Local-food campaigners at Sustain, the food and farming lobby group, have launched a new network and magazine as they challenge community groups and policy-makers to “seize the opportunity to create fairer, healthier and more environment-friendly ways of feeding themselves to help them through the recession”.
The Local Action on Food network, through its quarterly title Rhubarb, is urging communities to take back control of their food.
Ben Reynolds from Local Action on Food said: “Something really special is starting to happen across the country. People are taking control of their food - where it comes from, how it’s produced and where they buy it. Local Action on Food is bringing these groups together for the first time; from restaurants using ethical ingredients, to co-ops selling local food and supporting local farmers, or councils creating sustainable food strategies. There is a wealth of knowledge about what works, and the Local Action on Food network and Rhubarb magazine have been launched to share it.”
Local Action on Food believes that food has a major part to play in the nation’s health, economy and protection of the environment. Reynolds said: “Communities are increasingly waking up to this. Some are turning over urban land for food growing, such as through the Capital Growth initiative in London, or through the dozens of Transition Town groups springing up.”
The first issue of Rhubarb magazine was launched on Monday at the Making Local Food Work conference in Birmingham.
The Making Local Food Work one-day conference was held at Aston University in Birmingham on 30 March, 2009.
It is part of a five-year programme funded by £10 million from the Big Lottery Fund’s Changing Spaces Programme.
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