Policy, practice and action for local food growing: working with local authorities

This panel discussion is an opportunity to hear from the Fringe Farming project, city partners, and council officers about what work is being done at the local level to improve opportunities for food growing. We’ll also hear about the Right to Grow campaign which calls for legislation to give people the right to grow food on suitable public sector land.

The benefits of growing food in and around towns and cities are well documented, but there are still multiple barriers that need to be addressed. There is limited access to land, and the training and start-up capital to support new enterprises is difficult to find. Planning policies can also limit the ability of peri-urban farmers to produce and sell more and diverse foods.

Local authorities have multiple avenues through which they could - and do - support the development of urban and peri-urban farming, but often this is piecemeal and not engrained in policy. The multi-partner, nation-wide Fringe Farming project presents policy recommendations and action plans that local authorities could use to join the dots to make local food growing a reality across the UK.

Come along to hear from:

• Aryo Feldman, Fringe Farming Project Lead, Sustain
• Pam Warhurst, Incredible Edible
• Pearl Costello, Food Sense Wales and Food Cardiff
• Mark Walton, Shared Assets
• Liz Lambert, Cardiff Council 
• Miriam Turley, Social Farms and Gardens
• Sandy Paterson, Glasgow City Council
• Dav Shand, Edinburgh Agroecology Co-op, Lauriston Farm

 

See the presenters' slides here.

See the MentiMeter results here.

See the list of useful links here.