Food & Drink
Peter Norton
Herefordshire Food Links, & Bulmer Foundation
The last few decades have seen a significant shift in the way food is produced and processed, and indeed sold and purchased. People have become disconnected with the source of their food and rural communities have become isolated. Farm incomes have been in decline, an average UK basket of food items delivered a 28% less share to farmers in 2003 than it did in 1998. The current system favours economies of scale causing agri-businesses to expand. These intensive mono-culture farming methods requires heavy inputs of fertilisers and pesticides to produce high yields of uniform products.
This system costs the environment dearly, in terms of the food miles in transporting to and from centralised distribution depots and large out of town stores, in terms of the traffic congestion on our roads, (it is estimated that 40% of road freight is carrying food and drink), in terms of the landscape and bio-diversity lost when small scale mixed farms become unviable, and in terms of soil erosion and pollution, an inevitable consequence of intensive agriculture.
The consistency demanded by retailers can result in food which looks good, but has little substance. Fruit is bred for its keeping qualities, not for its flavour. Wheat varieties are selected for their yield, not their nutritional qualities, and seasonality is overlooked, leaving us with uniformity – the opposite of diversity.
We import large quantities of food from other parts of the world, including many things that we produce here. Swapping food seems to be the norm. In 2001 the UK exported 240,000 tonnes of pork and imported 195,000 tonnes. Particularly relevant to Herefordshire is the fact that, according to a Greenpeace report in 2003, two thirds of all apples in supermarkets had been air-freighted in from abroad, at the height of the UK apple season. Given that air freight produces 11% of food CO2 emissions, but amounts to only 1% of food miles, and given that orchards in Herefordshire are being grubbed up or left unpicked because they are not economically viable, we must surely question this way of obtaining our food.
Add to all this the social cost of alienated rural communities, and the case for food that is locally sourced and consumed becomes even more compelling. If all other factors are considered, the real cost of cheap food becomes apparent. We are paying the price in other ways.
On a more positive note, there has been a resurgence of interest in locally distinctive, more sustainably produced food in the last few years, and this appears to be gaining momentum. Most places now have ‘Farmers Markets’, where small producers can sell direct to their customers, the international ‘Slow Food’ movement has a number of locally active groups, including one in Herefordshire, ‘Food-Links’ organisations are raising awareness of the issues in schools and other public sector environments and home-delivered box schemes have grown exponentially.
An important consideration with regard to climate change is the reduced energy consumption of organic production. Two tonnes of oil are required to produce one tonne of fertiliser, non-organic milk needs five times more energy per cow than it’s organic equivalent, (Sustain). In health terms, consuming organic produce reduces the risk of exposure to pesticide residues, and a recent Soil Association report concluded that organic milk had higher levels of nutrients such as essential fatty acids.
What we can do
There are a number of ways which we, as consumers, can contribute to a more sustainable food economy:
Try to buy locally produced, seasonal, fresh produce when available from local shops and markets, farmers markets, box schemes or community supported agriculture schemes.
When buying food that can’t be grown in the region, such as tea, coffee, bananas, or chocolate buy organically grown, fair trade products.
Ask retailers and supermarkets how food products have been imported and avoid products that have involved airfreight distribution. Ask them to stock produce from local farms.
Set up your own local produce marketing scheme or join an existing one.
Grow your own organic food, in the garden, on an allotment or community garden, or even on the window sill.
Write to your MP and MEP, and to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra),and the Food Standards Agency, supermarkets and food manufacturers, demanding a clear labelling system showing the distance food has travelled, its country or countries of origin and transport related environmental impact.
Ask publicly funded canteens (such as schools, hospitals, local authorities, and prisons) to buy more local, seasonal, and organic food.
Write to your school governor, hospital trustee, or local councillor asking what they are doing to introduce more local, seasonal, and organic food into their school, hospital, or local authority catering service.
And finally….use the following pages to help you locate producers, farm shops, box schemes, and independent retailers where you will be able to find local, sustainable produce and experience the fresh taste and distinctiveness of food and drink from Herefordshire and neighbouring counties… enjoy.
(with acknowledgements to Sustain and the Soil Association)