Bristol Food Producers: Five Month Review 29TH July 2015
CONTENT PAGE
INTRODUCTION 2
PROJECT TEAM 4
COMMUNICATIONS 5
STRAND 1: INCREASING PRODUCTIVE LAND 7
STRAND2: IMPROVING FAIRNESS AND EFFICIANCIES FOR SMALL PRODUCERS 11
STRAND 3: IMPROVING ACCESS TO MARKETS 12
STRAND 4: COLLABORATING ON LEARNING 13
CONNECTIONS 16
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INTRODUCTION
The aim of this review is to reflect on our progress towards our objectives so far and to highlight any areas where our thinking, process or direction has shifted. It also provides signposting towards future opportunities and work to be done in remaining months of the project, to March 2016.
This report marks the first phase of our evaluation of the project and remains a work in progress. Our intention is to work with our future steering group, and Traci Lewis of Sustain-Live, to develop a deeper theory of change for Bristol Food Producer which will help us to continue to develop and review our progress towards our wider goals of supporting small local food producers and scaling up Bristol’s local food system.
RECAP OF BACKGROUND TO BRISTOL FOOD PRODUCERS
“The vision is that within the next five years Bristol will become known as a leading sustainable food city, widely celebrated for its innovative network of urban food producers making effective use of a wide range of sites and innovative approaches.” Mayor George Ferguson, ‘A Vision for Bristol’
Following on from the publication of the Who Feeds Bristol? report in March 2011 and with the
support of the Bristol Food Network, URBACT and the Food Policy Council, organisations in Bristol came together to discuss the potential for increasing urban food production & improving awareness and distribution through collaboration. There was a desire to cooperate over land, production plans, machinery & processing equipment, a marketing and physical distribution hub and also learning and skills development. From this previous work the Bristol Food Producers
2015 work plan was created, for which funding was secured from the Green Capital Strategic Fund.
Work began on the Bristol Food Producers project at its inaugural meeting on Monday 19th January 2015 at Hamilton House, although most work was preparatory until funding was received in March. Although a five-month review (from the beginning of March to the end of July) this report in fact covers progress from the beginning of the year.
Left: The Bristol and District Market Gardeners, 1897
Right: Bristol Food Producers at the inaugural meeting on January 19th 2015
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INTRODUCTION
WORKPLAN FOR 2015
Activity Outcomes INCREASING PRODUCTIVE LAND LAND MATCHING Creation of a map, facilitated process and match-making event to help growers to access land – working with Bristol City Council, Beacon Farms and others. Survey of land needs in Bristol (bit.ly/lookingforland) EARLY STAGE BUSINESS Promotion of existing support and new tailored support programmes for DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT growing enterprises – working with Fresh Land Enterprise Centre and others.
IMPROVING FAIRNESS & EFFICIENCIES FOR SMALLER FOOD PRODUCERS MEMBER BENEFITS A more cohesive identity and strength in numbers: group buying discounts, learning opportunities (e.g. study visits), member discounts on events, strategic representation of needs/interests, networking events, news and funding. TOOLS FOR THE JOB REGISTER Online mechanism for asks and offers: sourcing facilities, bulk or joint purchase, machinery, tools, labour, joint working.
IMPROVING ACCESS TO MARKETS QUALITY ASSURANCE Report on the needs of small producers in relation to meeting standards, the resources available the existing charters, brands marks, and open gate systems. Suggestions on collaborative solutions to inform an umbrella benchmark quality standard or a future bid. Seeking funding to take suggestions forward. ORDERING AND DELIVERY LOGISTICS Options study into existing systems to link producers with consumers (pros and cons of each) and a feasibility assessment of a neutral shared delivery logistic scheme, with a view to informing a future bid if necessary.
COLLABORATING ON LEARNING THE BRISTOL CERTIFICATE: Livelihood To provide a standardised enterprise skills base for all new growers in Skills for Landworkers Bristol at different projects: enabling skills development, experience of different models, enterprise, marketing and community development skills. SKILL SHARING MASTERCLASSES 2 enterprise, 2 social and 2 technical masterclasses led by partners or external experts to enable skill sharing and practical demonstration. May be part of a one or two day even in November. PROMOTING GROWING AS A Scaling up Community Growing Course for key garden volunteers LIVELIHOOD Where to Go To Grow listings (places, courses, events) working with Bristol Food Network.
