Fringe Farming: Agroecology at Sheffield's edge
Read ShefFood, Shared Assets and Sustain's joint findings and action plan to develop agroecological market gardens at the edge of Sheffield city
As part of the UK-wide Fringe Farming project, Sustain has worked with ShefFood and Shared Assets in 2021 to explore and understand the barriers and opportunities for agroecological peri-urban farming in the Sheffield region through desk research and action planning with stakeholders. This briefing summarises key findings and recommendations including an action plan to take these forward.
The briefing sets out a strong business case for enabling ‘fringe farming’ to expand in the area, to become a mainstay of a sustainable, just, localised food economy, providing good jobs, education and training, better access to nature, and high quality, affordable food for all, contributing to greater resilience of the city region.
The document also provides information on the current picture of agroecology in the Sheffield region, existing regional governance commitments, and case studies from Sheffield and elsewhere as sources of inspiration for future mobilisations.
Findings from this briefing focused on the Sheffield region will feed into a collaborative process, that includes action research in Bristol, Glasgow, and London, to generate best practice and policy recommendations for agroecological peri-urban farming across the UK.
Key Asks for Sheffield City Council / South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority include:
- Develop a City & Regional Food Strategy
- Provide access to the Carter Jonas Land Asset Review
- For the Sheffield City Region to announce itself as an ‘Agroecological City Region’
- Develop an integrated horticultural and agricultural training system
- Food champions and opportunities for every neighbourhood
Published Monday 4 October 2021
Fringe Farming: The Fringe Farming project is a collaboration with partners across the UK to understand barriers, identify land opportunities and local actions, and develop national policy to enable agroecological farming at the edge of cities as part of a green economic recovery.
