Food Durham Newsletter July 2023
Why you have received this newsletter
The last Food Durham newsletter was in July 2021 and there have been many changes since then. You have received this newsletter as your details are on the Food Durham database. We would like to keep in contact with you and value your support in helping to create a food system that is good for people, the planet and the local economy. If, however, you no longer want to receive the Food Durham newsletter you can ‘unsubscribe’ at the bottom of the page.
Food Durham, the County Durham Food Partnership
Food Durham is the County Durham Food Partnership, whose vision is to help enable a food system that is good for people, the planet and the local economy. This is being achieved by leading a strategic and collaborative approach to good food governance and action. Our actions are delivered through the themes of food fairness and citizenship, food, health and wellbeing, good food economy and climate, food & nature. Food Durham is now hosted by OASES, Outdoor and Sustainability Education Specialists, and an advisory group sets the strategic direction of the network and is made up of organisations from the voluntary and public sectors such as Durham County Council, Public Health, NHS, Visit County Durham, Durham Wildlife Trust, Durham University, local food producers, NFU and Durham Community Action.
OASES and Food Durham are celebrating having been awarded nearly £180k in funding from the National Lottery Community Fund. This funding will enable the partnership to work strategically to develop a sustainable local food system as well as supporting communities to grow their own food. This will help to create a thriving local food culture in County Durham. Jill Essam has been appointed as the new Food Durham Co-ordinator and will support the strategic partnership, provide events and networking opportunities within and across communities and strengthen links with community-based networks by supporting community groups and schools to grow, prepare and cook locally grown food. The project aims to facilitate access to locally grown, healthy and affordable food for all.
Joanne Appleby, OASES’ CEO said: “Thanks to National Lottery players, this grant means that we can help communities in County Durham to access local, healthy and affordable food as well as contribute to combatting climate change through reducing carbon emissions. This will make a big difference to people’s lives.”
Get growing in your community
The new National Lottery funding, with some additional funding from Sustainable Food Places, is enabling Food Durham and OASES to work with both schools and community groups in 14 areas across County Durham. In the first-year food and growing activities are taking place in Chester le Street, Grange Villa, Sunniside, Barnard Castle and Ushaw Moor. A further nine communities will be engaged in the following years. The food and growing sessions will be tailored to the needs of each community and could involve support for existing groups, introducing growing activities to a new audience or delivering more specific training, for example growing plans for food hubs, developing a forest garden, or setting up a composting system.
Sessions have already begun at Bullion Hall in Chester le Street, where OASES are working alongside local community groups and have built three raised beds behind the community centre and have planted this new garden full of herbs and vegetables for summer and autumn harvest. At the TCR Hub in Barnard Castle, OASES are supporting a volunteer workday on 10th July to expand the usable food production area with reclaimed no-dig vegetable beds and polytunnel enhancements, which will support summer gardening sessions for young people. Working with REfUSE, a series of four sessions have started with Pelton Youth Project to introduce ideas about growing and eating healthy food and avoiding food waste. At the Ushaw Moor Community Garden, the first of two weekend garden science sessions for young people have started with the goal of increasing local community involvement in the garden.
Schools have also been engaged in the same communities. West Pelton Primary School has a new raised-bed garden, which has been built and planted by an after-school family gardening club and Stanley Crook Primary School has revitalised its grounds for food growing involving a newly formed family gardening club. At Montalbo Primary School in Barnard Castle families in the gardening club have planted up the school polytunnel and have been supported to start or expand their home gardens as well and work is ongoing at Newker Primary School to reclaim and enhance the garden for use in the autumn term. This is a fantastic start as the project didn’t commence until well into this year’s growing season!
The regional food economy
Food Durham is also a member of the North East Sustainable Food Alliance (NESFA), alongside the food partnerships from Middlesbrough and Newcastle. NESFA has been working on two regional projects; The Good Food Economy and Dynamic Food Procurement (DFP).
The aim of the Good Food Economy pilot was to grow the sustainable food economy in the North-East, stimulating increased demand for good food enterprises. As local food producers don’t operate within local authority boundaries, there is a clear need for a regional approach for an effective local food economy. This project developed a joined-up partnership approach to working across the region, engaging with key organisations and partnerships to develop and consolidate relationships.
