Growing through Climate Change: local responses to food security

Online seminar and discussion: Wednesday 10 June, 6.30-8.30 pm 
Hosted by Transition Town Bridport, Seeding our Future and Bridport Local Food Group

Climate change is expected to have major impacts on UK food production and imports within the next ten years.  This meeting is a presentation and discussion of findings from a new research study looking at the issues and opportunities for Dorset and surrounding counties. To see report, click here.

For full details on the event and to book tickets, click here. 

We are offering free tickets to local food producers. If you would like to request a free ticket please email futurescanningprojects@gmail.com

Pilot Initiatives

The Seeding our Future team have been exploring this for several months: we are aware that several local food producers and growers have been developing climate responses for some years, and we hope to learn more from them and to build on their experience. At present, we have five ideas we are exploring for possible pilot work: 

1. Allotment holders: we'd like to find a way to share existing expertise and responses to the research with allotment holders and home growers. 
2. Local growers: we aim to work with several growers to see how consumers can support them with climate adaptive crops and methods.
3. Arable crops: several of the changes advised by the research are around diversifying grain crops, and processing more of them locally for human use. We hope to help gather consumer support to enable some local farmers e.g. Tamarisk to take this on. 
4. Land Worker's Alliance: Jyoti Fernandes and LWA colleagues hope to set up a small teaching farm near Bridport with adaptive crops and processing. We'd like to help her with the support and funding to make this happen. 
5. Dorset Diet: We'd like to explore adapting the Fife Diet from Scotland, showing how 80% of our food and drink could be produced within our local area.

News from local projects

Tamarisk farm is polishing barley and experimenting with millet 

Adam Simon says, "it's all about increasing resilience. The more we have support from the local community, the more we can experiment with new crops that are suitable to a changing climate.” Just as farmers need to be adaptable, so too can consumers. 

Tamarisk Farm has been producing and processing grains and pulses for some time. This year they have been trialling millet production, to see how this works in current conditions. 

They have also started using a small-scale barley polisher which enables them to turn a crop generally produced for animal feed into a product for human consumption – delicious pearl barley, as well as milled barley - which is a great ingredient for baking. They may invest in a roasting machine, which could see home grown organic Tsampa in the UK for the first time.

Haypenny Market Garden supplying to our local shops

Low/No-till market gardeners Lally and Tomas have been adapting not only to the changing climate but also the pandemic - working out how best to go forward. We miss them at their stall in South Street. For updates follow @haypenny_market_garden on Instagram 

“It feels like the deep green and crunch of summer is very nearly here!” So they have now delivered mixed salad, the first of the cucumbers, garlic, rainbow chard, broad beans and baby kale to their main current outlets Fruits of the Earth and Felicity’s Farm Shop. 

Edible Garden at St Mary’s Primary could become an ambassador for a climate adaptive allotment 

Food security is an enormous issue with not only Climate Change but COVID19 and Brexit too. The Edible Garden provides fresh fruit and veg to the school kitchen, promotes healthy eating and provides outdoor community events celebrating cooking from scratch. Under lockdown, it is providing considerable produce for the Cupboard Love Food Bank.

It uses many climate adaptive methods – including protecting soil through intercropping, mulching, no-dig, and making biochar; they use open pollinated seeds, and this year planted an orchard and an edible hedgerow. There are several vegetable beds, two polytunnels, a cobb oven and mud kitchen.

The Edible Garden is a joint project between Transition Town Bridport, Home in Bridport and Opera Circus, with the primary school. They’d encourage other schools to follow suit.

Future Conversations - Taster event

Are you interested in exploring how we can build better communities and resilience? Seeding our Future invites you to join a taster event on June 16 exploring how we can learn from the present situation and look forward to new possibilities. 

For full details on the event, and to book tickets, click here. 
For further information on the Future Conversations programme, click here. 

Food Standards Petition

As the UK begins to negotiate trade deals with countries around the world, do you want the food you eat to continue to be produced to the world leading standards you've come to expect?Sign the NFU's food standards petition and ask the UK government to ensure all food imports are to the same high standards as British farmers. You can sign the petition here.