Food Economy
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Module 3: New Food Economy 20 credits
Module 3: New Food Economy 20 credits
New food economies pose a challenge to existing dysfunctional food systems, which deliver ‘cheap’ food with little regard for anything else. This module identifies new local growing food economies, from all over the world, based on regenerative farming that provide a more resilient and sustainable food system. More connected food production and consumption will stimulate increased innovation that develops shorter supply chains and promote healthier diets, more seasonal food, and more locally adapted seeds and livestock.
Module aims:
To analyse the present food system throughout the world, particularly the UK’s role, and why it delivers under-priced food to the underpaid, making us ill.
To identify possible public or private funding that can help introduce innovative approaches that steward soil, water, biodiversity and emissions and enhance nutrition and human health.
To examine regenerative food & farm practices from all over the world that have successfully regenerated local economies.
To link regenerative approaches on the farm more directly with new marketing systems, that establishes ‘local food economies’, which connect better with consumers.
To demonstrate how circular economies enhance ecosystems by minimising waste, promoting healthy diets and delivering better services to the local community.
Assessment: 5 x 250 word essay (10 credits), 5 x mini class presentations (10 credits) 1 x 2500 reflective essay or blog (10 credits)
Pluralist economics seeks 'to create and support spaces for diverse voices, perspectives and approaches to understanding and organising our economies to help co-create truly sustainable, resilient and inclusive ones'.
University programmes taking this approach include this Masters degree, among 20 in UK and 40 worldwide.
Henry (of PEP)
" Does monetising nature move our cause up the agenda given that money seems to talk so loudly."
CC at Bristol Transformed talking about how Britain's Food System is more broke than others and its particular impact on food & farm workers,
'Farming with nature' can boost profits by 40%. "Research highlights a framework, coined the Maximum Sustainable Output (MSO), that reduces input reliance by adopting a range of regenerative farming techniques to enhance soil health and restore biodiversity. Taken together, these measures represent a potentially significant reduction in input costs for farmers with beneficial returns for the environment."
Towards a regenerative economy "measuring outcomes is vital – it’s not ‘what do we do’ but rather ‘what outcome have we achieved’ "
#Regenuary Support food producers who use #regenerativeagriculture i.e. they use farming practices that "put more back into the environment and society than they take out" #FoodSecurity
Restore ecosystems build #soilhealth & #biodiversity increase resilience & #carboncapture
Farming the Future " Emerging from the agroecologial food movement, this alliance seeks to facilitate the power of the collective to build a system of regenerative food production and land use that furthers social and environmental justice"
How the carbon market can channel finance from carbon sequestration and storage to help fund broader land regeneration.
Organic Hotspots "the poverty rate for an organic hotspot drops significantly. The study also found that median income rises by US$2,000 in these counties.
Links
Links
Lots of potential to link with innovation at Dartington and beyond. .
Partnering with farmer networks such as the Land Workers Alliance could be very beneficial.
Also lots of 'Food Hubs' setting up eg South West looking for farming partners.
APPG Natural Capital Asset or public Good?
A chance for British farming to break a vicious cycle. Groundswell..totally different from..
Aldi to invest £3.5B in local food
Economics of Biodiversity Dasgupta Review
Government's Agricultural Transition Plan Sustain's Summary
Offset "Corteva works with farms to offset 100 tonnes of carbon - after teaming up with a regenerative agriculture organisation. "
'Table to Farm' movement Restore Colorado is working with restaurants who donate 1% of each bill toward grants for local farmers and ranchers
#startupvillageforum
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture Ellen MacArthur Foundation Food Initiative published The Big Food Redesign, that shows how food can be designed for nature to thrive. This is about the importance of circular redesign in food production and the critical role of FMCG companies.
New grants to help local food Grants of up to £5,000 are open to any local food partnership, local authority or community group in the UK.
Esmee Fairburn "It has been estimated that a minimum of £43bn of private investment will be needed by 2030 just to meet existing Government targets on nature recovery in the UK...with huge potential, but there are also risks, perceived and actual... from a wild-west of dubious greenwash, to communities feeling disenfranchised from land use changes.
