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Food and Drink
The food group is drawing on a wealth of initiatives and knowledge already having an impact in this area. Stroud has a hugely successful weekly famers' market, one of the first in the country. Find out more at: http://www.fresh-n-local.co.uk/
Even better, we have Stroud Community Agriculture, which is a co-operative of local families who support the farm financially and through their work and in return have a share of vegetables grown by the farmers they employ. http://www.stroudcommunityagriculture.org.
The farm will be taking on new families soon, so if you would like a share please contact Carol Matthews via email membership@stroudcommunityagriculture.org
Here something Carol enjoyed: you might too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGoWKVA87ro
Latest foodie developments
Stroud Local Food Hub offers a very real alternative to supermarket shopping by connecting producers and consumers directly. The collection point will be at Parliament Street School and there will be a trial run of the system before Christmas, building up from there so that the scheme is up and running by summer 2008.
The Vital Squeeze KITCHEN project, co-ordinated by Ody in communication with Jess, aims to inspire anyone to become creative with the abundance of food available to us locally and offers direct solutions to dealing with seasonal gluts of wild and cultivated produce. first pilot workshop on Sunday 16th (see Events page for further details). Some places left so get in touch if you're interested!
Four other businesses are working with these two in a co-operative consortium. They are Stroud Community Agriculture, Stroud Slad Farm Community, Leonard Stanley community supported farm project and the Community Kitchen.
On the arts side we have Ruth Davey's project - ProduceStroud - creatively documenting local producers to generate artistic material that will have huge potential for diverse marketing endeavours.
Food Co-ops
Setting up a food co-op can have lots of benefits: localising your supply, reducing your need to go to shops, reducing your car use, building networks and community, and possibly even saving money. A sensitive point this last one! See more from Dave on the Food Co-ops page.
Community Land Trusts
Community Land Trusts is another way. Research is being done by a Stroud-based group into the possibilities this route might offer to revitalise farming. The community buy-out of Fordhall farm earlier this year by the 5,500 people provides a great model: community land trusts mutualise landholding using a cooperative, non-profit model. By mutualising land we can enable it to be forever affordable to individuals and accessible to the community. Land is effectively taken off the market, rather than at risk of being privatised. Currently there is controvesy within the County as opposition councillors are claiming the Conservative County councillors have established a group to oversee farm land disposal. Conservatives deny they intend to sell farms but have not backed motions to support the current acerage owned by the County. These farms would be better off as Community Farm Land Trusts: http://www.communitylandtrust.org.uk
Local drink
Stroud has its very own brewery, see: http://www.stroudbrewery.co.uk/. Their three excellent brews are available at the following local pubs:
The Wagon and Horses, London Road, Thrupp
The Bear of Rodborough
The Black Horse, Amberley
The Britania Inn, Nailsworth
The Full Moon, Wooton-Under-Edge
The New Red Lion, Chalford
The Old Crown, Ebley
The Kings Head, France Lynch
The Old Neighbourhood, Chalford
The Queen Victoria, Stroud
The Ram, Woodchester
You could also try bottled lager from the Cotswold Brewing Co. (http://www.cotswoldbrewingcompany.com) or buy their draught lagers at the Woolpack, Slad, the Bell at Sapperton, or Egypt Mill in Nailsworth.
Day's Cottage is reviving the Gloucestershire tradition of making apple and pear juice and the alcoholic versions of cider and perry. Their produce is available for sale at the farmers' market or from the farm at Brookthorpe, near Gloucester: http://www.applejuice.care4free.net/
You can buy wine produced locally with locally grown grapes and other fruits from: http://www.fresh-n-local.co.uk/producers/stannesvineyard.php or from the Bow-in-the-Cloud Vineyard at Noahs Ark near Malmesbury (www. http://www.bowinthecloud.co.uk).
News
"The primary solution to the overall crisis of the world food system must be a planned rapid reduction in the use of fossil fuels in the growing and delivery of food." Richard Heinberg, one of the world's foremost authorities on Peak Oil, gave the Soil Association's annual Lady Eve lecture yesterday
Apocalyptic vision of a post-fossil fuel world An apocalyptic vision of how the world will look after the oil runs out has been given by a top scientist. Richard Heinberg, one of the world's leading experts on oil reserves, warned that the lives of billions of people were threatened by a food crisis caused by our dependence on dwindling supplies of fossil fuels. Higher oil prices, the loss of farmland to biofuel crops, climate change and the loss of natural resources would combine with population growth to create an unprecedented food shortage, he claimed. The only way to avoid a world food crisis was a planned and rapid reduction of fossil fuel use - oil, coal and gas - and a switch to more organic methods in the growing and delivery of food. It would mean a return to living off the land not seen for 150 years. The stark predictions were made by Heinberg in a lecture to the Soil Association in London. Heinberg, an author and former advisor to the National Petroleum Council, specialises in 'Peak Oil' - the point where oil production reaches its maximum and begins to decline - and the implications it has for climate change and food security. [….] Heinberg said what was needed was a return to ecological organic farming methods which would require the transformation of societies. And with oil supplies rapidly running out the full resources of national governments would be needed to achieve it. The amount of food transportation would have to be reduced, food would need to be grown in and around cities, and producers and consumers would need to live closer together. The use of pesticides would have to be reduced in packaging and processing, draft animals would be reintroduced and governments would have to provide incentives for people to return to an agricultural life. Land reform would be needed to enable smallholders and farming co-ops to work their own plots and population growth would have to be curbed. Daily Telegraph Business Click here to read Richard Heinberg's speech at the Soil Association's Lady Eve lecture yesterday.
