Community Food Growing
Community Gardens are a great way to involve the whole community, from children to adults - there is something accessible for all. There are lots of great local examples to take inspiration from. The Aberdeen City Food Growing Map details projects within the city and this map details projects in Aberdeenshire. There might already be a community garden or community allotment in your area or a gardening group you could talk to. If you're interested in starting up a community garden, CFINE provides help and support through the whole process and runs a community garden network.
As part of a new initiative to enable more food growing in and around Fraserburgh, several primary schools and care homes are turning over part of their ground where a whole host of vegetables, fruits and salad can be produced. Check out this link to find more.
NESCAN group members that have community garden or allotments include:
- One Seed Forward have a Community Allotment in Aberdeen
- The Secret Garden Society in Aberdeen
- The Compass Project in Aberdeen
- Earth & Worms in Tillydrone, Aberdeen
- The Vinery in Banff
- The Haven in Stonehaven have the Haven Plot at the beachfront
- Greener Kemnay
- Newmachar and Kingseat Community Allotments
Access to local food and redistribution of surplus food
Buying locally grown food is a great way to take direct action, by reducing food miles you reduce the amount of transportation emissions. Farmers' Markets are an option and Local Food Networks enable local food producers to sell direct to customers. The Open Food Network is a great example of this, as well as Ooooby. Better Food Traders is a UK-wide network that supports and promotes ethical food retailers who sell locally grown and planet-friendly food. Aberdeen Climate Action has details of some local farm shops and farmers markets on their website. The Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model directly connects farmers and members (customers). It is a mutually beneficial partnership and a great way to support local agriculture. It promotes sustainable farming practices and gives customers fresh, seasonal produce.
Community Pantries, fridges and larders are ways in which you can help redistribute surplus food in your local area. You can arrange to collect surplus food from supermarkets and local businesses. Local projects that do this are Deeside CAN Zero Waste Shop and Udny Community Shelf. Nationwide projects that redistribute surplus food are Too Good To Go and FareShare. In the North-East, CFINE is the local distributor for FareShare. Check out the Hubbub - Community Fridge Network to see if there is a community fridge near you.
You may not want to take on a food-based project just yet but would like to know more about how you as an individual or within your organisation you can reduce food waste, Zero Waste Scotland is a great resource.
Education, Skill Development & Campaigning
Helping people learn how to grow food and sharing knowledge about some of the issues related to food and climate change is a huge part of helping the planet and your community. There are some great local and national organisations offering support and training relating to Community Food Projects.
One Seed Forward run free training courses teaching people the basics of growing food and how to set up Community Gardens. The RHS has some fantastic resources to help in setting up a community garden, so does Get Growing Scotland. Social Farms & Gardens is a UK wide charity supporting communities to farm, garden and grow together. GOV.UK also has some great practical and governance advice but you need to take account the difference in planning laws etc. that we have in Scotland.
Nourish Scotland is a charity focusing on food policy and practice. They work for a fair, healthy and sustainable food system that truly values nature and people. They take a systems approach to food. This means working across a wide range of issues and levels; from production to consumption, from practice to policy, from grassroots to national. They champion integrated approaches to solving the big challenges of the current food system: hunger and malnutrition diet-related disease, exploitation, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. Check out their campaigns page.
Sustainable Food Places and the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022
In 2022 Scotland became a Good Food Nation. The Scottish Government set out a vision for Scotland to be “a Good Food Nation, where people from every walk of life take pride and pleasure in, and benefit from, the food they produce, buy, cook, serve, and eat each day.” The Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 provides the legislative framework that enables the Government to take steps towards realising the vision. The Good Food Nation ambition formally began in 2014, and after years of campaigning and commitment, the Good Food Nation bill was introduced to Scottish parliament in October 2021. It then went through 3 stages of parliamentary consideration, welcoming evidence and input from a cross-section of stakeholders. Not only did it come out the other side looking much better than it did going in, but it passed with politically rare cross-party support. Check out this link for some more background information.
Through the power of partnerships, Sustainable Food Places aims to make healthy and sustainable food a defining characteristic of where people live. In the North East we have Granite City Good Food and Fair Food Aberdeenshire. NESCAN is a partner of both partnerships.
Here are some further links to other resources and funding options to help with ideas and inspiration you may have about setting up your own community food project.
Resources
- 'Our World in Data' has a mission, that is, to make progress against the pressing problems the world faces. To do that people need to be informed by the best research and data. Our World in Data makes this knowledge accessible and understandable, to empower those working to build a better world. Read more here: Environmental Impacts of Food Production - Our World in Data
- TABLE is a food systems platform that sets out the evidence, assumptions and values that people bring to debates about resilient and sustainable food futures. They explore the data, the biases and the beliefs behind those debates in order to support better dialogue, decision making and action. Home | TABLE Debates
- The National Lottery Community Fund website details key initiatives, including food, and shares information such as the following:
Food, it could be argued, is the single most important issue impacting climate change and our planet's health generally. According to WWF, 69% of global freshwater use is for growing food, and 70% of global biodiversity loss is associated with food growing. Food production also accounts for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Current trends in population growth indicate that agricultural output will need to grow substantially to be sufficient to feed the world's population, putting more pressure on the planet's natural resources. We have to redefine both what we eat and how we grow and produce it, to put the future of food on a sustainable footing both in terms of its climate impact as well as other ecological considerations.
Food | The National Lottery Community Fund (tnlcommunityfund.org.uk)
- Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens Research document on the benefits of community growing, greening spaces and outdoor education. Read here: Benefits of Community Growing Research and Evidence
- 'A Growing Health Tool Kit' - A community food grower's guide to working with the health service.
- Eden Project Communities believe in the need for strong, connected communities to support each other and protect our planet. Through the Big Lunch, our network, and community activity. They're on a mission to create happier and healthier communities who are better equipped to face life's challenges, Their website is packed full of great resources.
Funding
- National Lottery Awards for All Scotland funds community food projects. You can apply for funding to deliver a new or existing activity or to support your organisation to change and adapt to new and future challenges. They offer funding for Community-led projects which can be from £300 to £20,000 and they can support your project for up to 2 years.
National Lottery Awards for All Scotland | The National Lottery Community Fund (tnlcommunityfund.org.uk) - Hubbub offer a range of Grant Funds related to Community Food.
Hubbub - Grant funds - Small grant funds up to £500
Pockets and Prospects Fund – Get Growing Scotland - Community Food and Health Scotland list a range of funding grants on their website. Community Health Scotland
Please get in touch with francesca@nescan.org if you want to discuss anything in more detail.
