Local food sector initatives
At Stafford Borough Council’s first Environmental Forum in October 1997, delegates recommended that a Local Food Links Initiative in the Stafford Borough area be developed as part of the Local Agenda 21 work being undertaken. ‘Workshops’ produced a draft Action Plan from which a range of initiatives has subsequently been established.
This was further enhanced by the Council’s Environmental Working Party on the 6th May 1998 which agreed that a ‘Food Festival’ be arranged later that year.
There were opportunities to provide a range of projects under the Local Food Links Initiative, which aimed to promote and achieve a more sustainable food system. In addition, as part of the Council’s Economic Strategy, there was a commitment to promote trading between local businesses and the development of local supply networks.
Progress has been made in the following areas:
- Stafford Food Festival
- Farmers’ Markets in Stafford
- Existing shows promoting local food
- Demonstrations of local food
- Local events organised in conjunction with the Farmers’ Market linked to National Campaigns e.g. Apple Day, Fairtrade Fortnight, Great British Breakfast, health events etc.
- Taste of Staffordshire Awards
- Production of Farm – School Link Education Pack, supporting the National Curriculum
- Use of allotments via the Allotment Mentors Scheme
- Tourism Awards include Local Food Category
- Ensuring allotment usage is high
- Support of Staffordshire Orchards Initiative
- Staffordshire Local Food Directory of Farms, Shops, Deliveries etc. (updated 2005)
- Support of Healthy Living, Nutrition and Diet projects
- This case study outlines details of those projects highlighted in bold.
Aims and Objectives
The following objectives have been completed for each of the projects:
Farmers markets - A pilot ‘Food Festival’ took place in September 1998 following the Environment Forum (October 1997). Three pilot Farmers’ Markets were then held in 1999. From 2000 Farmers’ Markets ran monthly – initially planned between March and September, but now they are all year round due to demand.
Farm School Link Education Pack - The Farm School Link Education Pack initiative brings together local farmers and schools to share information and to encourage increased understanding of the local farming industry. It aims to help children and the local community appreciate the complex links that exist in getting every day foods from the farm to their plate. The pack encourages children to become more responsible consumers by choosing healthier and more environmentally friendly food and food production options.
Stafford Allotment Mentors – It had been observed that there was a steady stream of people coming forward to take up allotments, yet many did not continue beyond part of a year let alone full year. So the allotment mentor scheme was set up to offer encouragement to new allotment holders as well as information.
Staffordshire local food Directory - Staffordshire local food Directory was produced by Stafford Borough local food links group. The directory is free and distributed throughout the country via tourism and sustainability officers. It lists local retailers, producers, café, restaurants and markets and local food that include information and the benefits of local food.
Partners
The Borough works with the following external organisations, Women’s Institute, Women’s Food and Farming Union, the Allotment Society, Friends of the Earth, the Soil Association and also the health Sector mainly via South Staffordshire NHS Primary Care Trust.
Activities
Farmers Markets – the initial cost of purchasing the farmers market and equipment included six mini marquee at £1,300 each and 20 tables £40 each and a number of chairs. This capital input was funded mainly through the Local Agenda 21 budget and also the tourism and leisure budget.. A further six marquees were purchased later through economic development funding. At present the majority of the cost of the monthly Farmers Markets are covered by the stallholders fees however, Stafford Borough Council still supplements these running costs in order to ensure affordable rent in line with Farmers Market. Part of the ongoing costs
involved in running the Farmers Markets are due to an external company that is employed to store, transport, direct and dismantle and drive marquees and a charge £35 per marquee per usage is made by this company for each usage plus a weekly charge for storage. This initially was £8 per week which was raised to £12 when additional equipment was purchased. The outside company was found to be more cost effective then using the local authority’s direct service operations. There is another annual cost for insurance of the equipment that has to be taken into account: this is currently approximately £400 per year.
From September 2003 the general administration of the Stafford Farmers’ Market was passed to the Council’s new Markets Coordinator. The total time spent on this amounts to approximately 2 - 3 days per month including time spent at the Market. The LA21 team continues to coordinate development and publicity – approximately 1-2 days per month.
An officer from the Environmental Health Department attends around ¾ of all the Farmers’ Markets. This involves approximately an hour to an hour and a half per visit. This ensures food safety and compliance at the Farmers’ Markets.
