Publications on local food issues

Knead to Know, the Real Bread starter - baking bread for your local community

Knead to Know: the Real Bread starter is the only book dedicated to helping you on the path to success in bringing Real Bread to the heart of your local community.

01/06/2013

A Growing Trade - a guide for community groups growing food to sell in our towns and cities

This Local Action on Food report highlights the commercial opportunities for community grown food and showcases initiatives that are doing it already. The report shows examples of food that is being produced as close to the market place as possible and the opportunities for community food growing projects to make links more widely in the community as well as generate income to contribute towards project costs and to lift the ambitions of the people involved.

08/06/2012

Food Supply and Distribution - evaluation of this strand of the Making Local Food Work programme

Independent evaluation of the Food Supply and Distribution strand of the Making Local Food Work programme, conducted by Dr Stuart Jones of the Programme for Community Regeneration at the University of Glamorgan

27/03/2012

Capital Growth monitoring survey findings, Feb 2012

This report presents feedback from Capital Growth food-growing spaces between October 2010 and October 2011. The first 1,000 Capital Growth spaces were asked to provide feedback on their projects, the support they have received and the wider impact of food growing. In total, 727 groups completed the survey, whose food growing sites involve 32,026 people across London.

28/02/2012

Local Food Links: The first 10 years

A review of the development of Local Food Links by Tim Crabtree, its former director and one of the founders of the Bridport Centre for Local Food. The report charts the development of a social enterprise from the trading arm of a charity to an independent organisation focused on providing nutritious school meals made with local food.

15/06/2011

Buywell Retail Project - final report

The Buywell Retail project aimed to support local convenience stores to improve access to fresh, affordable and sustainable fruit and veg in low-income areas of London. This report outlines what we did, what happened as a result (often with very successful increase in provision and sales of fresh fruit and veg), and what we learned from the pilot project.

01/03/2010

An investigation into the workings of small-scale food hubs

One of the key challenges facing local food is the issue of economically viable and sustainable distribution. This report analyses 11 small-scale community-run food hubs, examining what they share in common, how they differ, and how the organisers have sought to overcome the challenges they face

01/11/2009

Building a Sustainable Food Hub - three reports on research into community food enterprises

These three combined reports share the learning from pioneering projects taking part in the Food Supply and Distribution strand of the Making Local Food Work programme. It explores different elements that can form part of buidling a sustainable food hub and looks at some of the challenges and issues that they face. In particular, it looks at issues around supplying food access projects, distributing surplus from allotments; and adding value through catering services.

01/11/2009

Finding the Plot: Access to land for food growing groups in urban areas

Report and workshop notes from an event jointly organised by Sustain's Local Action on Food network and The Women's Environmental Network, organised to facilitate knowledge exchange and skills acquisition, for community groups and individuals that are facing challenges in finding land for community food production.

21/10/2009

Protecting our Orchard Heritage - a good practice guide for managing orchard projects

This publication aims to help orchard projects by supporting practitioners and local communities to enhance, protect and celebrate orchards.

01/02/2008

Capital Eats: An analysis of London's food economy

The complexities and significance of the food sector in London is summarised in this report. Europe's biggest city contains a quarter of the UK population, half the nation's restaurants covering a huge range of national cuisines and around 60,000 registered food businesses. Some 10% of all jobs in London are linked to the food sector, and farming, while a tiny part of the capital's GDP, covers about 12,000 hectares of Greater London's land area. 'Capital Eats' offers statistics, analysis and policy options for making London's food system more sustainable and more diverse. Sectors include farming, retail, manufacturing, catering, wholesale and farmers' markets and social enterprises.

30/06/2004

Food and Planning: How London's planners can improve access to healthy and sustainable food

Planners have an influential role to play in making it possible for people to enjoy good, fresh food that is affordable and readily accessible. This document presents guidance from the London Development Agency on how planners can help to improve access to healthy and affordable food for people living in deprived areas of London. It contains a wealth of ideas, drawing on examples of what local authorities and organisations have done and the lessons learnt.

01/03/2004

Food With Latitude: A report exploring food project links across the North-South divide

This report, written in partnership with Oxfam, describes research into links between community food projects in the North and South of the globe. It considers the benefits of sharing knowledge, since people in poverty are often dealing with similar barriers to food security, no matter where they live. Using case studies, the report suggests that establishing links could provide an as yet untapped and innovative solution to some of the problems caused by increasing globalisation.

01/01/2002

Briefing: Local Food - benefits, obstacles and opportunities

This paper gives an overview of what local food economies are, the benefits of and obstacles to more local food, and the priority measures needed to support local food economies.

