Locavore News – World by Elbert van Donkersgoed
Posted: March 15, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized
Perspectives on good food and farming
March 15, 2010
City of Seattle to launch year of urban agriculture
The city government of Seattle has declared 2010 the Year of Urban Agriculture. The program, developed through the Department of Neighborhoods, aims to make locally-grown produce affordable and available to as many of Seattle’s diverse residents as possible, while supporting the urban and exurban farmers who grow it. New zoning laws will allow backyard farmers greater flexibility in what they grow and raise on residential property, and a bold pilot program is in place to create ten urban farms inside Seattle city limits. Seattle website.
The Decade in Food
This decade has changed our relationship with food. Food went from a fringe conversation to full-on obsession, especially if it was local and organic. Another decade of food safety scares drove more consumers to understand the origins of their dinner. Natural and organic became more commercial and accessible and direct-to-consumer efforts—farmers’ markets and community-supported agriculture—grew. So did “farmwashing,” the full-fledged marketing efforts to make Lay’s potato chips seem local or milk from cows that never even saw pastureland seem organic. The decade brought heritage-breed turkeys and Hershey’s heritage chocolate. Primitive, pre-industrial foods proliferated and so did the kind of professional cooking that requires technology once reserved for science labs. Good.is essay.
Foodservice Chefs Gone Local, Sustainably
In the not-so-distant dark ages of institutional foodservice, college freshman counted on gaining weight as they left home and were faced with a cornucopia of meals reflecting menu planning steeped in the traditions of the 1950’s. Today, most foodservice operators are aware that changing with the times means an increasing use of fresh, local, seasonal products, as well as confronting a range of sustainability issues. To find out what it’s like delivering on these principles today, we spoke to Bon Appétit Management Company, a foodservice provider at the forefront of sourcing locally and operating sustainably. Hartman Group interview.
Allotment society wants more permanent sites as ministers launch temporary plots (UK)
Gardeners will be able to grow fruit and vegetables in skips on building sites thanks to new Government “meanwhile leases”, which allow communities to use private land from developers until builders are ready to move in when the economic downturn ends. NSALG acting secretary Donna McDaid said: “Why reinvent the wheel? The Government should enforce the 1908 allotment act to provide more sites. The sites provide no security of tenure. There is a lot of jumping on the bandwaggon now allotments are fashionable. The focus is on community gardening and not having your own plot.” Horticulture Week story.
Calculating the global warming potential of allotment produce (UK)
This project is investigating the global warming potential (GWP) of produce grown on an allotment. I will attempt to find a suitable comparative figure to represent the UK commercial horticultural sector. This is to determine the difference and magnitude of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for allotment grown produce compared with those grown commercially. Food Climate Research Network interviews Claire Carter.
‘Cut meat and dairy to save the planet’ (UK)
Consumers need to cut down on the meat and dairy products they eat to help tackle climate change and reduce diet-related diseases, a government-back report has claimed.
In the first official recommendations for a healthy and environmentally-friendly diet, the Sustainable Development Commission – the government’s independent advisory body on sustainability – said a radical overhaul of the nation’s diet is needed. While it recognised changes in diet would have economic impacts on the UK food industry, the report, titled Setting the Table, said reducing meat and dairy consumption was likely to have a “significant and immediate impact” on making diets more sustainable. Cutting food waste and encouraging people to eat more seasonal, field-grown fruit and vegetables would also have an impact. Farmers Weekly Interactive story.
On Frugality, Value & the Post Recovery Consumer
Like most other analysts, our data also demonstrate clear changes in consumer attitudes, behaviors and opinions on thrift and frugality in the CPG, grocery and restaurant arenas. But as the story of the economy and consumer evolves, we continue to question the common chorus of a New Frugality. What we are witnessing are some incremental short-term behavioral changes necessitated by economic conditions, but not a fundamental shift in orientations toward one’s value paradigm. Hartman Groupanalysis.
Tesco advice on eating (UK)
An article in MeatInfo reports that the National Farmers Union has criticised Tesco for including, on its Greener Living website, the following advice: “Vegetables use less energy to produce than meat. So eat vegetarian or vegan meals to reduce your environmental impact and lower your carbon footprint.†According to the article, the National Farmers Union’s livestock board chair Alistair Mackintosh has said: “It is disappointing to see advice like this being given out. This is a complex issue and it is wrong to look at it in such a simplistic way. Tesco’s advice. MeatInfo article
Food Standards Agency Study: Public attitudes to emerging food technologies (UK)
The Food Standards Agency has published new research looking at people’s attitudes to emerging food technologies, including genetically modified (GM) food, high pressure treatment, gas filled packaging and hypothetical foods that have health benefits.
The research found that people’s knowledge of, and attitudes to, food technologies vary considerably. Certain characteristics were found to be in common with people who are more concerned about food technologies, including being older, female, having a low income or generally having a high level of concern about food safety. The more familiar people are with the names of food technologies the less concerned they are about them. For example, 31% of people were concerned about eating food cooked in a microwave, whereas 57% were concerned about eating food from a magnetron (another name for a microwave). Compared with 1999, when the same questions were asked, fewer people now said they have a strong attitude to GM food, and there has been a gradual increase in public support for GM food (from 10% in 1999 to 19% in 2008). Study.
Grocery Buying in the Current Economy
Shopping on sale increased, and more than half the shoppers in almost every group are buying on sale more now than in the past. Almost 60 percent of shoppers report eating out less at fast food restaurants (up 11 percent) than they did six months before. Those very nervous about the economy became even more proactive and aggressive in their commitment to manage/reduce costs; 12 percent claim they cut coupons more often, and more than half (54 percent) cut down on the quantity of groceries purchased to save money, up from 42 percent. FoodProcessing.com story.
Report on reducing emissions from Welsh food and agriculture
The Welsh Assembly Government has published a report setting out how the agriculture and rural land use sectors in Wales can play play their part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining food production. The report’s emphasis is on maintaining intensive dairy, sheep and beef sectors while diversifying and increasing vegetable crops. In the longer term, the report recommends development of a more radical approach where much of the cattle herd is housed and methane emissions are captured. By 2040, agriculture and land use sectors could make substantial progress to carbon neutrality. Welsh Assembly Government report.
AND if You Have Time
Japanese Waiter Robot
This is a video of a Japanese robot that is capable of serving you food and beverages. It’s balancing what we’re fairly certain is a steak and some vegetables on its robot head while it goes through obstacles. Made by Toshiba and called the “Wheelie,” this little guy is designed to help families with household chores, but it is clearly applicable to the service industry. Video.