Natural Capital
Natural Capital
'Natural Capital' is a term being heard more often. In UK it was promted by Dieter Helm and promotes th eidea that if we recognise the value of natural resources as 'capital', then we are more likley to reward those who look after them. "Helm shows why the commonly held view that environmental protection poses obstacles to economic progress is false, and he explains why the environment must be at the very core of economic planning. He presents the first real attempt to calibrate, measure, and value natural capital from an economic perspective and goes on to outline a stable new framework for sustainable growth."
Natural Capital Markets seeks to understand how new and emerging markets in natural capital fit into a changing landscape for farmers. Zoom Conference recording
None of top companies would be viable if they paid for natural capital they use "new study finds that the world's biggest industries burn through $7.3 trillion worth of free natural capital a year. And it's the only reason they turn a profit.
Top 5 industrial sectors by environmental damage. Look at those connected with 'farming'.
NB Always put S.American 'ranching and farming together'
Financing
Financing
Financing Nature Podcasts "Balancing Nature from GFI Hive aims to better understand how we can grow investment in nature and move towards a nature-positive economy"
Overhaul of Carbon Offsetting way overdue
Financing Farming Transition "the Green Finance Institute has been working with the finance, agrifood and farming sectors to support the flow of private sector finance to farmers be that through banking products, payments from food retail and manufacturers, or through payments for ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration or biodiversity net gain."
Farmers Groups
Farmers Groups
Environmental Farmers Group "Environmental Farmers Group is "a new company set up by farmers for farmers, so that they can work together to improve their farmed environment and trade confidently with business and commercial organisations seeking the new tools of Biodiversity credits, Nutrient (phosphate and nitrate) offsets, Carbon trading …in order to progress with their environmental obligations."
Aggregation Model Support "Aggregation models which bring multiple land managers together, provide a suitable mechanism through which farmers can gain access to private finance and alternative revenue streams for the delivery of environmental outcomes. They also facilitate the delivery and monitoring of nature-based solutions and environmental improvement projects at scale". These coluld include Cooperatives (more later)
Corporates
Corporates
From Land grabs to Soil grabs " The main culprits behind the soil catastrophe are now recasting themselves as soil saviours. The world's top fertiliser company, Yara, recently created an alliance to pursue "a new solution to our carbon challenge that's grounded in the soil". Global commodity trader Cargill is rolling out several new initiatives to support what it calls "regenerative agriculture". Others include Unilever "We want to make sustainable living commonplace – and we simply can’t do that unless we protect and regenerate the natural world." Nestle "We are investing CHF 1.2 billion by 2025 to contribute to building regenerative agriculture practices. "
Shell funding VENCE. Vence, a US startup that offers ‘virtual fencing’ for ranchers using regenerative ag practices, has secured funding from the venture arms of two major corporates: Merck & Co and oil and gas giant Shell.
Sustainable Soil Alliance "How can the gap be bridged between a ‘bottom-up’ movement that prides itself on its flexibility and adaptability, and the growing corporate and stakeholder ‘top-down’ demand for tangible, evidence-based results and accompanying metrics? "
Private Eye
No 1578
July 2023
Since 2019, companies with a combined turnover of $1.4 trillion have publicly committed to regenerative agriculture supply chains. As farmers, what do we need them to do?
Private Eye October 2024
"McCain’s commitment to 100% regenerative farming by 2030 means that more and more of our growers will adopt these methods with the help of the training and funding we provide. As a result, simply by choosing McCain, consumers are able to chip in and support a more sustainable approach to farming,” 1 min advert
Food sector making “more promises than progress” on regen agriculture 8.9ha
"Only 4 of the 50 companies assessed have committed to de-risking the transition through some sort of financial support for farmers. "
Big Companies
Big Companies
Unilever recently announced that "its brands will collectively invest €1 billion in a new dedicated Climate & Nature Fund, which will fund landscape restoration, reforestation, carbon sequestration, wildlife protection and water preservation projects."
Nestle "As a signatory of the UN 'Business Ambition for 1.5°C' pledge, Nestlé is one of the first companies to share its detailed, time-bound plan (pdf, 10Mb) and to do so ahead of schedule. The company is taking measures to halve its emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050 – even as the company grows. Actions focus on supporting farmers and suppliers to advance regenerative agriculture, planting hundreds of millions of trees within the next 10 years." More on Nestle in East Anglia
Agribusiness Task Force:
Sustainable Markets Initiative Launches New Regenerative Boost in Agriculture
The group will be led by Grant F. Reid, CEO of Mars, Incorporated, and will include executives from many influential agribusinesses and food companies, including PepsiCo, Mondelez, Olam, Bayer, McCain Foods, Waitrose and McDonalds. They will also be joined by Patrick Holden, founding director of the Sustainable Food Trust, and Alexander Gillett, CEO of the HowGood Sustainable Nutrition Data Platform.
