NEWS

The Sustainable Supply Chains initiative
An innovative project running in South Wales has now defined the 6 pilot projects which will test approaches to developing more sustainable supply chains for micro-enterprises in the food and drink sector. This includes a benchmarking excercise and practical advice on how and why to integrate SD objectives into business development. The project is managed by f3 and Ecostudio.

Hilary Benn launches Food 2030
Food 2030, the Government’s new food strategy, is the first of its kind in over 50 years. In it DEFRA set out their vision of what they want the food system to look like in 2030, and how to get there.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/food/strategy/index.htm
Peoples’ Supermarket Planned for London
Led by charismatic chef and restaurant owner Arthur Potts Dawson, The Peoples Supermarket in London aims to change the way we shop and buy food. Based on a tried and tested model from The United States, this community owned supermarket will be staffed largely by volunteer members, who will enjoy discounted shopping in return for a few hours work each month.

Community Dairies – Food Programme
Are small community dairies the future? Dairy farmers are going out of business at the rate of two a day because the cost of milk is the same as the cost of production. Could small be beautiful? The Food Programme explores the micro dairy.

Supermarket enforcer gets go-ahead
Consumer minister Kevin Brennan has announced that he has accepted the Competition Commission’s recommendation for a body to enforce the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP). Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said:“The new ombudsman will help strike the right balance between farmers and food producers getting a fair deal, and supermarkets enabling consumers to get the high quality British food that they want, at an affordable price.”

Office-based buying groups
The Soil Association Has launched a new initiative to support buying groups based at workplaces “Instead of dragging yourself round the supermarket at the end of a long working day, arrange for your local producers to bring their farm produce to your office. We can help you find local farmers, recruit members, and set up an administration system to keep things nice and simple”. Contact your Soil Association regional development co-ordinator for more info.

"Lets produce our own Christmas dinner"
This was the vision behind the group of 20 that came together through the Landshare website to set up Loxley Valley Community Farm near Sheffield and on 3 December they featured on Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage series. It was very exciting to see a community supported agriculture project on prime time TV. Congratulations to all at the farm who've worked so hard to create such a successful project . To find out more click here Loxley Valley Community Farm

Mayor launches competition to get London’s school kids growing their own food
London's primary school children are being encouraged to grow their own fruit and vegetables by the Mayor, Boris Johnson, through a new Capital Growth schools competition. The Mayor has written to all 2300 plus primary schools in the capital urging them to create thriving food gardens. Schools with existing gardens will be encouraged to start growing food, expand their plots or start planting food from scratch.

"Look for Local Food"
Making Local Food Work are rolling out their ‘Look for Local Food’ programme and need more shops in England to take part. Community village shops or commercially-owned village shops that have suffered from a recent Post Office closure or that are the only shop in their village and would like to increase their local food and drink offering may be eligible. Benefits include one-to-one adviser support, a guide to maximising sales, branded point-of-sale material and marketing support for new ranges.To find out more about the project email:-lookforlocalfoodenquiries@plunkett.co.uk

New Community Shops Network
The Plunkett Foundation has set up a national website and network for community-owned rural shops. On the website, shops can: communicate with each other, share ideas and experiences and be inspired by others, learn about setting up and running a community-owned shop, explore the shop directory to learn more about the 220+ communities already running their own shop.

Taste of the West Launches Food and Drink Academy
Taste of the West is launching the South West region’s first Food & Drink Academy which will run workshops, seminars and masterclasses to share knowledge and instigate routes to market for all producers in the West Country. The seminar programme starts this Spring and is open to all members and non-members of Taste of the West. Among them will be a session on how to grow a food or drink business, with advice from former Tesco executive Mike Seymour and Peter Greensmith, who has worked with Cow & Gate, Three Barrels Brandy and Baxter’s Soups.

EVENTS

Food Co-operatives Forum 12 February 2010, Birmingham
Co-operativesUK would like to invite anyone involved in the Making Local Food Work programme to the Food Co-operatives Forum. This networking event will include workshops and case studies, enabling attendees to share best practice and embrace the co-operative principle of 'co-operation among co-operatives'. This is a free event and the day will run from 10.30 to 4.30 with lunch supplied.

FREE Training events for CSAs
The Soil Association is continuing its series of free training courses for Community Supported Agriculture. Still to come:
• Horticultural training - 27 January, Bedlington, Northumberland
• Getting your CSA finances straight - 25 February 2010, Reading
• Building Community and CSA Administration - 27 February 2010, Sheffield
• CSA training and networking day - 18 March 2010, East Sussex
• Crop planning, pig and poultry-keeping - 27 March 2010, Sheffield

Free Training from Co-operativesUK
• Simply Governance 27 January – Manchester
• Simply Legal 11 February – Oxford
• Members, Meetings and Decision Making 17 February – London
• Strictly Boardroom 17 March – Manchester
• Simply Legal 31 March – Nottingham

fab! Action on Food and Wellbeing - New two day workshops
The fab! project aims to provide vulnerable community members with mental health problems with the tools and knowledge to help manage their mood and behaviour through improved food choices, and to work with organisations to mainstream food and mood work into their rehabilitation programmes and long-term core funding objectives.
Food Matters is offering a 2-day fab! training workshop ‘Action on Food and Wellbeing’ for support and development workers in organisations working with vulnerable community members. For further information, contact Jocelyn Dodgson at Food Matters on 01273 431 707 or email: Jocelyn@foodmatters.org.

PUBLICATIONS

Research on 'country of origin' labelling published
The Food Standards Agency has published new research about country of origin labelling.
Chief Executive Tim Smith said: 'This research shows that even though "country of origin" isn’t a top priority for consumers, confusion remains over what "Produced in the UK" actually means”. A new European Food Information Regulation is being developed to promote clear and consistent food labels to help consumers make appropriate and informed choices.

Government wastes over £50m on hospital food failure
The Government has wasted over £50 million since the year 2000 on at least 17 separate initiatives to improve hospital food, which have resulted in almost no improvement to the quality of meals served, or to their nutritional and environmental value. The findings come in a report from a coalition of health and environmental campaigners, who are calling for a new law to improve all food served in public sector institutions.

"Simply Legal": a new guide and telephone helpline
A new guide to help community enterprises with all they need to know about legal forms and organisational types has been launched. ‘Simply Legal’ is part of a comprehensive package of support and advice which is provided to new and emerging community food enterprises across England by Co-operatives UK through the Making Local Food Work programme. Alongside the guide, a new telephone helpline has also been launched.

CSA Action Manual - A Share in the Harvest
All you need to know about setting up a CSA! Sharing the Harvest

Food Coops toolkit

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