Mapping Local Food Webs
Summary of project
Mapping Local Food Webs is a national project led by the Campaign to Protect
Rural England and funded by the Big Lottery as part of the Making Local Food
Work programme. The Making Local Food Work Programme aims to ‘reconnect
people and land through local food by increasing access to fresh, healthy, local
food with clear, traceable origins.’
The Mapping Local Food Webs project is an exciting initiative to engage local
people in finding out about their local food webs in up to 24 towns and cities
across England.
The project aims to increase their understanding of the size and importance of
their local food webs and of their impact on local people’s lives, livelihoods,
places and the countryside. It aims to find out more about the vital relationships
which connect what people buy and eat, the character of their town and the
countryside they enjoy. Finally, the project will use this information to increase
support for more local food production and better supply in local outlets, and to
strengthen and secure local food webs across the country.
How we define local food webs and local food
A local food web is the network of links between people who buy, sell, produce
and supply food in an area. The people, businesses, towns, villages and
countryside in the web depend on each other, and this interdependence benefits
their livelihoods, their quality of life and the quality of places. Those benefits
include local businesses keeping people in work locally and creating new jobs,
food outlets providing places for people to meet, and farmers managing the
countryside for local people to enjoy.
This project is using a working definition of ‘local food’ as raw food, or lightly
processed food and its main ingredients, grown or produced within 30 miles of
where it was bought. So primary produce – such as fresh fruit, vegetables, meat
and milk – and lightly processed products such as cheese, sausages, pies and
baked goods are included.
Why mapping local food webs is vital
We know the value a local food web can bring to an area through the work of
Caroline Cranbrook. In 1998 Caroline grew concerned about the impact of a
proposed superstore on her small local market town of Saxmundham in east
Suffolk.
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By mapping the local food web, Caroline was able to show just how important a
healthy local food network was to the town. Local producers, wholesalers and
food outlets depended upon and supported each other as well as supporting jobs
in a wide range of other businesses such as builders and electricians. By keeping
local shops open people had access to good affordable food as well as places to
meet, which strengthened ties in the community. By offering farmers a market for
their produce, the local food web enabled livestock to carry on grazing nationally
important, wildlife-rich nature reserves and beautiful Suffolk river valleys.
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CPRE published Caroline’s research in two reports. Food Webs (1998) told the story of her
original findings. A mixture of local action and effective local planning resulted in the
superstore development being turned down. In The Real Choice: how local foods can survive
the supermarket onslaught (2006) Caroline showed how the local food web has grown and
thrived since.
In contrast to Saxmundham, local food networks across England have been weakened or have
broken down for a number of reasons: the loss of small, local shops and post offices, the
disappearance of local abattoirs, the breakdown of connections between people and the land,
the growth of supermarkets mostly stocking products supplied from national and international
sources.
By mapping the extent of local food webs across the country this project will gather the
information to give them greater recognition and support in local communities, as well as
regionally and nationally.
What are the benefits to communities of being involved?
By getting involved in the project the local community can benefit in various ways:
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residents with better knowledge of how and where their local food is produced;
more people aware of the importance of their local food network and the challenges
facing it;
new links between the people who buy, sell, produce and supply local food;
developing skills of local people;
ideas and actions generated to increase the supply of local food in the area;
decision makers in local and regional authorities more aware and better informed about
the importance of local food to people’s lives and livelihoods in an area, and to the
character of the town / city and countryside around it.
What are the benefits of being involved as a volunteer?
Being involved as a volunteer in a local mapping project offers opportunities to:
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work in a team with like-minded people;
develop skills, confidence and new contacts through a range of activities such as
workshops, street events, interviews and farm visits;
learn directly from shops, food producers, farmers and growers and producers about
where local food is produced and how it gets from farm to fork;
help identify new community-based initiatives to increase local food supply;
work to shape the decisions and policies which affect the supply of local food in the area.
What are the aims of the project and key stages?
The main aims of the project are to:
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involve communities in learning about the extent and importance of their local food webs
for their area;
to share these findings locally, regionally and nationally;
to support action and policies to increase the production and supply of local food through
local outlets.
The project runs from 2007 – 2012 in five main stages:
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2008/09: developing new tools to map local food webs;
2009: recruiting volunteers in up to 24 towns and cities to map their local food web;
2009/10: producing local maps and reports;
2011: remapping and reporting changes to each local food web;
2010 and 2012: publicising this work locally, regionally and nationally.
How mapping a local food web works
New action pack: new tools have been developed for local people to map – survey and
document – the extent of their local food web, and to identify the impact it has on lives,
livelihoods, the character of the area and the quality of the local environment.
Involving the community: the involvement of local residents as volunteers doing the
mapping, or taking part in workshops and answering questionnaires, is vital to the success of
the project locally.
The study area: the project studies the food outlets in an area up to 2.5 miles from the centre
of a town or city district and the food sold that is produced or grown within 30 miles.
Involving local businesses: during the project volunteers visit and talk to local businesses
that grow, produce and sell local food to better understand the impact of their work and the
opportunities and barriers to supplying more local food.
Mapping includes these activities:
• forming a team of local volunteers – to carry out and lead the project work locally
supported by a dedicated regional project officer;
• a public information meeting - to launch the project locally, recruit volunteers, and find
out about the local food system from the community;
• a workshop – with residents, retailers, and producers to generate discussion about key
local issues and collect information about the impact of local food in the area;
• a food shopping survey – of local shopping habits and attitudes to local food;
• a food outlet survey – reviewing and interviewing food outlets selling local food;
• a supply chain survey – reviewing how key local food items – such as vegetables, fruit,
cheese, meat – go from farm to food buyer and assessing their impact on the area;
• an optional volunteer-led workshop – to report findings back to the community, and
plan actions to support local food in the area;
• a final report – preparing and launching a report on the location.
What will the project achieve?
The project brings together people working for their community with a wider national project,
the Making Local Food Work programme and national organisations to make a difference
locally, regionally and nationally.
As a local volunteer working on her own Caroline Cranbrook showed for the first time that
the local food web offered many benefits which could be at risk from a proposed superstore.
These included: more money kept in the local economy; new jobs created and help for small
business start ups; more foods produced and sold locally, with fewer food miles and less
waste; a decent living for farmers and growers who manage the countryside; better access to
fresh, affordable and seasonal food; a greater choice of where to shop and what to buy for
everyone; protection of the distinctive character of local towns and their countryside.
Caroline’s work led to two major reports and widespread press coverage, which has raised the
issue of local food locally, regionally and nationally.
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Locally the mapping process and final report on each location will provide the community
with important information about the impact that local food has on the area. In each location
projects will raise awareness of local food through the press, street surveys and workshops.
This awareness can strengthen public support for local food outlets and producers. Volunteer
teams with in depth knowledge of their food system could plan follow up actions to directly
benefit their local area, such as setting up a box scheme, a community supported farm or
shop.
Local reports will be brought together by CPRE to persuade regional and national politicians
and decision makers that other food webs offer the advantages revealed in the East Suffolk
food web. CPRE and partners in the Making Local Food Work programme will work to
encourage actions and policies to increase production and supply of local food and to secure
local food webs for the long term.
Further information
For more information on the mapping local food webs project or to get involved please
contact:
Karen Gardham
South East Regional Co-ordinator
Telephone: 01273 540 998
Mobile: 07833 250131
Email: [email protected]
Further information can also be found at:
Campaign to Protect Rural England: www.cpre.org.uk/home
Making Local Food Work Programme: www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk
The Real Choice Report: www.cpre.org.uk/library/results/local-foods
May 2009
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