01/01/2002

Reaching the Parts... Community mapping: Working together to tackle social exclusion and food poverty

Community Mapping uses participatory appraisal methods to enable local people to analyse their food economies and work with others to develop sustainable solutions to the problems they face in eating a healthy diet. This full colour report illustrates the process and findings of the pilot projects in Brighton, Coventry and Leicester. It concludes with a range of recommendations to help tackle food poverty and increase people's control over their communities.

01/01/2002

Hunger from the inside: The experience of food poverty in the UK

This report demonstrates the benefits of putting communities at the heart of action to tackle food poverty and social exclusion. Through the words of participants who took part in Sustain's Community Mapping project the report reveals how the depth and breadth of peoples experiences can be harnessed towards positive action and policy development. It highlights the disparities between what is being done, what is not being done and what should be done at local regional and national levels and encourages more Community Mapping.

01/01/2002

SRBs to PCTs: Understanding local structures and area-based initiatives to tackle food poverty

Are you up to speed with your 'SRBs', your 'RDAs' and your 'LSPs'? Do you know your Neighbourhood Renewal from your Community Chest? And can you explain the difference between a PCT and PCG? If not, and if your work involves improving diets and health through increasing access to food at a local level, then this report is for you! This comprehensive report aims to provide an easy-to-follow reference guide to relevant policy, agencies, funds and schemes which could support food poverty work at the local level.

01/01/2002

Making Links: A Toolkit for Local Food Projects (revised edition)

This revised and updated pack is stuffed with information and inspiration for starting up or developing a successful community food project to improve access to good quality, affordable food.

01/01/2001

Food Poverty: Policy Options for the new Millennium

This report revisits the issues raised in the first Sustain report Food Poverty: What are the policy options? published in 1998. It looks at what has changed, where there has been progress - and where progress has been lacking. Most important, it sets out what is needed now, early in the new Millennium, to ensure that no-one in the UK is denied access to a varied and nutritious diet.

01/01/2001

Community Food Projects: A directory of projects on the Food Poverty Database

Published in 2003, this directory lists over 260 community projects from the Food Poverty Projects Database. The database is managed by Sustain's Food Poverty Network, in collaboration with the Health Development Agency.

01/01/2001

Too Much and Too Little? Debates on surplus food redistribution

Surplus food, such as food approaching its sell-by date or agricultural produce taken off the market to stabilise prices, is redistributed to poor people through homelessness projects, charities, local authorities and schools. But is this a good solution or could it perpetuate the problems of waste and poverty? Aiming to stimulate the debate, this report looks at the variety of schemes in Britain the US and Europe, and examines the policy options.

01/01/2000

Developing Local Networks to Tackle Food Poverty

A summary report covering five community seminars on tackling food poverty. It investigates opportunities at local and national levels for taking action to address food poverty and its impact on health and quality of life.

01/01/1999

Tackling Inequalities in Health and Diet-related Disease

Developing successful inter-agency partnerships was the focus of a seminar to promote fruit and veg consumption among low income groups. Presentations by a government minister, a supermarket nutritionist, campaigning groups and public health experts are all included in the report, along with the policy recommendations and practical proposals that were generated.

01/01/1999

Myths About Food and Low Income

This document for community and health workers, and local and national policy makers, challenges the myths and assumptions about people's ability to eat healthily on a low income. Myths include, 'They don't know how to shop or cook properly' and 'They spend too much on take-away food'.

01/01/1997

Local Action on Food

Archived site section

Knead to Know, the Real Bread starter - baking bread for your local community

A Growing Trade - a guide for community groups growing food to sell in our towns and cities

Food Supply and Distribution - evaluation of this strand of the Making Local Food Work programme

Capital Growth monitoring survey findings, Feb 2012

Local Food Links: The first 10 years

Buywell Retail Project - final report

An investigation into the workings of small-scale food hubs

Building a Sustainable Food Hub - three reports on research into community food enterprises

Finding the Plot: Access to land for food growing groups in urban areas

Protecting our Orchard Heritage - a good practice guide for managing orchard projects

Capital Eats: An analysis of London's food economy

Food and Planning: How London's planners can improve access to healthy and sustainable food

Food With Latitude: A report exploring food project links across the North-South divide

Briefing: Local Food - benefits, obstacles and opportunities

Reaching the Parts... Community mapping: Working together to tackle social exclusion and food poverty

Hunger from the inside: The experience of food poverty in the UK

SRBs to PCTs: Understanding local structures and area-based initiatives to tackle food poverty

Making Links: A Toolkit for Local Food Projects (revised edition)

Food Poverty: Policy Options for the new Millennium

Community Food Projects: A directory of projects on the Food Poverty Database

Too Much and Too Little? Debates on surplus food redistribution

Developing Local Networks to Tackle Food Poverty

Tackling Inequalities in Health and Diet-related Disease

Myths About Food and Low Income

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