OxFarmToFork

hello and welcome once again to the eat the system podcastI'm sure it's not just me. Does anyone els find that research plays an important role in their work. I don't mean we are necessarily doing it. But the links between food and health are based on medical research, the resilience of the food system is measured through economic and social research, scientific research analyses the impact of agriculture on the ecosystem. And we have a couple of potential university reseach projects in the offing.And of course every evaluation report is in effect a form or researchSo when I attended a community event this summer and happened upon a stall from the Humber Teaching Trust Research Team, and they were recruiting for a study around diet I did a little recruiting of my own - and Tim from the team agrred to join me on the podcast, so we could a little more about the ins and outs of researchTim and I spoke for nealy an hour, and went into even more depth, and covered more research that he is working on. You can find the full interview on our youtube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this month's episode I speak to Jade Bashford of the Real Farming Trust, about Food Justice, and how food can sustain not just the individual, but the community. The Extended Table project brings four organisations from across the UK into a single faceted initiative that realises the power of good food, and a good food system.There are perhaps a few key principles that make Extended Table an exemplar of a well designed project. It has a unifying idea that is realised in several different ways, capacity building is explicitly build in, and the evaluation process is meaningful. Of these it is the evaluation model that excites me most, because having talked to Jade, I'm not sure if I've ever experienced an evaluation that is truly fit for purpose. And I'm including ones that I've conducted. And if you need more convincing, extended table itself was designed around the learning taken from a evaluation of a previous project. learning that may well not have happened under a standard methodology Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You may remember back in episode 22 our guest was Andrea Freeman, a US law professor about the state of food justice in the USA.This month I was able to return the favour and speak to her students from the Southwestern Law School, during their summer school at the School or Oriental and African Studies in London.This is a recording of the speech I gave, some of these subjects will be familiar to regular listeners, and some may even deserve their own future episode. But for now, here is a introduction to how a small provincial food partnership cam occasionally thumb the scales of food justice in favour of its community. We join the lecture part way through, after I've given an outline of what a Food partnership is.Thank you for indulging me, and I promise that in the next episode I will once again be in listening mode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There was a time in this country when garlic was looked upon with suspicion, and more; I know becuase I was there. These days there are plenty of us who would consider the store cupboard incompete if we didn't have bulb on premanent standb.The Garlic farm, base on the the Isle of Wight has made garlic its brand focus. But more than that, they have embraced organic, regenerative and agro-ecological practices that have put them at the forefront of what sustainable farming can be, and needs to be.I spoke to Barnes about the two abiding passions oin the farm, what they do, and how they do it Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Farm to fork is something we've discussed already here on the podcast. If you are interested in local, even ultra local food systems then please do check out episode 20- where I discovered one of the most successful local food infrastructures. In the interview I asked Janie from OxfarmtoFork whether their system was scalable. She said, I think rightly, that it couldn't be scaled up, but it could be replicated. But that was here in the UK. In Germany there is a scalable local food platform, in fact it is already working at scale, serving supermakrets and consumers across the country. LOQL, spelled LOQL is an online platform that enjoys the kind of heavyweight support that we can only dream of in this country. In this interview I talk to , the Chief Operating Officer of LOQL, Clemens Tsalikis about how this platform works, but of equal importance, why it worksOne of my carefully considered hobby horses is scalabilty. However inspiring an initiative is, unless we effect widespred implimentation, it is functionally meaningless. Another hobby horse of mine is food system complexity. However effective LOql is as a platform, it succeeds because there is a large co-operative of independent supermarkets in Germany, who can make their own prchasing decisions, and of equal import, they commitment is to the logevity of the comany and their local community, not short term profits. In turn their is a cultural, poilical and financial commitment to medium size enterprises in germany that means even a multi billion euro business can be created by small business operators.How and if we can acheive the same or similar in this county remains to be seen. But if we do do it, it will have to be on our own terms Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does a community food organisations look like? Well actually chances are it doesn't look like a community food organisation. With the exception of actual food banks run by the Trussel trust everyone else started off doing something else: and they continue to at least try to fulfil their primary roles. Community centres, youth clubs, schools, housing projects, and of course churches, so many have taken on the burden of managing some sort of food provision. St Philips is an Anglican church in one of the outlying estates in Hull. With a history dating back over half a century, it is currently better know in the local community for attending to nutritional needs rather than spiritual needsIf you want, or need, to know more anout community food provision, there is a podcast that come highly recommended. The feeding Britain Podcast examsines all aspect of community food, and is a great way to keep up with the latest ideas and initatives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There is a circle in the food system that we are desperate to square. How do we ensure that farmers get paid a fair price while at the same time ensuring that food is more affordable.One example of this conundrum is our attempts to set up food buying clubs and Co-Ops that are cheaper than supermarkets, yet we are fully aware of the price pressures that supermakers are applying. to producers. And don't get me started on trying to compete with the economies of scale enjoyed by the likes of Asda and Tesco.Well the short answer to how we can square this circle is that we can't.And the long answer? Well hopefully I'm addressing it occasionally in this podcast - think back to the episode on OXFarm to fork.and in this episode I speak to some-one else who is helping to knock the edges off this conundrum. Karen Tozer has set up meat buying club that is sustainible, replicable and follows a community development model, something that is often overlooked in this space Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Once again in this episode, we will be crossing the pond. Andrea Freeman is an American academic and author. Her book "Ruin their Crops on the Ground" relates the history, and current state, of the US food system; especially how it affects marginalised communities. It is a story that is, at best rife with ignorance, and at worst, fraught with deliberate harm.You can purchase Andrea's book from herehttps://www.rarewaves.com/products/9781250871039-ruin-their-crops-on-the-groundor from their Ebay Store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This months episode is a sort of epilogue to last month's. After the metaphorical tape stopped rolling the conversation, between me an Janie continued - much of it on a topic dear to both our hearts, the role food in the school school system - from school dinners to the school curriculum.Because this wasn't intended for the podcast you'll hear a lot more from me than usual, along with some insights into how the podcast is made.Find out more about Incredible Edible Lambeth, and watch the film that Janie mentions, here https://www.incredibleediblelambeth.org/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If I was to try and describe the perfect food procurement supply chain it would go something like this:short, transparent, fair and sustainable.well in this month's episode Janie Bickersteth from Oxfarm to Fork tell us about an initative that hits all these points and some. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.