{"id":278,"date":"2019-07-05T11:07:09","date_gmt":"2019-07-05T11:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/rurbanrevolution\/?p=278"},"modified":"2019-09-24T09:26:15","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T09:26:15","slug":"five-ways-rurban-revolution-fits-with-the-new-national-food-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/rurbanrevolution\/2019\/07\/05\/five-ways-rurban-revolution-fits-with-the-new-national-food-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Five ways Rurban Revolution fits with the new National Food Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

We were very excited to see the review on a new National Food Strategy<\/a>\u00a0launched last week. It’s not often as a country we step-back and take a look at our food system and plan for the future.<\/p>\n

In the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Rurban<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Revolution project we too are\u00a0<\/span><\/span>stepping<\/span><\/span>-back to think about urban food strategy:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>in our research\u00a0<\/span><\/span>we are\u00a0<\/span><\/span>exploring\u00a0<\/span><\/span>how up-scaling urban food production could result in a more healthy, sustainable and resilient food system.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the National Food Strategy?<\/h2>\n

Political uncertainty, climate change and health concerns have led to the UK Government announcing the first major review of the UK food system in 75 years. Headed by restauranteur and co-founder of the Sustainable Restaurant Association Henry\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Dimbleby<\/span><\/span>, the review will examine all aspects of the UK food system, \u201cfrom field to fork\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>The outcome of this will be the publication of the new National Food Strategy in 2020<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>that\u00a0<\/span><\/span>aims to<\/span><\/span>\u00a0safeguard our food system for future generations, whilst reducing environmental damage and ensuring access to healthy, safe food for us all.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why do we need a Food Strategy?<\/h2>\n

Our food system has changed radically since the last review took place 75 years ago. The variety and\u00a0<\/span>nature<\/span>\u00a0of food we\u00a0<\/span>eat<\/span>\u00a0today would have seemed unimaginable back then. This is thanks to the sheer intensity and scale at which we farm, produce, process, import and export our food, but what\u2019s the cost?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Diet-related conditions, such as obesity and diabetes, pose\u00a0<\/span>m<\/span>ajor\u00a0<\/span>challenges to the NHS and people\u2019s quality of life as their health deteriorates. Agriculture\u00a0<\/span>is a<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>major driver of climate change, being responsible for around 30% of our greenhouse gas emissions, <\/span>and some farming practices lead to biodiversity loss, water pollution and environmental degradation. Reliance on imports could make us vulnerable to food system shocks. Economic and political uncertainty can trigger food insecurity, leading to shortages, malnourishment and price fluctuations. Problems like these are at the heart of the new National Food Strategy, and\u00a0<\/span>Rurban<\/span>\u00a0Revolution.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Where does urban agriculture factor in?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Why should we think about urban food systems when thinking about a national food strategy? The majority of\u00a0<\/span>the UK<\/span>\u00a0populat<\/span>ion lives in\u00a0<\/span>u<\/span>rban areas<\/span>\u00a0and growing food poverty\u00a0<\/span>in\u00a0<\/span>cities<\/span>\u00a0is a major concern.\u00a0<\/span>Urban agriculture provides a great opportunity for increasing our food producti<\/span>on\u00a0<\/span>at the point of need<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>connecting people with their food and nature,\u00a0<\/span>shortening our suppl<\/span>y chains and\u00a0<\/span>making them more resilient<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>At<\/span>\u00a0the same time<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0rejuvenat<\/span>ion of<\/span>\u00a0degraded\u00a0<\/span>urban\u00a0<\/span>landscapes\u00a0<\/span>can provide further<\/span>\u00a0ecosystem ben<\/span>e<\/span>fits.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rurban<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Revolution and a National Food Strategy<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

We\u2019ve taken a look\u00a0<\/span>at\u00a0<\/span>the aims for the National Food Strategy and we see five ways in which our new research can add to the evidence Henry\u00a0<\/span>Dimbleby<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>his<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>team will be gathering.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. We are investigating how increasing urban growing and greening could influence healthy diets.<\/strong>\u00a0The food systems review is looking at ways to deliver healthy, sustainable food to all to improve our diets and health. Our research is helping us understand the connections between urban food growing and health: does increasing access and connection with growing of fruit and vegetables lead to better dietary choices, stress reduction and ultimately better health?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. We are studying how urban-grown food could contribute to food system resilience<\/strong>.<\/strong> Fresh fruit and vegetable supply chains are particularly vulnerable to future\u00a0<\/span>shocks and<\/span>\u00a0are of high value for our health. We\u2019re working on a UK-wide analysis that will tell us what, where, and how much fruit and vegetables we could grow in our urban environments. By comparing this with the fresh fruit and vegetables we grow domestically and import, we will be able to explore the potential or urban food systems to play a part in national food system resilience.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. We are thinking about how urban food production could enhance or restore our natural environment.<\/strong>We will be examining how\u00a0<\/span>using\u00a0<\/span>our urban landscape\u00a0<\/span>for<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>fruit and vegetable production \u2013 whether it be through garden-growing and allotments, community growing projects, edible corridors and rooftops, or indoor vertical farming \u2013 affects the ecosystem services that are delivered in cities, and whether this helps alleviate pressures in other landscapes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. We are testing the nutritional quality and safety of urban-grown and conventionally grown fruit and vegetables.<\/strong>\u00a0We need to be sure that what our food system produces is actually safe and good for us. That\u2019s why we are examining how pollution and the supply chains themselves, aka the \u201cfield to fork\u201d time, can affect nutritional quality and safety.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. We are examining how urban growing and greening could support the economy.\u00a0<\/strong>The food system needs to provide jobs and foster innovation for sustainable solutions to our food supply issues.\u00a0<\/span>Rurbanisation<\/span>\u00a0is an exciting solution to this. Upscaling it needs producers, urban planners, stakeholders and scientists to work together. Figuring out what this could look like is just one of our aims for\u00a0<\/span>Rurban<\/span>\u00a0Revolution.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We were very excited to see the review on a new National Food Strategy\u00a0launched last week. It’s not often as a country we step-back and take a look at our food system and plan for the future. In the\u00a0Rurban\u00a0Revolution project we too are\u00a0stepping-back to think about urban food strategy:\u00a0in our research\u00a0we are\u00a0exploring\u00a0how up-scaling urban food […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":527,"featured_media":279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/rurbanrevolution\/files\/2019\/07\/fruit-tomato-4212526_1920.jpg?fit=1920%2C1382","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paBUPA-4u","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/rurbanrevolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/rurbanrevolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/rurbanrevolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/rurbanrevolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/527"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/rurbanrevolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/rurbanrevolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/rurbanrevolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions\/331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/rurbanrevolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/rurbanrevolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/rurbanrevolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/rurbanrevolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

    We\u2019re thrilled that the food systems review is happening right as we\u2019re getting started with\u00a0<\/span>Rurban<\/span>\u00a0Revolution because it mirrors so many of our aims. Over the next two years\u00a0<\/span>our interdisciplinary team will be<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>carrying out the<\/span>\u00a0described here\u00a0<\/span>and elsewhere on our website.\u00a0<\/span>If you want to\u00a0<\/span>keep in touch with\u00a0<\/span>us as the research progresses<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>please\u00a0<\/span>sign up to our newsletter<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>or<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>contact us<\/span> via our social media channels. You can also take part in our first consumer survey<\/a> about fruit and vegetable growing, health, nature, and diet.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"