Food education at Groundswell 2021

onesiedale · Jan 13, 2021

@martian
Just listening to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on the radio and can't help but think that a 'food education' aspect would add an extra, but logical, dimension to Groundswell.

Not only would it help promote healthy food and eating but also demonstrate to decision and policy makers (and a lot of farmers) that healthy food and eating starts with the soil and that farmers can play a much bigger part in putting things right with a system that has many flaws.

It would also provide a huge amount of support for the increasing number of us who are becoming customer facing as a result of adding value to their businesses at the same time as shortening the food chain.

Contributers? HFW Zöe Harcombe, Pam Warhurst (Incredible Edible) are three that come to mind.
Any more?
Thoughts?

holwellcourtfarm · Jan 13, 2021

onesiedale said:
@martian
Just listening to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on the radio and can't help but think that a 'food education' aspect would add an extra, but logical, dimension to Groundswell.

Not only would it help promote healthy food and eating but also demonstrate to decision and policy makers (and a lot of farmers) that healthy food and eating starts with the soil and that farmers can play a much bigger part in putting things right with a system that has many flaws.

It would also provide a huge amount of support for the increasing number of us who are becoming customer facing as a result of adding value to their businesses at the same time as shortening the food chain.

Contributers? HFW Zöe Harcombe, Pam Warhurst (Incredible Edible) are three that come to mind.
Any more?
Thoughts?

Good idea.

Plus I'd love to hear Zoe Harcombe In person.

martian · Jan 13, 2021

Nice idea. I've been talking to quite a few people lately, who've got in touch as they are all excited by all the noise going on about soil, regenerative farming, nutrient dense food etc and they wonder how to get hold of food grown well. Not that straightforward to answer, so I like your angle. I was impressed by Michael Gove telling the ORFC a couple of years ago, that he thought that the NHS should be part of DEFRA (or the other way round), as good food is so important to human health...even teaching people how to prepare food, or cook it, would make the NHS much less busy. Rosie Boycott, who used to be Boris's Food Tsar (when he was running London), is very keen for GW to push the food angle, I think a lot of us farmers have forgotten that we're producing food, as so much of what we sell is treated as a commodity

holwellcourtfarm said:
Plus I'd love to hear Zoe Harcombe In person.

She was at Groundswell a couple of years ago, her talk is on the website I think.

Mark Hatton · Jan 13, 2021

I've thought for a long time that food eduction is not just being overlooked by the industry, its a subject that is pretty much invisible to the consumer. It has to start in schools, it needs to be supported by growers, producers and retailers, it isn't something that can be fixed easily. Sadly I suspect that there are too many consumers that simply don't care or can't be bothered or even give any consideration as to where their food comes from, providing its cheap and readily available.

holwellcourtfarm · Jan 13, 2021

martian said:
She was at Groundswell a couple of years ago, her talk is on the website I think.

I've seen that one, it's very good.

martian said:
Nice idea. I've been talking to quite a few people lately, who've got in touch as they are all excited by all the noise going on about soil, regenerative farming, nutrient dense food etc and they wonder how to get hold of food grown well. Not that straightforward to answer, so I like your angle. I was impressed by Michael Gove telling the ORFC a couple of years ago, that he thought that the NHS should be part of DEFRA (or the other way round), as good food is so important to human health...even teaching people how to prepare food, or cook it, would make the NHS much less busy. Rosie Boycott, who used to be Boris's Food Tsar (when he was running London), is very keen for GW to push the food angle, I think a lot of us farmers have forgotten that we're producing food, as so much of what we sell is treated as a commodity

Is this the start of a campaign that we Groundswell attendees should help push forward?

ShooTa · Jan 14, 2021

there was a cracking doctor at the ORFC talks - i cant rem her name of the top of my head. She would be good.

holwellcourtfarm · Jan 14, 2021

ShooTa said:
there was a cracking doctor at the ORFC talks - i cant rem her name of the top of my head. She would be good.

That probably was Zöe Harcombe. She's brilliant at forensically checking the accuracy of scientific papers and revealing their biases and errors, generally in anti-meat and dairy ones.

I lack the patience to check every reference back to the original papers to look for errors and bad methods.

Karliboy · Jan 16, 2021

onesiedale said:
@martian
Just listening to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on the radio and can't help but think that a 'food education' aspect would add an extra, but logical, dimension to Groundswell.

Not only would it help promote healthy food and eating but also demonstrate to decision and policy makers (and a lot of farmers) that healthy food and eating starts with the soil and that farmers can play a much bigger part in putting things right with a system that has many flaws.

It would also provide a huge amount of support for the increasing number of us who are becoming customer facing as a result of adding value to their businesses at the same time as shortening the food chain.

Contributers? HFW Zöe Harcombe, Pam Warhurst (Incredible Edible) are three that come to mind.
Any more?
Thoughts?

The idea is great.