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PROJECT TEAM
Currently working on the project in paid capacities are:
Bonnie Hewson :Overview of all strands; Admin, Resources, Evaluation; Strand 1: Land Matching & Enterprise, Strand 4: Livelihood Skills Certificate and Promotion [below left] Traci Lewis: Strand 3: Distribution & Logistics; Quality Assurance [below centre] Alison Belshaw: Strand 2: Membership; Governance, Strand 4: Skill Share [below right]
We may be recruiting for other paid work on some of the strands in due course, including the development of the Livelihoods Skills for Landworkers.
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Other people involved in delivery so far include:
Mike Cannings of BMInc who designed our logo. Chris Parsons who helped us to pin down the wording of our mission statement. Jess Clynewood and Rich Wright, who have been employed through AWT with Bristol Food Producer funds to create the curriculum for the Scaling up Food Production course that will be offered at Feed Bristol from this September. Nena Johnson and Maurice McCartney who have both done work on the development the Livelihood Skills for Landworkers. Archie Lassiter on the land mapping and matching strand, as an intern within Bristol City Council, with support from Steve Clampin. Kristin Sponsler and Jane Stevenson on website and mapping support. Eric Winbolt of Bristol2015 on mapping support. Pete Gooden, a Soil Association intern, who is assisting with setting up the Fresh Start Horticulture Enterprise Academy with Alison Rickett, in collaboration with the Soil Association (Rachel Harries) and Bridgwater College (Simon Grundy).
We have also had useful and productive meetings with many other people and organisations in Bristol who have offered us help and advice. You can read more about this in the Connections section.
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COMMUNICATIONS
Identity - Our mission statement was collaboratively developed with support from Chris Parsons. Our logo design voted on by members and developed by Mike Cannings (BM Inc).
We believe a resilient Bristol needs an abundance of fresh, air, local, and sustainably produced food – food that is good for people, good for Bristol and good for the planet. We are a diverse network of local, independent growers, farmers, food processors and distributors working together to supply the city we love. We’re collaborating and supporting each other by sharing advice and resources to scale up our local food system and make good food more visible and available. We’re growing together to put local food at the heart of Bristol.
Launch - We have not ‘launched’ Bristol Food Producers, preferring to develop practical strands of the project and get people involved for focused input. This was particularly in view of the fact our stakeholders are a very specific group who are particularly busy during the growing months of the year. We are planning a Gathering in November to report back on the strands to a wider group and to launch our fully developed Membership offer.
Press – We have limited our promotion of the project to the Bristol Food Network newsletter (Mar/Apr ’15) and entries on the Bristol2015 website and other Directories. We have also used Twitter and Facebook to promote our Opportunities Update and our Land Seekers Survey.
Website – URL purchased (www.bristolfoodproducers.uk) and redirected to a part of the Bristol Food network site (see image below for our landing page with logos). The live web pages include background to the project, our work programme and a newsletter sign up. More pages will be added soon with information on strands, resources and a forum.
Our web pages have had more than 2,400 users visiting since the site was set up in April, though a high proportion of these (38%) seem to be from the United States!
Facebook: We only have 59 Facebook followers, although this is climbing gradually. Our own posts about our Opportunities Updates and events tend to reach 150 to 200 people (100 people in Bristol and over 200 people UK-wide) whilst our Shares tend to reach between 20 and 40 people.
We don’t make active use of Facebook and will use it more to connect into wider networks once our strands are developed to a point where we want to share our work more widely.
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COMMUNICATIONS
Twitter – (@BristolProduce) We are currently followed by 170 people (as of 23/07/15) but only follow 72 people. We have posted 20 tweets and 11 retweets. We can clearly make better and more active use of Twitter and will certainly do this as our strands develop to a point where they are offering practical engagement opportunities for a wider audience.
