Funded by Defra’s Environment Action Fund, the European Regional Development Fund, and the London Development Agency, London Food Link (LFL) was set up by the charity Sustain to increase the availability of sustainable food in London. Zeetnat Anjari of LFL tells FPJ how vital fresh produce is to both the organisation and a healthier community in London.
Why is there a need for LFL and what do you offer members?
We formed in 2001 as a result of the work done by a food access project held in East London by Sustain. From this project, it was clear that producers were struggling to get affordable fresh fruit and vegetables into the capital and, in turn, people couldn’t buy enough fresh produce on their doorstep. The LFL network grew out of the need for fresh produce in the inner city and the acknowledgement of Food Justice, which is the right to have a source of fresh produce within 500 metres of where you live.
LFL aims to get more local, organic and Fairtrade food into London, and to celebrate and protect the fact that London has always been open to different cultures and food from all over the world.
We are a support service with more than 130 members and produce a quarterly newsletter, the Jellied Eel, as well as offering the services our members ask for. Our membership base covers a wide selection of organisations such as producers, public sector buyers, caterers and restaurateurs, and we have set up various schemes to accommodate their needs in London.
How is LFL supporting getting fresh fruit and vegetables into London boroughs?
The challenge of making fresh, sustainably grown produce available to London’s residents, and therefore creating a healthier community, is still a huge issue. This is one of the objectives of the Mayor’s Food Strategy for London. LFL supports organisations that are growing or making fresh fruit and vegetables available in boroughs such as Hackney, West London and Greenwich, and puts money back into making fresh produce available within the community. Westminster is mostly thought of as an affluent area, but near Paddington it is very difficult to get fresh fruit and veg, as the supply of food has been taken over by convenience stores. As a result, LFL members set up a scheme, the North Paddington Food Co-op Project which offers fresh produce at the price it cost to grow to consumers; now a fruit and vegetable box scheme and a weekly fresh produce store are both available in the area.
Fresh produce is key to LFL; in either a commercial or social capacity, a local offer of fruit and vegetables and access to them is crucial to what the organisation does. Hackney’s Growing Communities is another LFL member, which provides a weekly fruit and vegetable stall with produce from its two-acre site on the outskirts of Hackney. All the produce is grown without the use of pesticides and the scheme has organic accreditation. Growing Communities also runs a box scheme, but customers have to come and pick it up, as the group is keen to continue the social traditions of buying fresh fruit and veg.
How important is the farming community to London’s economy?
LFL’s work is about supporting the local food economy and making sure the community knows how produce is grown and farmed - it is actively supportive of assurances like LEAF or organic. About eight per cent of land in London is taken up by farming, and LFL believes that it is important to protect those farms. From an employment perspective, 1,300 people are involved in farming in London. The food manufacturing industry in London is about three times that amount, so if we could get the two industries to work together to produce local products, it would really help.
What problems is LFL facing?
Sustainable practice is fundamental to what we do and we are pushing forward greener food. We have recently published a set of sustainable food guidelines for our members and we have launched seven sustainable principles. The principles include recommendations to eat in season and to eat local, assured produce.
If caterers and foodservice companies could get into this way of thinking then it would really help both the local economy and the local farming community. The problem is that there are not many of us at LFL, and there are a lot of organisations out there that need us. Plenty of businesses in the industry are trying to join the sustainable push, but they don’t have the knowledge and people are understandably confused.
For local produce to really make a difference within the industry it needs to displace imports and we need to have definitions. English tomatoes, for instance, can easily be replaced by Dutch product by foodservice companies because the price is better - but the changeover may not be publicised.
What are the main issues affecting the fresh produce supply chain in London?
I think that the need for local and sustainable fresh produce has got to be supported throughout the supply chain. The large supermarkets have realised that people do want local produce, and foodservice firms and wholesalers have to catch onto that and make the most of it. LFL needs to get more foodservice companies in London together with local growers. Some growers are starting to cut out the middleman and distribute their own fruit and vegetables straight to restaurants, and this threatens the wholesale industry. But the growers really don’t want to go into London in a van every day, so we need to come to an arrangement.
I believe that the next step is establishing sustainable wholesalers; the LFL has got to work with the middleman and get them onboard. It is difficult because the market is so price driven; but a food hub has been established in Germany where wholesalers can add value to their product, perhaps via processing and packaging, so it could be done here.
I realise that this vision of a stand-alone building is an ideal - and we have no option other than to work with the infrastructure that exists within London now - but we do need to bring the food chain closer together. Particulary in London, we need to build relationships between wholesalers and producers - these relationships do exist now, but it is not the norm. Rebuilding communication amongst the supply chain in London is the key to a more sustainable future.
MARKETS TURN KINGCUP AROUND
Husband-and-wife team Peter and Joan Clarke have been growing vegetables and salad products on Kingcup Farm, Denham, for 23 years, but in the last eight years, their business has been turned around by their involvement in farmers’ markets in London.
