An innovative new project is set to explore the benefits of local food to the local community, economy and the countryside around Totnes.  The project, part of a national initiative led by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) [1] will pilot new ways of mapping the local food network, or ‘food web’ [2] in and around the town [3].

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LOCAL FOOD – YOUR HELP NEEDED

A public meeting will be held at 7pm on Monday 19 January at the Methodist Church, Fore Street, Totnes (View Map) to launch the project in the town and to recruit volunteers to join an active team in leading the research locally.
All those interested in finding out more about the project are invited to attend. Please contact Jenny Gellatly at jennyg@cpre.org.uk

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Jenny Gellatly, CPRE’s new South West regional coordinator for the project, said:

‘This is a fantastic opportunity to find out about the local food network here – including producers, suppliers and growers – and to support and strengthen it for the future. There’s already a great deal of interest in Totnes and we’re looking forward to many more people coming along and getting involved.’

The project has strong backing from the Totnes Transition Towns group [4]:

‘Transition Town Totnes welcomes the arrival of this innovative and well-planned project in our town.  Our Food Group are excited by the opportunities it gives us to actively rebuild the thinning local food economy, which used to be a strong feature of this town,’ said Rob Hopkins.

The project is supported nationally and locally by Big Lottery funding as part of the Making Local Food Work programme, which aims to reconnect people with the land through food and community enterprise [5].

At the meeting it is hoped more volunteers will be recruited to form a ‘Local Research Team’.  Volunteers will be needed for many different roles including steering the project, interviewing local shoppers, sellers and producers of local food, and running workshops for local residents.
 
‘The meeting will be a great chance to find out more about the project, to join the team of volunteers and to see how the findings could support and develop the local food web in and around Totnes,’ Jenny Gellatly concluded.

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Bill Bryson. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen. www.cpre.org.uk

2. A food web consists of the links between farmers and growers, processors, suppliers, local food shops as well as other local food providers (such as farmers markets, box schemes, community supported agriculture and food cooperatives) through to consumers.

3. The Mapping Local Food Webs project is a new national initiative to engage the skills and knowledge of local people to research the spread of local food networks from consumer to producer and their impact on the local community, economy and the countryside.  In total the project will cover thirty towns and cities across England.  It aims to achieve better understanding of the challenges facing local food networks, to build links within communities between residents, shopkeepers, food producers and policy makers, and to create opportunities to influence local, regional and national policy and planning decisions.  The project will be in its pilot phase in six regions from January to March 2009.  The pilot in the South West is taking place in Totnes and the surrounding area.  The project forms part of the Making Local Food Work programme funded by the Big Lottery from 2007-2012.  The project is led by CPRE with the support of Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming. www.sustainweb.org

4. For more information about Transition Town Totnes see www.totnes.transitionnetwork.org

5. Making Local Food Work is a 5-year, Big Lottery-funded programme aiming to reconnect people with the land through food and community enterprise. A consortium of seven organisations, led by the Plunkett Foundation, is pooling its expertise to develop and promote different types of community food enterprise, giving advice to people all over England looking to re-engage and help others access good, fresh, local produce with clear origins. Our vision is to secure the long term future of thriving communities that are strongly connected with land, that understand where their food comes from and are empowered to respond to their own needs using community-led solutions. For more information, please go to www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk