethically and fairly; and that everyone in Manchester has a right to good food – no-one should have this right denied because of where they live, their income or their background.
The link between diet and health is undisputed. It has been estimated that dietary factors account for up to a third of deaths from coronary heart disease and a quarter of cancer deaths. This equates to approximately 900 deaths in Manchester every year that could be attributable to diet related cancer and coronary heart disease. Dietary changes could prevent up to a third of all cancers from occurring in the first place. Within the city, only 23% of adults are eating the recommended minimum of 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Obesity is an increasing problem and recent statistics show approximately 15% of school children in Manchester are obese.
The Food Futures strategy embraces the whole food agenda for the city – from improving health, tackling health inequalities and reducing the environmental impact of food, to building sustainable communities and strengthening the local economy.

To know more, please visit FOOD VISION

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Food: from farm to fork statistics. 2011 Edition

This pocketbook provides the reader with information on how the food chain evolves in Europe; it presents a range of statistical indicators for each step of this chain from the farm to the fork, passing from production on the farm, through food processing, to logistical activities such as importing, transporting and distributing, before reaching the end consumer either through purchases made in retail outlets or through the consumption of food and drink in cafés, bars and restaurants. Its aim is to give a summary of the data currently available within Eurostat s Food: from farm to fork database. The publication structure follows closely the approach adopted by the European Commission on food safety policy, and the indicators presented have been developed with this in mind. This publication may be viewed as a compendium of the data available within Eurostat on the food chain


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Friday, July 8, 2011

La recherche en action : Outils et ressources pour accompagner les circuits courts alimentaires

Cette journée s’inscrit dans la phase de finalisation du projet LiProCo (Liens Producteurs-Consommateurs). Au-delà du transfert des savoirs, il s’agit d’une part d’inciter et de conforter l’appropriation des résultats de recherche par les acteurs ; et d’autre part de mettre en perspective cette dynamique de recherche-action engagée dans le cadre du projet LiProCo. La journée donnera lieu à des temps de restitution et surtout des moments de partage d’idées pour mettre en oeuvre des analyses sur les circuits courts et conduire des actions en faveur du développement de ces démarches. Cette journée à destination des acteurs de l’accompagnement, des collectivités, des élus, des consommateurs et producteurs, des étudiants et des formateurs sera ponctuée par trois temps forts :
O Trois ateliers de transfert d’outils (méthode et analyse)
O Un centre de ressources où seront mis à disposition rapports, guides et autre publications
O Deux forums d’expression pour un partage d’expériences entre acteurs sur la formation et la gouvernance alimentaire territoriale
LiProCo propose donc d’étudier les démarches de valorisation des produits alimentaires et activités connexes fondées sur les proximités producteurs-consommateurs. Il porte sur les quatre régions du Grand Ouest de la France ainsi que sur la région Rhône-Alpes. Il se structure autour de deux axes complémentaires que sont d’une part les démarches de valorisation centrées sur le produit et la proximité avec les consommateurs, d’autre part les démarches de valorisation centrées sur l’identité territoriale dans les interrelations avec le tourisme. Chacun de ces deux axes déroule une méthodologie commune, fondée sur la mise en oeuvre de questions de recherche transdisciplinaires intégrant systématiquement sociologie, économie, sciences de gestion, droit et géographie
INSCRIPTIONS: ICI

Plus d'informations:

B. Berger (FR Civam Bretagne)  blaise.berger@civam-bretagne.org
o M. Poisson (LiProCo) m.poisson@groupe-esa.com
Projet Li Pro Co

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Is the CAP a ground for European disunion? An assessment of the solidarity mechanisms created by the CAP and their relevance after 2013 by Nadège Chambon

