{"id":41224,"date":"2017-12-11T11:30:42","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T11:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?p=41224"},"modified":"2017-12-11T11:30:42","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T11:30:42","slug":"in-depth-why-cardiff-is-feeding-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2017\/12\/11\/in-depth-why-cardiff-is-feeding-itself\/","title":{"rendered":"In depth: Why Cardiff is feeding itself"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cardiff\u2019s urban gardening initiatives promote sustainable food, but to what extent are they solving Cardiff\u2019s fruit & veg deficit?
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An unlikely pineapple is blooming in a deprived council estate in Wales. And dwarfed beneath concrete tower blocks, curious chickens strut in a courtyard. Even long earthy beds are dug into the grassy slopes outside, and an indiscernible array of edible greenery adornes their backyard.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the Pentrebane Zone – a living, growing, jem of a community centre. Through providing food five days a week to local people in need, the Zone’s volunteers became officially recognised in 2017 by the national charity, Cynnal Cymru<\/a> – Sustain Wales, for their contribution in making Wales a sustainable food world leader.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Pentrebane Zone <\/a>is a testament to what volunteers engaged in hyper-local food growing<\/a> can achieve. But they are just one of many organisations in a Cardiffian network attempting to address a serious, and extremely large, Welsh sustainable food issue.<\/span><\/p>\n

Concerns that Wales can\u2019t sustainably grow its own fruit & veg are increasing post-Brexit, while the population struggles to consume even their daily recommended five-a-day.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the doctoral research<\/a> of Amber Wheeler, food secretary & sustainability consultant and PhD student at the University of South Wales:<\/span><\/p>\n

– The UK currently imports more fruits & vegetables per year than any other type of food.<\/span>
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\n– Out of total 5.6m T of trade, 2.9m \u00a0are from the EU [European Fresh Produce Association].
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\n– Only 0.1% of Welsh agricultural land is currently producing fruit & vegetables [Welsh Government 2015].<\/span><\/p>\n

– 32% of people in Wales eat their five-a-day recommended allowance, intrinsically linked to 57% of adults and 26% of children being overweight.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n<\/span>Significant Steps<\/b><\/p>\n

Thankfully, progress in securing sustainable food for Cardiff is already being made, with the Welsh capital being awarded a Bronze Sustainable Food City Status in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

The status specifically recognises the work of Food Cardiff<\/a>, a powerful collaboration between Welsh Government, Cardiff Council, local businesses, charities and third sector partners who deliver projects across the city to address obesity, food poverty, food sustainability, environmental issues, and social disengagement.<\/span><\/p>\n

An apple a day<\/b><\/p>\n

One radical urban-growing initiative born out of Food Cardiff, the Apple a Day campaign, is aiming to aid the sustainable fruit shortage while encouraging consumption. The campaign estimates that 14,000 heritage fruit trees need to be planted across the city to provide an apple a day for every citizen.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the aims of the campaign go beyond urban gowing for a healthier diet. Sam Holt, age 35, of Eggseeds<\/a> [part of Cardiff Food Council and key partner in the campaign] describes the economic and social ripple that such an initiative could have on Cardiff\u2019s communities.
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\u201cIt\u2019s not just about planting trees and getting funding, that\u2019s easy”<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It’s not just about planting trees and getting funding, that’s easy. We need to make sure skilled people are employed to look after them as part of maintenance teams, to make cuttings and grow more stock. We need to put that process into an educational system and potentially through career pathways.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And although it\u2019s not currently embedded in the mainstream curriculum, Cardiff\u2019s children are being introduced to a sustainable food education. In 2017 Food Cardiff ran a pilot school summer program called Food and Fun<\/a>. The scheme aim to aid the 44,000 children in Cardiff who can\u2019t access free school meals during the summer holidays. Children received healthy meals, engaged in nutrition skills education, community gardening and love-food-hate-waste workshops.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Just part of the solution<\/b><\/p>\n

Cardiff\u2019s sustainable food initiatives and community gardens can build communities, be educational, transformative and lifelines for people in need – such in the case of the Pentrebane Zone, Food & Fun and Global Gardens [see sidebar]. But they are very small part of the solution in getting access to sustainable and healthy food in Cardiff.
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\nAmber Wheeler\u2019s research is currently the only assessment of fruits and veg in terms of production and availability compared to public health requirements of the population. In her research Amber suggests systemic change is needed within the food industry for sustainability, feeding into all aspects of consumer demand, farming, production and so on.<\/span>
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\nAmber suggests that further assessment is needed so that national aims can be set, to be tackled by a national food organisation, which Wales currently lacks. \u201cWithout these steps, progress is likely to be slow and disjointed,\u201d Amber states.<\/span><\/p>\n