Incredible edible started here in my home town and they have done some great things locally but they have also made some right messes in various areas with left over poly tunnels and things.
Incredible farm is a offshoot from incredible edible and what a Fudgeing set off pricks they are and leave everywhere in a complete sh!thole.
As for Pam Warhurst yes she comes across ok but I wouldn’t p!ss on her if she was on fire the obnoxious fudging NIMBY that she is.

onesiedale · Jan 16, 2021

Karliboy said:
The idea is great.

Incredible edible started here in my home town and they have done some great things locally but they have also made some right messes in various areas with left over poly tunnels and things.
Incredible farm is a offshoot from incredible edible and what a Fudgeing set off pricks they are and leave everywhere in a complete sh!thole.
As for Pam Warhurst yes she comes across ok but I wouldn’t p!ss on her if she was on fire the obnoxious fudging NIMBY that she is.

Well, it's always good to hear a balanced view

Barleycorn · Jan 16, 2021

ShooTa said:
there was a cracking doctor at the ORFC talks - i cant rem her name of the top of my head. She would be good.

Natasha Campbell McBride was at one of the early ORFCs, she's very good. Fell in love with her when she told us to have a full English breakfast, not cereal!

martian · Jan 17, 2021

Karliboy said:
Incredible edible started here in my home town and they have done some great things locally but they have also made some right messes in various areas with left over poly tunnels and things.
Incredible farm is a offshoot from incredible edible and what a Fudgeing set off pricks they are and leave everywhere in a complete sh!thole.
As for Pam Warhurst yes she comes across ok but I wouldn’t p!ss on her if she was on fire the obnoxious fudging NIMBY that she is.

I must admit that I hadn't heard of her or the organisation, so I looked up their website. Oddly, there's nothing more recent than last March on the homepage, you'd think 2020 would've been the perfect year to get projects like this up and running. They've obviously rubbed you up the wrong way Karliboy, but you say that they have done some great things locally...it's always a problem with volunteers that if they get bored, they wander off.

Barleycorn said:
Natasha Campbell McBride was at one of the early ORFCs, she's very good. Fell in love with her when she told us to have a full English breakfast, not cereal!

She is extraordinary, a really interesting person, she came to Groundswell last time, she has a wonderful direct way of saying the most controversial things as if (which they often are) they're self-evidently true. It really winds those medics up, the ones who think diseases can only be sorted with pills. Some of her stuff is a bit out there, I'm normally eyeing the exit when people start on 5G, but it always makes you think.

Dr Natasha - About

Find out more about Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride

www.doctor-natasha.com

Simon C · Jan 17, 2021

Barleycorn said:
Natasha Campbell McBride was at one of the early ORFCs, she's very good. Fell in love with her when she told us to have a full English breakfast, not cereal!

I remember that too David. She was also talking about type 2 diabetes and high carbon foods when @Honest john stood up at the back and asked if was bad for people to eat the potatoes he grows, she said they are fine as long as you put plenty of butter on them.

martian · Feb 9, 2021

There was a very interesting Tim Spector interview on Radio 4 the other day, worth listening to on BBC Sounds. The programme's called The Spark. Everything you know about food is wrong

sjt01 · Feb 9, 2021

martian said:
There was a very interesting Tim Spector interview on Radio 4 the other day, worth listening to on BBC Sounds. The programme's called The Spark. Everything you know about food is wrong

Also see his book Spoon Fed, which goes into quite a bit of detail and certainly made me think and change the way I go about things.

steveR · Feb 11, 2021

martian said:
She is extraordinary, a really interesting person, she came to Groundswell last time, she has a wonderful direct way of saying the most controversial things as if (which they often are) they're self-evidently true. It really winds those medics up, the ones who think diseases can only be sorted with pills. Some of her stuff is a bit out there, I'm normally eyeing the exit when people start on 5G, but it always makes you think.

Dr Natasha - About

Find out more about Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride

www.doctor-natasha.com

You know they are serious about their worries, if the bobble hat has a foil liner.... And it's not for warmth!

holwellcourtfarm · Feb 12, 2021

sjt01 said:
Also see his book Spoon Fed, which goes into quite a bit of detail and certainly made me think and change the way I go about things.

Got it to read. Looking forward to it.

holwellcourtfarm · Feb 23, 2021

Following last night's PM's speech on Covid it seems that @martian had a hand in picking the date for opening up the country. It's suddenly looking hopeful for Groundswell 2021

I must get back to Anna about the "water in agriculture" debate idea again....

martian · Feb 23, 2021

A fiver well spent. Boris just caved in

holwellcourtfarm · Feb 23, 2021

martian said:
A fiver well spent. Boris just caved in

A whole fiver! You'll be needing another sponsor then

Ffermer Bach · Mar 15, 2021

martian said:
There was a very interesting Tim Spector interview on Radio 4 the other day, worth listening to on BBC Sounds. The programme's called The Spark. Everything you know about food is wrong

could you get him to talk at Groundswell?

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