Published by Notre Europe June 24 2011

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been based on three types of solidarity since 1962: financial solidarity between Member States, Community preference and the solidarity of the Community towards farmers. These types of solidarity have been led astray or weakened over time while new measures favourable to European cohesion have been incorporated into the CAP in the 1970s and the 1980s: compensation of natural handicaps, food programme for the most deprived persons, rural development.
Whilst it was a pioneer in European solidarity, the CAP causes a division which peaks regularly during budgetary negotiations. The distribution of direct aid (a third of the EU's expenditure) crystallises criticisms: it is more advantageous to big farming countries to the detriment of rich countries with little agriculture; it benefits regions in different ways according to their territorial specialisation; it foresees a different system between the EU15 and EU12 until 2013. This situation gives the impression that European public money is badly spent.
This policy paper proposes the state of European solidarity mechanisms within the CAP, evaluates the relevance of it in the modern context and comes up with proposals to reform them after 2013.

Please visit Notre Europe to know more

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Why sustainable food procurement?

Why should local government get involved?
“Sustainability focuses on providing the best outcomes for both the human and natural environments now, and into the indefinite future.” 
The UK Government buys £13 billion worth of goods and services each year, for the wider public sector this figure is £125 billion (1).  This year, the UK's 468 local authorities will spend over £80 billion on day to day services - over a quarter of all public expenditure (2). 
It is clear that with such significant buying power the public sector can make a great deal of difference if it changes its buying habits, creating a large market for more sustainable products and ways of procuring those products. 
But why sustainable food?
As for all public sector activities, it is important that a policy can be shown to benefit the local community.  How food is served, prepared, purchased and produced can have a significant impact on the health of individuals, communities and their environment.
For local councils sustainable food is about (2):
• Promoting good health
• Having access to healthy food.
• Supporting the local economy by buying food from as close by as possible
• Eating food in season
• Sustainable farming, involving high environmental standards and reduced energy consumption
• Promoting animal welfare, and valuing nature and biodiversity
• Fair prices, fair trade and ethical employment in the UK and overseas.
Food procurement not only effects the wider global environment but also directly affects the health of the individuals who eat it. 
Sustainable food procurement allows both the healthy eating, economic and environmental agenda to be combined and acted upon . It gives local government an opportunity to take the lead in a field where we can truly make a difference to our local communities.

For more info and a toolkit, please visit FOOD VISION

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Do Mobile Food Markets Increase Urban Food Access?