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul TOTAL
Tweets 3 2 0 3 9 2 1 20
Tweet Impressions 624 626 310 1,528 2,636 1,050 428 7,202
Profile Visits 108 72 95 169 164 71 51 730
Mentions 0 9 0 2 6 5 3 25
New Followers 24 28 23 25 31 30 11 172
Opportunities Update - We have over 100 subscribers on our Opportunities Update list with an average 51% open rate. From January monthly Opportunities Updates have been sent (5 to date) – see screen grap to the left). Our Update complements (rather than conflicts with) the Local Food News, providing a short bulletin targeted specifically to the needs and interests of small-scale producers and processors, urban growing projects, and food focused community- and social-enterprises.
The Opportunities Update contains a couple of ‘Top Picks’ (of particular interest or with upcoming deadlines) as well as sections on funding, events, training, jobs and news from other projects in the sector, including asks and offers. We emphasise the enterprise support already available that would be useful to food producing enterprises - who often may not think of marketing and business planning workshops as being of use to them.
We have had very positive feedback from recipients about both layout and content:
“It’s well laid out and easy to scan. There is always something in it that I don’t know about - and I think of myself as pretty well tuned in. It’s told me about a couple of funding opportunities that I wasn’t aware of”
The Opportunities Update footer also includes the logos associated with our status as the Green Capital Strategic Grant recipient and links to our social media accounts.
All past issues and the sign up form can be found here: http://www.bristolfoodnetwork.org/bristol-food- producers/join-us/
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STRAND 1: INCREASING PRODUCTIVE LAND
LAND MATCHING
Objectives - Creation of a map, facilitated process and match-making event to help growers to access land – working with Bristol City Council, Beacon Farms and others. Survey of land needs in Bristol (bit.ly/lookingforland)
Understanding the Needs of Land Seekers As a starting point we decided to find out more about people looking for land in Bristol. The Land Seekers Survey was launched on 8th April. So far 23 responses have been received. We have promoted gently through: Bristol Food Network Landworkers Alliance Growing Livelihoods Fresh Start Land Enterprise Centre Biodynamic Land Trust Soil Association (Future Growers)
The survey doesn’t just give us contact details for people looking for land it tells us about their experience of both growing and business development, their business proposal, how much and what type of land they need, their ideal length of tenure, what infrastructure they require, the produce and markets they have in mind and other income streams they have considered. It asks them when they think they’d be ready to start and how much lead in time they’d need. It also inquiries into their connections to the local community and has given us insight into what awareness exists amongst new entrants of the other support organisation that exist.
The survey will be useful:
To find out more about the volume and needs of land seekers in the area, helping a number of organisations to advocate on their behalf. To help land seekers to firm up their ideas and develop their proposals. To inform the wider sector supporting new entrants of potential areas for development. To provide an active mailing list for land opportunities and to signpost interested growers towards a map of available land and other information they may find useful. To provide an initial stage of vetting for applicants for land available from public and private land owners, or people looking for growers.
The survey has already been helpful for Beacon Farms who have used it to identify potential land partners for their new Farm Hub project. The survey is also being built into a transparent process that we are developing with Bristol City Council for identifying, surveying and inviting applications from food producers for suitable land (see more below).
Quote from a land seeker: “I was half expecting that filling out the land seekers survey would be one of those things I simply sent off into the wide wide Web! It was wonderful to read your email [about the land opportunity at Beacon Farms]. Beacon Farms' values and my own overlap to such a considerable degree, it was almost like reading the future dreams and plans I've been imagining in my head!”
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STRAND 1: INCREASING PRODUCTIVE LAND
Land Use Mapping
A further aim of the Land Matching strand is to better understand the potential land resource available to those seeking space for food production. Work within the Bristol Food Network and Food Policy Council on a five year Action Plan has identified gaps in activity around building an understanding of available land.
Bristol Food Producers has been working closely with Steve Clampin at Bristol City Council, and with their intern Archie Lassiter, on creating a GIS map layer on the BCC system that will categorise land with food production potential within the Council’s own holdings. The land most appropriate for allocation to food production will be matched with people seeking land (see section below) and pieces available for application will be put on a public map.
Following a meeting with eleven stakeholder organisations on 19th March, brought together by the Bristol Food Network, there was a an agreement for us to work collaboratively with Bristol2015 to try to develop their mapping platform in a way that would suit a number of land, food, wildlife and nature focused organisations. This would enable us to layer our maps on the same platform and thereby create a richer picture of land use activity in Bristol.
