February 9, 2011
Is there an alternative to Tescoland?
Supermarkets play such a dominant part in our lives. Their impact on local independent retailers is well documented but what is not so well understood is their impact on the local system of food production. Many people now see a real danger if we lose the connection with where our food comes from. A group in Moffat have just been chosen to test out whether an alternative approach – community led, climate friendly and fair to producers – can be made to work
An update from LPL supporter Jane Gray on a new phase of development for her group in Moffat – Let’s Live Local
Growing Communities (www.growingcommunities.org) is a social enterprise based in Hackney who are working to build fair, climate-friendly, community-led alternatives to our current food system. It was started about 17 years ago by the inspirational Julie Brown and has received national acclaim. This is the YouTube video about them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXzaT2aLqLk&feature=player_embedded#at=82
They want to test their business model to see if it works in other urban communities, so Lets Live Local applied to become part of their Start-Up programme (arguing that it was as hard to get local food in our rural area as it is in the city and access to land is just as challenging, and also promising to expand beyond the immediate local area). We were offered a place as one of their Start-Up communities and have just launched our version of Growing Communities – Lets Eat Local. It’s a very long term venture because we need to reconstruct a local food infrastructure, but we get ongoing support from the GC team and they’ll be helping us set up and develop the project. I was down in London a couple of weeks ago, training with them and the other Start-Ups and learnt so much. We’re the only rural project and the only one in Scotland so we are really delighted and excited too!