Fury at new leak from foot and mouth lab A new foot and mouth scare left ministers facing fresh accusations of incompetence yesterday. Foot and mouth virus was found to have leaked again from the government-licensed laboratory at the centre of the last outbreak in August. The unit is run by the pharmaceutical firm Merial Animal Health at Pirbright scientific research centre in Surrey, which is also home to the Government's Institute for Animal Health. A seepage from the site was blamed for the August outbreak which led to widespread livestock culls and cost the farming industry an estimated £100?million. Daily Telegraph (p5) The Independent (p7) The Times (p15)
The Sun gets behind Jamie and Hugh's chicken campaign The Sun paper backs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's campaign against factory farms (reported in yesterday's Today's News Jamie and Hugh to reveal fowl play). Jamie explains that little has changed since the Channel 4 Dispatches programme exposed the high ethical price of cheap poultry in 2005. Sun columnist Jane Moore, who presented the programme, is filming two more Dispatches documentaries about food issues, which aim to challenge people to think more about what they eat. The Sun (p38) To read about the Soil Association poultry welfare standards go to www.soilassociation.org/chickens.
Charles Clover's Earth Log This week's Earth Log includes Charles Clover's comment on the politics of plastic bags and on Jonathan Shaw, fisheries minister's 'staggeringly inept' explanation as to why Britain should be allowed to catch more cod next year. Daily Telegraph (p16)
The microwave dinners with 'half a day's salt' Some supermarket ready meals contain more than half the recommended daily amount of salt in a single portion, a new report shows.. Seven per cent had more than half the recommended dose and over a quarter had above a third, a survey found. Even some ready meals marketed as "healthy versions" were discovered to contain more salt than the standard recipes. However, the survey found that the overall average level had fallen. Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) found one of the saltiest meals was Asda's Indian chicken tikka masala with pilau rice at 5g of salt per portion. Guidelines from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) recommend adults eat no more than 6g, about a teaspoon's worth, in a day. Waitrose chicken tikka masala and pilau rice plus the Co-op's chicken in Thai green curry sauce with oriental rice both had 3.6g of salt per portion. Both the Co-op's "healthy living" cottage pie at 2.3g of salt per portion and the Waitrose "perfectly balanced" spaghetti bolognese at 2.2g per portion were saltier than their normal counterparts. Daily Telegraph (p16) The Guardian (p7)
Tesco lost latest attempt to build a superstore in a Norfolk town Tesco yesterday lost its latest attempt to build a superstore in a Norfolk town whose residents have fought an 11-year campaign against the supermarket chain. Councillors voted unanimously against a 1,500sq metre store in the resort of Sheringham, which has no major supermarket and more than 100 independent local traders. The surprise decision was greeted with elation by local campaigners, who began fighting Tesco's plans to expand into the seaside town of 7,000 people in 1996. "We've seen democracy at its best today," said Janet Farrow, chair of the Chamber of Commerce. "The elected councillors showed a lot of guts. They voted with their brains and their hearts. It was a unanimous decision based on planning regulations." The Guardian (p29)
Radio 4 Farming Today Summary from the website: There's been another foot and mouth disease scare at the Government-owned laboratory complex in Surrey and although it looks as if it was caught before it escaped and caused another outbreak in animals, there is still a worry. The lab is also developing a vaccine for bluetongue disease and if it remains shut for long the drug may not be ready to stop the spread of that disease in the Spring. Charlotte Smith assesses the implications. Hear Farming Today through Listen Again.
This service is provided by the Soil Association press office to keep you up-to-date with the latest news on organic food & farming, GM and other relevant issues. We use a range of sources, including the main national daily newspapers in England, Wales and Scotland plus key websites and farming publications. If you would like to sign-up to receive this service click here. If you want to unsubscribe, please email cturton@soilassociation.org or call 0117 914 2448. To read past issues of Today's News online click here. To read about up coming Soil Association and related events click here.
LINKS
http://www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/jamie-oliver/jamie-at-home/growing-guides/index.html
http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com
http://www.eattheseasons.co.uk http://sustnable.woodcraft.org.uk - seasonal food calendar - very useful !
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/in_season
codex alimentarius http://www.natural-health-information-centre.com/codex-alimentarius.html http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5266884912495233634