The Dynamic Food Procurement (DFP) project is funded by the Dixon Foundation to raise the profile of and promote and engage anchor institutions across the region with the concept. DFP is a procurement system that uses innovative technology to create an open digital marketplace that enables shorter, more transparent food supply chains which will deliver significant social, economic and environmental benefits for everyone. The rolling out of DFP is a recommendation made by the National Food Strategy commissioned by the government. The food system creates a devasting range of issues. Not least, it is the second biggest cause of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for around a third of all emissions. A food system that includes smaller producers in the supply chain, provides transparency so procurers can make informed choices and ensures customer satisfaction is desperately needed.
The work in the northeast is bringing together anchor institutions and procurement organisations to promote the value of DFP. It is hoped a regional food hub can be established, which will work towards running a DFP pilot. A pilot scheme was run in Bath and North East Somerset. More details here: BATH & SOMERSET PILOT | dynamicfood.
Climate County Durham
Join Durham County Council as they launch Climate County Durham’s Facebook page and celebrate the work going on across the County to turn Climate Talk into Climate Action.
You’ll have the opportunity to hear from senior officers about Durham County Council’s climate action, ask your questions and share your story with the chance to be featured on the profile.
3 pm 28 July, Durham Town Hall, as we come together to celebrate the launch of Climate County Durham’s social media page.
Book your tickets now to join us
Tickets are limited, so please book early to avoid disappointment- this event is not to be missed. While you’re online, why not follow the page in advance of the launch?
Day of celebration
On 14th June 2023, Food Durham joined food partnerships from across the UK at the Houses of Parliament to meet MPs, celebrate the achievements of the Sustainable Food Places Network and call for better investment in a good food economy. The event shone a spotlight on the role food partnerships play in attracting funding and investment and delivering long-term solutions to some of the most pressing issues in our food system, including food insecurity, supply chain disruption and inequity, and the climate and nature emergency.
This gave an opportunity for MPs to hear directly from food partnerships about the role of place-based food governance structures in attracting investment in the local economy and in local communities, supporting their constituencies to thrive and prosper.
The Sustainable Food Places Network has the following calls to action:
- Investment in a food partnership in every local authority, alongside a food strategy endorsed by the council.
- A Good Food Bill in every nation, underpinned by an independent body to champion action and scrutinise progress.
- Investment in agroecological farming, small and medium size producers, and better routes to market.
- Investment in local food infrastructure and skills, and business support favouring values driven or social enterprises delivering on environmental, social and health objectives.
- Use existing public spending on food to support local and sustainable food systems and local food suppliers.
- Investment in children’s health and healthy food access programmes, including expansion of free school meals, healthy start and school fruit and vegetable schemes, as well as school and community food infrastructure to support growing, cooking and eating good food.
- Better decision-making powers for devolved governments to focus farming, economic and infrastructure investment where it can make the most impact on local economies and community wellbeing.
National news and campaigns
Lots of food system’s work is taking place nationally. Use the links below to read more:
- Planning for the Planet campaign: Our rivers are dangerously contaminated and factory farm pollution is the leading cause. Sustain’s new campaign is calling on council’s to protect rivers from the spread of factory farms. https://www.sustainweb.org/news/save-our-rivers/
- The Food Foundation’s Broken Plate report 2023: The Food Foundation's annual flagship report features up to date analysis on the state of the food system and key insights on how we can shape a better future. The Broken Plate 2023 | Food Foundation
- Why we need a national conversation about food: Henry Dimbleby, author of the National Food Strategy, talks with Sue Pritchard, Chief Executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, about how food policy is made, and how the National Conversation About Food can help address the challenges of making real change. The challenges of making food policy | Sustainable Food Places
- Right to Grow campaign: This campaign aims to change the rules and give people the right to grow food on suitable public sector land. Right To Grow – Incredible Edible
- Say yes to school food for all: Just like desks, books and bathrooms, we should give school food to every child. School Food For All | Sustain (sustainweb.org)
Events
Next Community Food and Growing Network meeting, Tuesday 26 September 2023. Venue to be confirmed. To join the network email: Lyndsey.hocking@durhamcommunityaction.org.uk
Food Durham Networking event, ‘Food and Food Waste’, Tuesday 10 October 2023 at the TCR Hub, Barnard Castle. Further details to follow.
Food Durham event, ‘School and community links through food and growing’, at Gilesgate Primary School. Planned for autumn 2023 but further details to follow.