Memorandum submitted by Garden Organic (SFS 35)
1.0 Garden Organic
1.1 Garden Organic welcomes The UK Parliament
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Inquiry - Securing food supplies
up to 2050: the challenge for the UK.
1.2 Garden Organic is an organisation working
to inspire, encourage and support individuals and groups to grow organically.
This is achieved through research, demonstration, education and promotional
activities and we work with individuals growing on a domestic scale, with
groups growing on a community scale and with commercial fruit and vegetable
farmers growing for local and national markets. Garden Organic is a membership
organisation, with over 40,000 members. Over the last 15 years the organisation
has been one of the main research providers for Defra's Research and
Development programme on organic horticulture. The organisation also runs a
successful school education programme in over 5,000 schools in the UK.
2.0 Summary of
Garden Organic's submission to the inquiry
2.1 The role and potential of gardening and
home food production needs to be properly recognised within the UK
food system. Action and investment is required so that home food production can
fulfil its potential.
2.2 Support and investment in the UK
organic fruit and vegetable supply sector should be increased.
2.3 There should be increased support and
investment for the development of localised and resilient food production
systems - systems that depend on the use of renewable energy and are based on
the principles and practices of organic agriculture.
2.4 New food security policies for the UK
needs to consider the resilience of the food system in wider terms; not only
considering short term shocks to the system, but also the longer term
challenges facing the food system, everything from climate change to dietary
change. Food and farming systems for the 21st century will need to
be shaped to address the New Fundamentals as outlined by Barling, Lang and
Sharpe, 2008.1
2.5 It is Garden Organic's view that the four
points listed above (2.1-2.4) are all important within the debate and that they
need to be addressed to ensure food security. In this response however, we have
chosen to highlight the role of home food production in particular (2.1).
3.0 Gardening
and home food production
3.1.1 Production of fruit and vegetables in
domestic gardens, community gardens, allotments, schools and on other communal
land can and should have an important role in ensuring UK food security. Home production
needs to be recognised as an important complement to the supply of fruit and
vegetables from commercial growers and as an integral part of the UK
food supply chain.
3.1.2 The role and potential of food production at
a domestic scale needs to be core in the forthcoming UK food security policy, providing
an important 'safety net' within the food system by addressing availability,
access and affordability of food, fruit and vegetables in particular. Active
involvement in food production, at whatever scale, is vital in terms of reconnecting
people with the food they eat.
3.3 Encouraging and supporting people to
garden and produce some of their own fruit and vegetables will help to meet
wide ranging government objectives; environmental and social objectives as well
as objectives related to health and well being. In brief, the benefits of
gardening and home food production are as follows:
3.3.1 Home food production can contribute towards
ensuring food security by providing access to affordable fruit and vegetables
for people.
3.3.2 Growing some of their own produce will
influence people's dietary choices. It will increase consumption of fruit and
vegetables and enable more people to reach the 5-a-day target.
3.3.3 Organic gardening, including home composting
and home food production, will help to address climate change issues by
reducing the carbon footprint of UK households.
3.3.4 Providing opportunities for people to
reconnect we the food they eat will help to increase their awareness of food
issues, for example the real value of food and the importance of reducing
wastage of food.
3.3.5 The physical activity of gardening and
access to gardens and green spaces will improve health and well being of people
and support community cohesion.
3.3.6 Organic gardening will provide environmental
benefits by maintaining and increasing biodiversity, including the conservation
of genetic diversity of food crops, by improving the health of soils and
protecting the stores of carbon in garden soils.
3.3.7 Use of domestic gardens for diverse
plantings will provide areas for infiltration of rainwater and thus help to
prevent flooding in urban areas.
4.0 Actions required
4.1 In the UK the time is now right for home
food production to play its role. Current trends show that people are becoming
more interested in the food they eat, its quality and where it comes from and
increasing numbers of people want to garden organically and grow some of their
own fruit and vegetables. Actions are now required at all levels to ensure that
people's intentions are mobilised into practical and successful action.
4.2 The
actions required by UK Government for gardening and home food production to
fulfil its potential are as follows:
4.2.1 Ensure
that gardening and home food production are considered as essential
life-skills, with adequate provision of education and training opportunities
for children and adults and aiming for high levels of "food literacy" in the
UK.
4.2.2 Encourage
and support people with their gardening and food growing activities, through
communication, training and provision of resources.
4.2.3 Provide
access to land for all people, by ensuring adequate provision of gardens in new
housing developments, increased provision of allotment areas and community
gardens and support for landowners who want to initiate community supported
agricultural schemes.
4.2.4 Invest in research and development
activities specifically targeted at gardening and food production at this
scale.
4.2.5 Garden Organic encourages the UK Government
to initiate a national campaign to encourage the public to grow fruit and
vegetables in their gardens, allotments, in schools and on other communal and
public land.
21
January 2009
Dr
Margi Lennartsson, Policy Director
1)
Barling D, Lang T, Sharpe R. (2008) Food capacity: the root of the problem. Journal
of the Royal Society of Arts, 154, 5533, 22-27.
January
2009
