NEWSLETTER 12-17: December Food News

Our monthly round-up of news from around the web; useful resources; funding updates; actions to take and interesting publications to read.

READ MORE ONLINE

Six ways to shop local and avoid supermarkets this Christmas Bristol Food Producers are here to help with six different ways for you to make your Christmas dinner shopping that little bit easier! READ MORE

Urban Agroecology Magazine This issue of the UA Magazine is a joint effort of the RUAF Foundation and the Centre for Agroecology Water and Resilience (CAWR). It aims to articulate and document the emerging field of urban agroecology. READ MORE

Amazon & The Future of Food A few months ago, Amazon bought Whole Foods at a whopping $13.4 billion, with a promise to bring cheap, organic, nutritious, low carbon, and pesticide-free food to the masses. READ MORE

How resilient is your city’s food system? When the city of Baltimore experienced public unrest in 2015, it realised that its food supply was vulnerable. It therefore commissioned a Food System Resilience Advisory Report to feed into its more general Disaster Preparedness Plan. READ MORE

Generation Waste: Why are millennials throwing away so much food? When a recent study highlighted generational differences in attitudes to food waste, a large number of media outlets reported the news that millennials are the worst culprits when it comes to throwing away food…. The reason? Apparently an obsession with social media, Instagram culture and a ‘live to eat’ attitude are to blame. READ MORE

Valuing nature and the hidden costs of biodiversity loss The intensification of agriculture has had the biggest impact on wildlife, and this has been overwhelmingly negative. READ MORE

A new report by the Sustainable Food Trust finds that UK citizens pay twice as much for food as they realise. The Hidden Cost of UK Food finds that, for each £1 spent on food in the shops, consumers incur extra hidden costs of £1.

The BBC2 Programme Trust Me I’m a Doctor, found that Green Gym participants reported higher levels of well-being and lower levels of stress, anxiety and depression. READ MORE

Together We Rise: Bethlem Baking Buddies is the Real Bread Campaign’s report on baking sessions for mental health care service users at Bethlem Royal Hospital. All participants reported that bread making made them feel happier, creative and a sense of achievement. READ MORE

WWF Report: Appetite for destruction Many are aware of the impact a meat-based diet has on water, land and habitats, and the implications of its associated greenhouse gas emissions. But few know the largest impact comes from the crop-based feed the animals eat. READ MORE

Food relocalisation: it is not only the number of hectares that counts, it’s preserving the best quality land around our cities that’s most important. READ MORE

LEGOs, Landscapes and Catchments – guest blog by @UKSustain farm campaigner @VickiHird on the rich debate about how we deliver new farming and land management support after we leave the CAP. READ MORE

RESOURCES

The Plunkett Foundation

If you live or work in an urban community and are interested in the potential benefits of community ownership, we may be able to provide funded support or signposting to help you explore and create your community business.

Plunkett directly delivers and is partner to a range of projects that are also open to urban communities as well as rural communities, so if you think we can help, call us on 01993 810 730, email us at info@plunkett.co.uk or fill in our online contact form and we’ll get in touch.

In the meantime, sign up to our monthly newsletter to find out more about our latest work and download our Food for Good resources below:

https://www.plunkett.co.uk/how-can-plunkett-support-urban-communities

GET INVOLVED

Survey of Gardening for Health and Wellbeing. If you involved in using gardening and horticulture activities to improve health and wellbeing please spare 10-15 minutes to complete this survey.

Defend plans to halve Europe’s food waste. The UK is leaving the EU. Let’s make sure our last action isn’t to block vital action to cut food waste in half – but to show that the UK will continue to lead efforts to end this scandal, even after Brexit. TAKE ACTION

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