Debate as big food jumps on regenerative wagon Allowing big food brands to use the term ‘regenerative’ could reduce the benefit to farmers, while others see the benefit of scale and inclusivity.
“Can you market regenerative?” asked head of food transformation at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Sarah Wakefield (left), speaking at a session held at farming conference Groundswell (2022), on how big business can support regenerative farming.
My comment:
This is December 2021, a field after maize harvest in NW England.
The dairy farm is in chain for Tesco - who advised them to plant cover crop. Tesco did not say when, nor provided any detailed advice, but pointed them to where they could purchase more advice..
Soil Health Industry Platform SHIP Attended by representatives of four members of the Platform: Arla, Nestlé, Waitrose, and Yeo Valley. Guest organisations including the Allerton Project, WWF, 3Keel, Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), Dairy UK, Carlesburg, Co-op, Agricarbon, and academics from James Hutton Institute and University of Leeds.
Growing Communities
Growing Communities
Growing Communities "This evaluation suggests that for every £1 spent by customers on veg box schemes or farmers’ markets, a further £3.70 is generated in social, economic and environmental value. "
Agroecological Enterprise is good business "Farming Smarter is intended as an overview of the thinking and principles behind agroecological approaches to agriculture and land management. It explores the economic argument for regenerative farming and confirms that there is no need for a trade-off between profit and nature in an agroecological system. " Digital Toolkit
'Regenerate' Keen Podcast talks about being an 'Earth' writer - not 'Nature', and connects with many in the past who see the value of 'our earth', in particular pointing out that those who most benefit from its goods in terms of food, are the most removed from those who work the land and are often treated badly.
Overcoming perceived financial barriers addresses "the tremendous need and opportunity to bring more capital to not just regenerative farming, but to build a system around regenerative farmers so that the transition to a new food system can be truly lasting,” Sarah’s Regen Rev presentation, Dollars & Sense of Regenerative Agriculture.
Post Brexit, the government is promising the earth for farmers, although it may not be as rosy as they say - see Public Funds
Plunkett Foundation Monthly News 'proud to work with so many amazing community businesses,'
Sustain A tale of two counties
With the UK Government seeking to ‘level up’ the country, now is the time to channel investment into localised food systems and infrastructure. "we set out to map supply chain infrastructure in two counties – East Sussex and Lancashire. Our aims were to find out what infrastructure exists, whether it contributes directly to the local food system, what farm types there are in the counties, and therefore, where the gaps in infrastructure are that need to be invested in. "
Peri-Urban
Peri-Urban
Peri-urban agriculture: Feeding us where urban and rural meet
"Not only could more peri-urban farming solve some of the issues of urban access to diverse fresh produce, but it could also provide new jobs, training, and goods and services. In a new report, ‘Fringe Farming’, Sustain, The Landworkers’ Alliance, Shared Assets and city partners have condensed a year’s work with growers and communities in cities into some key policy recommendations for national government and local authorities.
With the changes suggested, we could be driving increased production of, and demand for, sustainably and regionally produced, nutritious, culturally appropriate foods as part of a green economic recovery in the urban fringe. Such an approach would create so many additional social, economic and ecological benefits in peri-urban areas including:"
The greatest potential for soil regeneration flows through four main factors:
Technology for landscape and ecosystem design - planning that makes use of current technologies that allow, eg to know which trees best to plant, and where. Along with four types of return: natural, social, financial and inspirational capital.
Nutrient-dense food - for those who are working to show the existing link between healthy land, healthy products, healthy gut, healthy people and healthy ecosystems.
Payment systems for ecosystem services such as carbon and water storage - be paid for the ecosystem services they offer as by-products of their activities, such as the increase in biodiversity and the soil’s increased water retention capacity and carbon storage. Soil Heroes is building a marketplace to connect farmers
Fourth factor that supports the other three – transition finance. Necessary to invest substantial capital to fund the transition of the current agricultural system – including organic farming – toward regenerative practices.
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