This work has resulted in the Bristol2015 map being enabled to: Show up to three layer simultaneously Map polygons, as well as routes and different coloured pins Provide more space to input details about mapped projects Embed specific map views into websites
The Bristol2015 map is still being developed but full functionality is expected in just a couple more weeks. Bristol Food network are in the processes of copying their Get Growing Map onto the Platform and Bristol Food Producers are creating a Land with Food Growing Potential Map on which we can advertise pieces of land that Bristol City Council and other landowners have identified as open to applications from food producers.
A contribution of £1,400 has been received from Cardiff University towards mapping activities.
Developing processes (and policies) to underpin land-matching
The aim of creating a facilitated process for matching land seekers with land is to ensure there is transparency and fairness and equity of opportunity for new entrants and existing projects alike.
It was also to pre-empt a growth in the number of people looking for land, and a consequent reduction in the amount of land available. Anticipation of this trend requires us to consider how the most suitable land is matched with the most suitable people or projects.
Different land owners will likely want to develop application processes that suit their own needs and some may not want to publically advertise all or any of their land.
The diagram on the following page indicates how the Land Seekers Survey can help provide a mechanism for facilitating increased connections between land seekers and land owners by providing information on demand and a growing list to which land opportunities can be publically (through a map) or privately (through a list) advertised and then redirected through application processes tailored to the land owners needs.
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STRAND 1: INCREASING PRODUCTIVE LAND
This process is being piloted with Bristol City Council who are currently mapping their assets, developing a survey to assess sites and also developing an application process to help select the most suitable tenants. We are also supporting BCC with the development of a policy, strategy or charter to help underpin decisions about the allocation or prioritisation of assets for food production.
Future Opportunities
Promoting the Land Seekers Survey more widely – and also providing case studies of instances when it has resulted in successful land matching to encourage its use. Testing of the process by uploading a couple of available BCC plots to the Land with Food Production Potential map, including links to completed site surveys and an application process. Replication of the method with other land owners (including sharing a site survey template and developing suitable application procedures) – one possible land owner we are hoping to meet with is The Milestones Trust (Barny Haughton is talking to them on our behalf on 9th Sept). We would also like to engage South Glos Council and UWE, HCA and private land owners. Working with the blue Finger Alliance on developing Bristol’s Declaration for Soil with a view to it underpinning community demand for a BCC strategy for the allocation of land to food production. Feeding into Joint Strategic Planning processes and BCC Strategic Resilience discussion by working with the Bristol Food Network, Bristol Food Policy Council and Sarah Toy.
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STRAND 1: INCREASING PRODUCTIVE LAND
EARLY STAGE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT
Objectives - Promotion of existing support and new tailored support programmes for growing enterprises – working with Fresh Land Enterprise Centre and others.
Our hope is that we can increase the amount of productive land by increase the number of entrepreneurially minded and business-ready food producers. Growers with a business plan are much more attractive to land owners interested in leasing or developing land partnerships. These growers are also more able to make their businesses a success in the long run through forward planning and connecting with markets.
Fresh Start Land Enterprise Academy
In collaboration with the Soil Association (Future Growers) and Bridgwater College, Bristol Food Producers is working with the Fresh Start Land Enterprise Centre to pilot their new horticulture- focused Enterprise Academy in the Bristol area.
Launching this autumn the low-cost programme of 10 sessions over 6 months will help 15-20 existing and aspirational growers to develop their enterprise skills and better understand the ins and outs of business and financial planning, marketing and other aspects of running a viable business.
Other skill development
Promotion of (often free) workshops and courses for small businesses, offered by Social Enterprise Works and Blue Orchid, among others, in the monthly Opportunities update. Promotion of existing support offers, including the Bristol Writer’s Project, that can pair businesses with skilled writers to help them improve their communication. Promotion of services that might help boost businesses viability, including The Marketing Stall (Reuben Horsley) who is keen to work with small producers to help them develop their brand and USP stories.
