Promoting sustainable humane farming and healthy diets high in local, seasonal, organic food and vegetable protein
Where do we need to be?
There is a culture of producing and buying locally.
People have a developing understanding of what constitutes a healthy, largely plant-based diet.
Shops and restaurants offer local, sustainable and healthy food.
Where meat is offered it is of high quality, local, pasture-fed and sustainably and humanely raised.
People are encouraged to grow their own food. Children are taught how to do this, and there are local community growing spaces.
Where are we now?
On the one hand:
- Food and diet are responsible for around 22% of our carbon footprint.
- Supermarkets dominate the UK food supply. Most Bruton residents are believed to travel to neighbouring towns for their big shop or use online delivery.
- The UK is not self-sufficient in food production.
- Attempts to set up local food markets in Bruton have failed.
Whilst on the other:
- Local food and drink is already available in many outlets, with an increased focus on provenance in food retail.
- At the higher end Bruton has a developing national reputation as a food destination and is a key cluster in the Somerset Food Trail, which highlights delicious, locally produced, sustainably grown nature-friendly food.
- There is a resurgence of small-scale horticultural businesses and organic meat producers in this part of Somerset, with much of the produce sold locally.
- Many residents grow their own fruit and vegetables, there are two allotment sites and there is seed swap space at Bruton Library.
- Redlynch Community Patch is a recent initiative that models what can be done, (following examples set by Sexeys Hospital and Mill on the Brue).
What do we need to do?
Support, enlarge and perhaps replicate the Redlynch Community Patch, building on the educational possibilities to promote wider knowledge of growing food and vegetables.
Look for opportunities to establish and or promote local growing space.
Establish other ways of selling surplus produce, eg a stall alongside the coffee mornings.