Stafford Farmers Market is accredited through the National Association of Farmers Markets. This scheme ensures that all markets comply with national guidelines. In addition Staffordshire Farmers Markets also have their own set of conditions and guidelines that all stallholders sign up to.
Farm – School Link Education pack
Farm – School Link Education Pack aims to address sustainability issues revolving around food production, processing, transport, sale, induce and disposal. The emphasis is on the real live impacts of farming today, both the following families as well as the wider community and the environment and economy. The Farm – School Link Education Pack was produced through Stafford Borough Food Links Group. A Farmer’s School Link Sub-Group was formed involving Local Agenda 21 officers, local farmers, teachers and volunteers.
The Farm – School Link Education Pack has been designed for off the shelf use, to help subject coordinators and other teachers meet the requirements of national curriculum. A number of classroom-based activities are suggested in the pack and teaching resources have been designed specifically for use in primary schools. However there are opportunities to extend this work to make the pack relevant to local secondary schools.
The pack also lists information that is available from a variety of sources. The education pack costs around £500 to produce and these have been distributed to schools throughout the Borough free of charge. It is being promoted in conjunction with Farm Visits and last year four schools visited farms, and it is planned for this year, 2005, for 6 schools to visit farms during the summer.
Allotment Mentor Scheme
The allotment mentor scheme aims to offer encouragement to new allotment holders, provides information when asked for, gives advice to allotment holders, record and monitor all mentoring sections, and help/involve others if work is need on the allotment. The Local Fund Link Group contributes by advertising the availability of mentors or by promoting the benefits of being an allotment holder. They also maintain a mentor register so mentors can contact each other, and organise the mentor meetings. This scheme does not require any funding.
Staffordshire Local Food Directory
The directory took around 30 days to produce and was jointly funded by Stafford Borough Council and the Government Office for the West Midlands. A small contribution was made by , ‘Sustainable Staffordshire’ a country wide forum promoting sustainable development. No charge is made for producers to have an entry into the directory however strict rules of eligibility must be met. Many of the stallholders who attend the Stafford farmers markets are included in Staffordshire local food directory. This has now been updated with Edition Two launched in December 2004. It has nearly 100 listings and has been expanded significantly since Edition One. A Taste of Staffordshire has also been brought on board along with other local authorities from around the County. Version Three is already being worked on and will be coming out in May 2006. The current directory can be found at www.staffordc.gov.uk/la21.
Achievements
The projects were originally initiated due to the driving individual however they are also policy driven. The project overlaps several key local government themes including Local Agenda 21, health, tourism, economic developments and regeneration.
Stafford Farmers’ Market was also awarded the National Farmers Union, West Midlands best Farmers’ Market and was second placed at the national level.
Significant advances were made on projects once specific funding had been secured, allowing officer time to be allocated Similarly with the local food Directory it was hard to plan the final publication e.g. full colour, black and white and number of pages etc without knowledge of the level of funding in place.
Lessons learned
The partnership between various members of the Local Food Links Group was beneficial.
Important lessons include ensuring that initiatives are widely promoted eg the Stafford Borough Local Food Links Group and Local Agenda 21 team promoted the local food sector by giving presentations, talks and by providing displays at events and conferences such as the Sustainable Officers National Conference, Rural United Conference, Rodbaston Agricultural College and Staffordshire County Show. General publicity material, articles and press releases are also produced to help promote the local food sector across the Borough.
Future Developments
The project aims to expand the Farmers’ Market and diversify it to ensure long term economic health. At present projects are ongoing with no cut off point for funding.
Special Circumstances
Stafford Borough has a large agricultural and rural sector and it has resource potential to establish a countrywide network to the Farmers’ Markets and permanent Farmers’ Market stalls in Stafford indoor market. The Council and in particular the Local Agenda 21 team have developed good partnerships in the area of sustainability, Farmers’ Markets, local food Directory, and farmers’ food based educational resources could be develop by local authorities or organisations.
Local food is a growing issue nationally as well as locally and the successive staff at Stafford Borough local food projects show the appetites that exist for promoting a local food sector both for producers and customers. The DEFRA Food and Farming Strategy 2003 promotes sustainability in this sector and Stafford Borough Council and its partners offer a range of successful projects which represent good practice from which others may learn.
This project has now completed and remains on the Food Vision site as an example of a great food project, the project team can no longer be contacted.