“We grow a couple of different types of produce each year and then introduce the lines to the farmers’ markets we go to,” says Peter. The farm had a stall at London’s first-ever farmers’ market in Islington eight years ago. “We grow more than 60 different varieties of vegetables in small quantities; variety is our main priority. The people who come to the farmers’ markets in London like unusual and quirky vegetables, so we grow all sorts of things, like curly kale, chard and Jerusalem artichokes.
“We have found that customers at the farmers’ markets only tend to cook once a week, so when they do cook it is a special occasion. In season, candy and orange beetroot is extremely popular, as are our multi-coloured carrots.”
Approximately 80 per cent of the business is dedicated to serving farmers’ markets in London, and produce makes its way to five farmers’ markets a week, with the remainder of the business supplying caterers and restaurants. Before farmers’ markets exploded onto the scene eight years ago, Kingcup Farm was mainly a pick-your-own farm, and also sold produce to wholesale markets in London.
“Pick-your-own went into decline because customers decided that they didn’t have the time to pick from a field,” says Peter. “Farmers’ markets were a tremendous boon for London farmers, and they have given us a chance. We can’t compete with price per tonne from large growers in the Fens, but we can compete at farmers’ markets because people want local food.”
The diverse tastes of consumers in London has given Kingcup Farm the freedom to experiment with and grow many different crops - with the added bonus that they will sell at the farmers’ markets. The business has been making a steady trade with its range of herbs, namely Mizuna, a Japanese rocket leaf, and dandelion leaves. “London is brilliant because it is a huge marketplace on your doorstep,” says Peter. “However, we are on the urban fridge, so labour is very expensive and costs are high. There is very little horticultural businesses left and we get a lot of fly-tipping in the area. Also, the roads are very congested, and this makes distribution very difficult.”
YEAR OF FOOD AND FARMING LAUNCHES IN LONDON
The postponed London launch of the Year of Food and Farming took place at Lambeth Town Hall on December 6, with a breakfast supplied by local grower and supplier Kelsey Farm.
Kelsey Farm sourced local Cox apples and Comice pears from an orchard three miles from its Sidcup base for Jenny Jones, chair of the London Food board, and Sir Don Curry’s 100 guests at the event. The launch, which was postponed due to the foot and mouth crisis, included a talk from Simon Jarvis, assistant head at Rangefield Primary School in Lewisham, on how the school has been involved in food and farming so far.
“It went fantastically well and was very well received,” says Penny Beauchamp of the Government Office for London. “The schoolchildren from Lewisham really got involved in the morning and enjoyed talking about their growing activities.
“We have just employed a Year of Food and Farming co-ordinator for the London area, and we are looking forward to making sure that the initiative’s objectives are fulfilled.”
Bill Kelsey, owner of Kelsey Farm, welcomes the Year of Food and Farming, which aims to reconnect farming with the community and in particular schoolchildren. He has been running school visits from his farm and farm shop for many years.
“We take about eight school visits of approximately 60 children a year; the children love to see the farm and the shop,” says Kelsey. “It really fits in with what we do, as we also run a children’s centre on the farm site. It basically consists of a play frame, and we run activities. We also provide healthy food for the kids, including things like cucumber and carrot sticks and cherry tomatoes - it is very popular with young mothers.”
NEW GRANT SCHEME FOR LONDON
A £70,000 small grant scheme to promote sustainable food events in London has been launched by London Food Link and the London Development Agency.
The scheme will provide an essential boost for organisations in London, to help them increase public awareness of sustainable food. The fund will help deliver the Mayor’s Food Strategy Implementation Plan, published in September 2007, which aims to create a world class, sustainable food system for Londoners right along the food chain from production to retail.
Grants from £500 to £5,000 will be available for a wide range of sustainable food events, from helping restaurateurs to buy local organic produce to showcasing sustainable food at community events.
“People are increasingly concerned about issues surrounding the environmental and social effects of food and are ready to do something about it,” says Jenny Jones, chair of the London Food board. “The grants will encourage businesses and consumers to buy fresher, healthier and more affordable food, while reducing the environmental impact of London’s current food supply.”
KEEPING IT SEASONAL
The 21-aCRe Home Cottage Farm in Iver, near Uxbridge, is taking advantage of a pick-your-own revival. Growing soft fruit, top fruit and plums, the farm has been a pick-your-own facility for the past 30 years.
“Most of our business comes from our pick-your-own offer,” says owner Peter Hinde. “We started the business with pick-your-own and then gradually diversified into different fruits and nuts. Our farm shop is now open during the apple and pear season, and we sell a lot of homemade apple products such as apple jellies.
“Six to seven years ago, we started going to farmers’ markets, and now we attend two markets a week, on average, in Ealing and Marlborough. We used to go to a farmers’ market in Uxbridge until it folded - that is the problem with farmers’ markets in London; some markets close quickly because the novelty wears off.”
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