Future Opportunities
Looking for ways to work with established businesses (including non-food related ones) that can provide mentoring or advice to food producers (possibly as part of our membership package. A wish-list of ways we could work with businesses has been sent to Business in the Community and also, with Kalpna Woolf who sits on the LEP. Collaborating with GoodLab South West to promote social enterprise support opportunities to the food producing community. We need to sit down with Julie Ellison to map out more ways we can work together. Looking for partners who might be able to fund a project similar to the Plunkett Foundation run Urban Food Routes in London (www.urbanfoodroutes.org.uk/urbanfoodroutes), providing expert advice and funding to small food enterprise to help them thrive and benefit their local communities (c. £20,000 needed)
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STRAND 2: IMPROVING FAIRNESS AND EFFICIANCIES FOR SMALL PRODUCERS
MEMBER BENEFITS
Objectives - A more cohesive identity and strength in numbers: group buying discounts, learning opportunities (e.g. study visits), member discounts on events, strategic representation of needs/interests, networking events, news and funding.
Membership
Following the development of the brand identity and mission statement research has been carried out by Alison Belshaw into different membership schemes, looking at a range of organisations including cost, benefit and structure.
Our intention is to develop an inclusive network with a core of voting members restricted to those directly involved in food growing and processing, and possibly also distribution – this core will form a Guild of Food Producers. It is likely that the core voting membership will also be geographically restricted to within 10 or 15 miles of Bristol, although a wider network of stakeholders will also be welcomed as non-voting members. This is to ensure that the organisation continues to remain focused on the needs of local small scale producers as well as on the larger issues of scaling up of the Bristol food system (which by necessity extends beyond Bristol).
A report was compiled for discussion at a meeting ion 13th May facilitated by Alison and Bonnie, followed by online consultation on proposals for the organisation. These will now be reviewed and a final proposal put to the group for approval.
Work has also begun on contacting organisations to negotiate member benefits, discounts, and opportunities for bulk buying etc. The intention is to soft launch the membership to test the online system and promote it at a late-November Gathering (see Strand 4)
Governance
Alongside research into membership options Alison has also assessed a number of different governance structures. If the Bristol Food producers project incorporates as a separate entity (rather than remaining a project under Beacon Farms Limited) it is likely to be either a Community Benefit Society or a Cooperative.
All of the producer and strategic partners involved in the bid are still involved in the project, along with a number of new members. We are inviting a number of people to step forward to form a steering group to help set the ongoing direction of the project strands and help to make decisions on governance issues. We hope to bring this group together for the first time in early September.
TOOLS FOR THE JOB REGISTER
Objectives - Online mechanism for asks and offers: sourcing facilities, bulk or joint purchase, machinery, tools, labour, joint working.
Research is being undertaken by Alison and bonnie into the best platform or plugin to use to support this sharing forum.
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STRAND 3: IMPROVING ACCESS TO MARKETS
QUALITY ASSURANCE: LOCAL FOOD MARK
Objectives - Report on the needs of small producers in relation to meeting standards, the resources available the existing charters, brands marks, and open gate systems. Suggestions on collaborative solutions to inform an umbrella benchmark quality standard or a future bid. Seeking funding to take suggestions forward.
A comprehensive scoping proposal has been developed by Traci Lewis and circulated to all BFP members for comment. This drew on existing research by Bristol Food Network and the Who Feeds Bristol? report, as well as new work looking at other quality assurance and local food branding schemes.
A meeting was held at Hamilton House on 11 June, attended by 12 members (two more commented by phone/email). It was a lively meeting with lots of ideas and suggestions in order to shape the scheme.
Traci is now completing the feasibility study for the end of July. After this there will be focus groups with producers, processors and consumers during August. Money has been set aside to develop some logo options and further funding bid options are also currently being explored along with a proposed project plan for taking the local food/Good Food mark to the next stage
DISTRIBUTION AND LOGISTICS
Objectives - Options study into existing systems to link producers with consumers (pros and cons of each) and a feasibility assessment of a neutral shared delivery logistic scheme, with a view to informing a future bid if necessary.
In order to assess the current and future distribution needs of members a questionnaire has been developed by Traci Lewis and circulated, twice now, via Mailchimp to members. Individual emails have also been sent to key producers who are actively producing and marketing food in Bristol. Eight questionnaires have now been completed and follow-up calls are underway to complete the rest. Five case studies have also been developed of the key local food distributors / retailers in the city.
The background research will be developed into a report that will help producers looking for routes to market to assess the current distribution options open to them (from Fresh Range to Real Economy, the Open Food Network Platform to Food Assemblies).