Can expanding the value of SNAP assistance and implementing a mobile farmers market have an appreciable effect on urban inner city communities? Two metro areas are trying to find out. Camden, NJ and Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri have implemented programs to match the value of SNAP assistance as well as using mobile fresh food markets to bring fresh fruits and vegetables to inner city neighborhoods that otherwise are isolated in food deserts. Both locations have teamed up with foundations, nonprofits, and government agencies as well as a solid Food Access organization to create this opportunity. Is this a sustainabile model? Both cities depend on philanthropy and/or government funds for these pilot programs. A sustainable business model for community development may need to enter the equation to keep these programs going.
Camden, NJ
Camden is a highly impoverished and crime-ridden city located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, PA. Camden is a tough city, though it is filled with resilient people and a fast-changing demographic that is seeing neighborhoods shift from African-American to Hispanic. There is only one chain retail grocery store in Camden, located on the outer southern edge of the city. Inside the city there are corner stores, convenience marts, dollar stores, and CVS that provide food to the 75,000 people in the city, many of whom rely on public transit to get around. Across the river (5 minutes by subway) is downtown Philadelphia, home to the Reading Marketplace (a 7 day a week indoor vendor market with fresh foods), Whole Foods Store on South Street (a community partnership store), and the Italian Marketplace – with a 100+ years of fresh produce sales to the trade and to the public. Yet, Philadelphia may as well be on the moon as Camden residents do not travel there for food.
The latest response to bring fresh food to Camden is a mobile farmer market via the Greensgrow Farms. Greensgrow is a very successful social enterprise that has a nonprofit Philadelphia Project and a for-profit nursery and farm. Greensgrow serves the urban neighborhoods of Philadelphia with fresh food, SNAP benefits (matching funds to make food stamp dollars go farther), and sustainable growing practices for food and ornamentals that produce jobs. The Greensgrow Mobile Market started in summer 2011 with 4 stops in Camden, including the Rutgers University campus which sits in the center of Camden's downtown waterfront neighborhood. Greensgrow is offering up a selection of traditional summer fruits and vegetables as well as produce familiar to Hispanic families such as Jicama and peppers.
The Greensgrow effort complements the existing summer farmer market program that has 3 locations in Camden, each open one day a week that have been supported by a Greensgrow partner – AHEC The Area Health Education Center. The state of New Jersey Department of Community Affairs provided a $100,000 grant to get the mobile market going.
Greensgrow is using this summer program as a pilot to determine if their brand of farming, growing, and business would be a good fit for Camden. Their farming strategy includes raised beds (perfect for the brownfield vacant lots in Camden) and encouraging local residents to embrace the farmed land and gardens as part of the community. Camden already has a wealth of experience with small neighborhood gardens and backyard gardens with hundreds created over the years thanks to a cultivation program organized by The Children's Garden. The Greensgrow approach to urban farming may well be a good fit for Camden.
Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri
There are two places named Kansas City – one in Kansas is the smaller city, and the other in Missouri is the larger metro anchor. Each has its share of poverty and low income people in their inner-city neighborhoods. Cultivate KC – a strong, nonprofit, food access organization has teamed up with the Menorah Foundation and other philanthropic partners to create a SNAP benefit program for farmers markets as well as a mobile program to bring fresh fruits and vegetables to these neighborhoods. Beans & Greens is a pilot program that provides a 2:1 match for SNAP funds spent at one of their 6 participating partner farmer markets or in the 3 neighborhoods served by the mobile market. The mobile program gets to each neighborhood once per week. It includes fruits and vegetables that are of particular interest to Hispanic families. Upwards of 15-20% of the population in the main urban counties in the Kansas City metro on both sides of the state line is receiving SNAP assistance from the Federal government.
Beans & Greens also seeks to expand its impact by supporting community gardens in more urban neighborhoods and assist those neighborhoods in growing their way to fresh food access. The urban neighborhoods in Kansas City are considered urban food deserts. While there are supermarkets and chain grocery stores available in the urban core, they are often clustered at the edges of the core and few if any are found in the center which would be more accessible to residents, especially those dependent on public transit. Corner stores, convenience marts, CVS and Walgreens, and ethnic markets are available, but often have limited selection (if any) of fresh produce and costs are sometimes high.
The Beans & Greens SNAP match is an innovative way of creating a financial incentive for families to eat healthy foods. 

Source: Sustainable Cities Collective

Thursday, June 23, 2011

¿ Cómo protege la UE a los consumidores europeos de los productos peligrosos ?

La legislación europea garantiza una protección elevada y uniforme de la salud y la seguridad de los consumidores, para ello, los productos comercializados en el mercado interior se someten a exigencias generales de seguridad y, en caso de que se detecte una amenaza grave para los consumidores, se pone en marcha un sistema de alerta rápida: RAPEX (regulado por la Directiva 2001/95/CE).

Gracias a este sistema, los Estados miembros pueden informar inmediatamente a la Comisión, a la que deben remitir:
  • La información que permita identificar el producto.
  • Una descripción del riesgo que comporta el producto, así como cualquier documento que permita evaluarlo.
  • Las medidas adoptadas (preventivas o restrictivas).
  • La información sobre la distribución del producto.
  • Si el riesgo grave tiene un efecto transfronterizo.
Los datos de RAPEX contribuyen a:
  • Impedir y limitar el suministro de productos peligrosos a los consumidores.
  • Supervisar la eficacia y la coherencia de las actividades de vigilancia del mercado y las medidas destinadas a garantizar el cumplimiento de la normativa por parte de las autoridades de los Estados miembros.
  • Identificar las necesidades y proporcionar una base para actuar a nivel de la UE.
  • Garantizar la aplicación coherente de las exigencias comunitarias en materia de seguridad de los productos y, de este modo, el buen funcionamiento del mercado interior.
Los Estados miembros están obligados a utilizar este sistema cuando:
  • No puede descartarse que un producto peligroso se haya vendido a los consumidores en más de un Estado miembro de la UE.
  • No puede descartarse que un producto peligroso se ha vendido a los consumidores a través de internet.
  • El producto procede de un tercer país y es probable que se haya importado en la UE a través de varios canales de distribución.
Más información aqui
O en el portal de la Unión Europea.

