CPRE Shropshire
Protecting Shropshire
Mapping Local Food Webs is a national project led by the Campaign to Protect Rural England and funded by the Big Lottery as part of the Making Local Food Work programme. The Making Local Food Work Programme aims to ‘reconnect people and land through local food by increasing access to fresh, healthy, local food with clear, traceable origins.’
The Mapping Local Food Webs project is an innovative initiative to engage local people in finding out about their local food webs in up to 24 towns and cities across England, including Shrewsbury.
The project aims to increase their understanding of the size and importance of their local food webs and of their impact on local people’s lives, livelihoods, places and the countryside. It aims to find out more about the vital relationships which connect what people buy and eat, the character of their town and the countryside they enjoy. Finally, the project will use this information to increase support for more local food production and better supply in local outlets, and to strengthen and secure local food webs across the country.
How we define local food webs and local food
A local food web is the network of links between people who buy, sell, produce and supply food in an area. The people, businesses, towns, villages and countryside in the web depend on each other, and this interdependence benefits their livelihoods, their quality of life and the quality of places. Those benefits include local businesses keeping people in work locally and creating new jobs, food outlets providing places for people to meet, and farmers managing the countryside for local people to enjoy.
This project is using a working definition of ‘local food’ as raw food, or lightly processed food and its main ingredients, grown or produced within 30 miles of where it was bought. So primary produce – such as fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and milk – and lightly processed products such as cheese, sausages, pies and baked goods are included.
Why mapping local food webs is vital
We know the value a local food web can bring to an area through the work of Caroline Cranbrook. In 1998 Caroline grew concerned about the impact of a proposed superstore on her small local market town of Saxmundham in east Suffolk.
By mapping the local food web, Caroline was able to show just how important a healthy local food network was to the town. Local producers, wholesalers and food outlets depended upon and supported each other as well as supporting jobs in a wide range of other businesses such as builders and electricians. By keeping local shops open people had access to good affordable food as well as places to meet, which strengthened ties in the community. By offering farmers a market for their produce, the local food web enabled livestock to carry on grazing nationally important, wildlife-rich nature reserves and beautiful Suffolk river valleys.
CPRE published Caroline’s research in two reports. Food Webs (1998) told the story of her original findings. A mixture of local action and effective local planning resulted in the superstore development being turned down. In The Real Choice: how local foods can survive the supermarket onslaught (2006) Caroline showed how the local food web has grown and thrived since.
In contrast to Saxmundham, local food networks across England have been weakened or have broken down for a number of reasons: the loss of small, local shops and post offices, the disappearance of local abattoirs, the breakdown of connections between people and the land, the growth of supermarkets mostly stocking products supplied from national and international sources.
By mapping the extent of local food webs across the country this project will gather the information to give them greater recognition and support in local communities, as well as regionally and nationally.
What are the benefits to communities of being involved?
By getting involved in the project the local community can benefit in various ways:
- residents with better knowledge of how and where their local food is produced;
- more people aware of the importance of their local food network and the challenges facing it;
- new links between the people who buy, sell, produce and supply local food;
- developing skills of local people;
- ideas and actions generated to increase the supply of local food in the area;
- decision makers in local and regional authorities more aware and better informed about the importance of local food to people’s lives and livelihoods in an area, and to the character of the town / city and countryside around it.
What are the benefits of being involved as a volunteer?
Being involved as a volunteer in a local mapping project offers opportunities to:
- work in a team with like-minded people;
- develop skills, confidence and new contacts through a range of activities such as workshops, street events, interviews and farm visits;
- learn directly from shops, food producers, farmers and growers and producers about where local food is produced and how it gets from farm to fork;
- help identify new community-based initiatives to increase local food supply;
- work to shape the decisions and policies which affect the supply of local food in the area.
What are the aims of the project and key stages?
The main aims of the project are to:
- involve communities in learning about the extent and importance of their local food webs for their area;
- to share these findings locally, regionally and nationally;
- to support action and policies to increase the production and supply of local food through local outlets.
The project runs from 2007 – 2012 in five main stages:
- 2008/09: developing new tools to map local food webs;
- 2009: recruiting volunteers in up to 24 towns and cities to map their local food web;
- 2009/10: producing local maps and reports;
- 2011: remapping and reporting changes to each local food web;
- 2010 and 2012: publicising this work locally, regionally and nationally.
How mapping a local food web works
New action pack: new tools have been developed for local people to map – survey and document – the extent of their local food web, and to identify the impact it has on lives, livelihoods, the character of the area and the quality of the local environment.
Involving the community: the involvement of local residents as volunteers doing the mapping, or taking part in workshops and answering questionnaires, is vital to the success of the project locally.
The study area: the project studies the food outlets in an area up to 2.5 miles from the centre of a town or city district and the food sold that is produced or grown within 30 miles.
Involving local businesses: during the project volunteers visit and talk to local businesses that grow, produce and sell local food to better understand the impact of their work and the opportunities and barriers to supplying more local food.
Mapping includes these activities:
- forming a team of local volunteers – to carry out and lead the project work locally supported by a dedicated regional project officer;
- a public information meeting - to launch the project locally, recruit volunteers, and find out about the local food system from the community;
- a workshop – with residents, retailers, and producers to generate discussion about key local issues and collect information about the impact of local food in the area;
- a food shopping survey – of local shopping habits and attitudes to local food;
- a food outlet survey – reviewing and interviewing food outlets selling local food;
- a supply chain survey – reviewing how key local food items – such as vegetables, fruit, cheese, meat – go from farm to food buyer and assessing their impact on the area;
- an optional volunteer-led workshop – to report findings back to the community, and plan actions to support local food in the area;
- a final report – preparing and launching a report on the location.
What will the project achieve?
The project brings together people working for their community with a wider national project, the Making Local Food Work programme and national organisations to make a difference locally, regionally and nationally.
As a local volunteer working on her own Caroline Cranbrook showed for the first time that the local food web offered many benefits which could be at risk from a proposed superstore. These included: more money kept in the local economy; new jobs created and help for small business start ups; more foods produced and sold locally, with fewer food miles and less waste; a decent living for farmers and growers who manage the countryside; better access to fresh, affordable and seasonal food; a greater choice of where to shop and what to buy for everyone; protection of the distinctive character of local towns and their countryside. Caroline’s work led to two major reports and widespread press coverage, which has raised the issue of local food locally, regionally and nationally.
Locally the mapping process and final report on each location will provide the community with important information about the impact that local food has on the area. In each location projects will raise awareness of local food through the press, street surveys and workshops. This awareness can strengthen public support for local food outlets and producers. Volunteer teams with in depth knowledge of their food system could plan follow up actions to directly benefit their local area, such as setting up a box scheme, a community supported farm or shop.
Local reports will be brought together by CPRE to persuade regional and national politicians and decision makers that other food webs offer the advantages revealed in the East Suffolk food web. CPRE and partners in the Making Local Food Work programme will work to encourage actions and policies to increase production and supply of local food and to secure local food webs for the long term.
Contacts
For more information on the mapping local food webs project or to get involved please contact:
Catherine Webster
West Midlands Regional Co-ordinator
Mobile: 07739 332798. Email: catherinew@cpre.org.uk
Further information
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CPRE Shropshire, 11 Chestnut Grove, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 1TJ
07771 801681. cpre@cpreshropshire.org.uk
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