Another aim is to identify any gaps in provision or improvements that could be collaboratively made to the distribution options for small Bristol producers. To this end a meeting was held at Hamilton House on 11th June with a small focused group of five businesses who are currently distributing food in Bristol. This was a great success with lots of enthusiasm for developing a shared initiative. A follow-up meeting took place on 23rd June to scope out the feasibility of a collaborative food hub in central Bristol, one of the outcomes was a site spec which has been sent to the Council with a cover letter via the Mayor’s Office to kick off the hunt for a shared space. The warehouse space would be shared by Fresh Range and Real Economy and would help to supply the Community Farm. Other distributors such as the Matthew Tree are also involved in the group developing the shared distribution logistics and Love Food are also in the mix.
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STRAND 4: COLLABORATING ON LEARNING
LIVELIHOODS SKILLS FOR LANDWORKERS CERTIFICATE
Objectives – To provide a standardised enterprise skills base for all new growers in Bristol at different projects: enabling skills development, experience of different models, enterprise, marketing and community development skills.
The inaugural meeting of Bristol Food Producer in January gave us some useful pointers towards the potential structure the course could take.
Work on the certificate was developed further at a meeting on the 12th of May in which the target audiences, contributions of participating projects and the make-up of the course was discussed. A fuller understanding of what is involved in developing a certified course was established by Bonnie at a meeting with the Crossfields Institute in Stroud on the 15th May. They also provided a template survey of needs to help develop the course outline and also a learning outcomes template for more detailed course development. All the findings from the May meetings were combined into a concept note with next steps outlines (see summary diagram below for course elements)
Feed Bristol, Sims Hill Shared Harvest, Edible Futures, The Community Farm, Elm Tree Farm, Grow Bristol (aquaponics), The Bristol Fish Project (aquaponics), St Werburghs City Farm, The Matthew Tree Project and Hartcliffe Health and Environment Action Group are all interested in offering the certificate and in developing it together. Nine on the interested organisations were interviewed in more depth about their expectations by Nena Johnson in June. These conversations resulted in a document highlighting what resources we have at our disposal, and what everyone is hoping this programme will result in. A further document from Nena lays out a year in the programme building all the work previously done and incorporating some of the suggestions/concerns/interests of the orgs interviewed.
The business skills element of the course is now being developed further by business consultant Maurice McCartney with a further discussion planned between Maurice, Nena and Bonnie on the 13th August. It is anticipated that further skilled, paid input will be needed to develop the course curriculum and learning outcomes, and budget this autumn and winter, with a view to promoting the course next year and running it from Autumn 2016.
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STRAND 4: COLLABORATING ON LEARNING
SKILL SHARING MASTERCLASSES
Objectives - 2 enterprise, 2 social and 2 technical masterclasses led by partners or external experts to enable skill sharing and practical demonstration. May be part of a one or two day even in November.
Following a planning meeting on the 17th July between Alison, Bonnie and Traci it was decided that running a separate programme of skill sharing masterclasses this autumn (alongside the launch of the Scaling up Community Growing Course and the Fresh Start Enterprise Academy might result in an over-full schedule for the target audiences. With this in mind we are intending to condense skill sharing workshops into a single day-lonf event at the end of November.
Bristol Food Producers Gathering
This event will follow the formation of a steering group in September and will be used to launch our membership and promote progress on other strands of work, including a local food brand and land matching. Workshops will be offered relating to the strands and also covering aspects of business development and market research and communications. We hope to have advisors available and to draw in stakeholder organisations as well as new and existing food producers and processors to find out more about the network and contribute to its future by becoming members.
We are currently investigating venues for this event and intend to hold the event in the last week of November.
PROMOTING GROWING AS A LIVELIHOOD
Objectives - Scaling up Community Growing Course for key garden volunteers. Where to Go To Grow listings (places, courses, events) working with Bristol Food Network.
We want to be inclusive in our approach to equipping more people to make a livelihood from growing. We have met with the Princes Trust and 99 Ways to explore any overlaps between our work and remain open to working with groups supporting community growing, educational nad therapeutic growing with a view to these being seed-beds for growers of the future.