Monday, June 20, 2011

European Parliament set to pass new consumer rights bill into law

Consumers and businesses alike should reap the benefits of new consumer rights legislation in Europe, with years of negotiations set to conclude with the approval by the European Parliament on Thursday (23 June) of the EU's Consumer Rights Directive.
Last week (16 June), the Parliament's internal market and consumer protection (IMCO) committee backed at first reading a compromise agreement on the draft law reached on 6 June between representatives of all three EU institutions, paving the way for this week's first-reading vote in plenary.
'Win-win' situation for businesses, consumers
"Consumers and businesses will equally win. We are a big step closer to a truly common internal market in Europe," said German centre-right MEP Andreas Schwab (European People's Party), who is steering the directive through the Parliament, ahead of the vote.
Describing the directive as "a good compromise between necessary consumer rights and justified business interests," Schwab said it would serve as an example of where "more Europe" benefits shoppers and traders alike.
Brussels has been wrestling with the legislation since it was first tabled by the European Commission back in 2008 (see ‘Background').
"More safety for consumers shopping online and common rules for businesses – these are the headlines of the political agreement between the Parliament and the Council on the Consumer Rights Directive," said Schwab.
An EU-wide right for consumers to change their minds about purchase decisions within two weeks and clearer pricing rules for Internet sales were among changes made to the draft legislation by representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission and member states in trialogue talks earlier this month.
That deal was backed unanimously by the IMCO committee with 28 votes in favour, none against and three abstentions.

Source: EurActiv

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Plymouth’s pioneering local food project

A city-wide food project in Plymouth is set to be a shining example for the rest of the UK on sustainable food sourcing in urban areas. The Plymouth Food Project aims to help make Plymouth Britain’s first ‘Sustainable Food City’.
As part of this initiative The Plymouth Food Procurement Project is supporting local producers to supply fresh fruit and vegetables into Plymouth’s schools and hospitals. The project is led by the Soil Association and The Barefoot Partnership Ltd and involves a city-wide partnership of public sector organisations including Plymouth City Council, University of Plymouth and NHS Plymouth.
Plymouth’s Food Charter, launched in February this year, aims to promote a thriving economy, health and well being, resilient and close knit communities, life long learning and skills, and a reduced eco footprint. Over 30 Plymouth-based organisations are now signed up to help deliver these aims, these include; Transition Plymouth, Riverford Organic Vegetables, National Marine Aquarium, Gribble’s Butchers, Tamar View Fruiterers and Stiltskin Theatre Company.
The food and drink sector employs nearly 250,000 people in the South West and makes up 8% of total economic output. Food and drink is the largest manufacturing sector, largest retailing sector and is a key tourist attraction, accounting for one third of visitor spending.
Traci Lewis of the Soil Association, coordinator of Plymouth Food Project, said:
“This is a truly pioneering project which could provide the blue print for sustainable cities across the UK. It’s a winner for everyone involved. Not only do the residents of Plymouth get more fresh, tasty, good quality local food on the menu, the increase in the amount of locally produced food and drink sold into Plymouth’s public sector is great news for a thriving local economy and the local farmers, growers and food businesses who supply the produce.”
Visit www.foodplymouth.org to sign up to the Food Charter and find out more.
For full Plymouth Food Procurement project report and case studies visit www.southwestfoodanddrink.com