Local Food: How to make it happen in your community

[c.sage]

Local Food: How to make it happen in your community.
Tamzin Pinkerton and Rob Hopkins.
Green Books, 2009; 216pp; £12.95.

Book review by Colin Sage

Probably the single most important focus of activity across the Transition Movement is the growing and celebration of local food. Offering a practical expression of reconnecting with the earth, an anchor into the locality, an opportunity to exercise even a small degree of autonomy from the globalised economy, and the basis to connect with others in the creation of community, food cultivation fulfils some vital roles. That the growing of food should be at the vanguard of the movement’s activities is hardly surprising given that one of its guiding principles and intellectual inspirations is the practice of permaculture. Alongside this stands the movement’s conviction that peak oil and future hydro-carbon scarcity represents the inevitability of a turn to relocalisation. The experience of 2007 and 2008 when the rising price of oil (and gas) was translated directly into the increasing cost of food has certainly triggered a more widespread re-examination of national food security. Indeed, this has gone well beyond the ranks of those committed to establishing an alternative food system, with some government policy circles appreciating that the prevailing arrangements that underpin national food provisioning may require more strategic thinking than simply to leave it to the supermarkets. Yet designing a future food system that is built upon principles of resilience, sustainability and security for all is likely to require a greater degree of social innovation than ‘top-down’ messages about changing behaviour (by ‘greening’ the shopping basket or making efforts to reduce food waste). Rethinking consumerism will certainly be a necessary first step, involving the promotion of a more civic vision of the market. However, any effort to achieve a healthier, more sustainable food system will require the active participation of ‘consumers’, either in forming networks that will help bridge the ‘producer/consumer’ divide, or to undertake greater responsibility themselves to meet part of their food needs. It is in this context that ‘Local Food: How to make it happen...’ will provide an important resource.

The book has two objectives: first, it is a ‘celebration of the local food culture that already exists’ being largely an account of various Transition initiatives that exist mostly in the UK (although Kinsale features as one of the community garden stories); and, secondly, it is a handbook, a guide for those who would like to get a practical food project off the ground in their community. Certainly within its pages it profiles and acknowledges a large number of people and groups who have done much to initiate local food projects, and many of these pre-date and exist independently of the Transition movement. Yet, it is as a handbook where I think it is particularly useful: well-organised, concise, nicely illustrated, user-friendly, and with a lot of good advice for the budding community food activist. The book comprises 16 chapters, plus an introduction by Rob Hopkins and a 20 page resources section. Each chapter is allocated a theme: allotment provision, garden shares (with a box contributed by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on the importance of bringing together people with land to spare and those who want to start digging and planting), community gardens and orchards, food co-operatives and CSAs, school projects and farmers’ markets. Together they cover the spectrum of ways in which a concerned citizen might re-evaluate their engagement with food, while Chapter 15 offers ‘Yet more inspired ideas’ including the important topic of mapping local and regional food resources. Like any good handbook, each chapter follows a clear structure: an opening couple of pages introducing the theme; perhaps a box or two written by someone with particular experience of this area; then a series of short stories outlining particular projects – the origins of their idea and the actions that followed. Each chapter then closes with a list of tips gleaned from best practice on setting up that particular initiative. The ‘Resources’ section at the end of the book then provides a short list of recommended reading, the contact details of some relevant organisations as well as some useful websites.

Clearly there is much in this book to admire and appreciate. But I cannot close this review without a mention of two issues mentioned in the text that I find a little troubling. In his introduction, for example, when referring to the prospect of enhanced carbon sequestration Rob Hopkins writes, “Making food and farming ‘carbon positive’ would mean that it would be at the very least organic (emissions from the use of nitrogen fertilisers are huge and are entirely unnecessary)...” (p.13, italics in original). First, what does he mean by ‘at the very least’ organic? Does he mean that enhanced carbon capture by soils becomes at least as important as the (organic) food they yield? As we know, low external input and sustainable agriculture (LEISA) methods may (or may not) be certified organic, while a great deal of certified organic produce carries with it a substantial carbon footprint (from mechanised cultivation and long-distance transportation).

Secondly, the ‘use of nitrogen fertilisers are entirely unnecessary’? There is view that has been put forward, supported by scientific evidence, suggesting that 40 percent or more of the global population owes its very existence to the availability of synthetic fertilisers to produce sufficient food. It is true that crops may not take up even half the nitrogen made available to them due to excessive rates of application of N fertilisers and evidently increased efforts need to be made not only to optimise the use of synthetic fertilisers but to move swiftly toward more comprehensive nutrient cycling systems. Nevertheless, with an estimated one billion people in the world today considered malnourished and food insecure, and with nitrous oxide emissions expected to increase by between 35 and 60 percent by 2030 as efforts are made to increase food supply, there are likely to be few informed people willing to agree that nitrogen fertilisers “are entirely unnecessary”. Rob may indeed be happiest when in his garden growing carrots, beetroot and salad, but the loaf on his table probably originates with commercial cereal cultivation ( even if it is certified organic), and the bulk of our food staples are likely to derive from intensive systems for some time to come.

The second issue that troubled me appears in Chapter One on ‘The local food movement’:

“As with the intertwined issues of climate change, peak oil and economic meltdown, it is unhelpful (and potentially dangerous) to dissect and isolate any of the motivations and principles that guide, or the links that comprise, local food networks. If we do, valuable and vital elements of these food systems could be lost along the way.” (p.23)

My interpretation of this statement is that it is a request not to look too deeply into the transition or relocalisation movements for fear that they might unravel under scrutiny. Surely this is nonsense and suggests a rather precious view of what local food networks are about. Indeed, it is appropriate to remind ourselves that while the Transition network has spread in a rhizomic fashion in the UK, Ireland and a few other principally-English speaking societies, (and for which the mother node remains rooted in Totnes) there are a multiplicity of alternative food networks in place around the world that predate and exist entirely independently of Transition. Some of the most interesting developments include the anti-mafia gruppi di acquisto solidale in Italy, and the Associations pour le Maintien d’une Agriculture Paysanne in France. Most of them, I know, happily engage in discussion about their motivations and principles: indeed, promoting these is the way to encourage others to become involved.

So, on occasion there are some jarring moments in the book that reveal an insufficient grasp of the wider issues that relate to local food. But as a “How to” handbook this is a pretty good effort that will undoubtedly find its way onto bookshelves the length and breadth of Ireland.

Colin Sage