Scaling up Community Growing
Through Avon Wildlife Trust’s Feed Bristol project we have funded Jess Clynewood (St Werburghs City Farm) and Rich Wright (Feed Bristol), both of whom also work with The Matthew Tree Project, to develop a course that will be offered at Feed Bristol from the autumn of this year. The course now runs alongside their Grow Leaders programme and can equip growers from community projects to improve their horticulture and volunteer management skills to ensure their projects become more productive and more sustainable.
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STRAND 4: COLLABORATING ON LEARNING
Get Going in Growing
We also consider it vital to make more transparent the different ways that people can get involved in growing and work towards gaining the skills needed to make it their livelihood.
To this end we are collaborating with Bristol Food Network to develop get Going in Growing signposting (see WIP image below). We will be helping them to transfer their Get Growing Map to the Bristol 2015 platform, where it can be overlaid with other maps. We have already helped to create a timeline of Bristol’s Local Food Movement and intend to include a section on Getting Going in Growing on our website which will provide signposting to local and UK learning opportunities, and other land and skill building resources.
We may collaborate with BFN on including further interactive listings, including the Food Action Plan, in future funding applications.
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CONNECTIONS
Requests for contacts with producers - these have included:
Requests from the lady organising feasts as part of Soil Culture From a school interested in establishing farmers market (Hilcrest Primary) From an organisation and an individual looking for box scheme providers. From BCC, seeking a source of more locally produced fruit and veg for the Ashton Court cafe. From Somerset Local Food Direct (via Matthew Tree) asking for a supplier of tomatoes
Our intention is not to put ourselves in the way as a middle man but to create a directory of our members (as soon as membership is launched) that will allow people to get directly in touch with them.
Requests to attend events – as BFP isn’t really a public facing organisation (as it serves a very niche producer community) it doesn’t have lots of publicity materials, banners etc. We aren’t prioritising having an event at public events but we do everything we can to open up opportunities for our producers to promote themselves at these events and give them a more public profile. In time, when constituted and with a number of projects under way, our priorities may change to promoting our producers to the public through a local food mark etc. So far events opportunity we have promoted to our members include:
Your Green Future event (an interactive event for 12-18 year olds), to run a Your Business Future workshop. We put them in contact with a number of our organisations some of whom were interested in getting involved (I think maybe only one did in the end) Food Connections Festival, opportunity to run workshops or give TED-style talks was forwarded to our members, couple of whom got involved as a result.
Sharing resources, info and support– including:
Information on insurance and a planning application reference for Grow Bristol Signposting towards Making Local Food Work resources on setting up food enterprises for Buzz Lockleaze, Sawday’s, The Matthew Tree project and Real Economy Signposting the Matthew Tree Project towards Affinity Sutton funds for their work in Brislington (including The Rock site) Connecting three people interested in livestock and micro-dairy in Bristol
Requests to provide an overview of our work – these include requests from BCC and Bristol 2015 as part of our Green Capital requirements, including adding ourselves to the Green Capital directory, to neighbourly.com and to a number of volunteering databases. It has also included being involved in:
The Architecture Studio’s City Ideas Lab as part of the food theme – we provided information about our own work programme and also about our partners. UWE’s Our Green City course – interviewed as part of the food strand. The Soil Association’s Erasmus+ funded collaboration with European wide organisations – they invited us to add ourselves to the directory of organisations involved in access to land. Bristol Food Network’s Get Growing Trail – we gave a presentation of our plans to the community gardens that attended the information session
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CONNECTIONS
Growing Livelihoods’s event in August – invited to speak about our work on learning collaboration and enterprise support. University of Brighton international workshop for individuals and organisations interested in the design and development of sustainable urban food systems, and Productive Urban Landscapes (by Andre Viljoen) – we were unable to attend but invited them to host a subsequent meeting in Bristol.
Above: Picture of part of the Bristol Food Producer’s display in the Architecture Centre’s City Idea Lab
Connections with other local projects and organisations – these include, other than our project partners:
Bristol Food Network (including the Food Action Plan) Soil Culture Princes Trust Square Food Foundation, and through them the Milestones Trust 91 Ways – a Green Capital Project encouraging local people to share the foods and recipes that reflect their heritage and their daily diet. And through this connection links into the LEP. West of England Rural Network The Marketing Stall The Writer’s Project
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