Growing the Local Economy

On this year's farm walk, we were very lucky to be joined by Jane King, an environmental researcher with 15 years’ experience studying the UK food system and its impacts on people and nature. In this short guest article, Jane explores the case for supporting local organic producers, like North Aston Organics.

I’ve been a North Aston Organics customer since 2001. Over that period it’s become evident that supporting diverse, local food production—preferably organic—is one of the most important individual actions we can take to combat climate and nature breakdown.

Scientists now take a much more holistic view of climate change and a consensus has emerged that switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy is only part of the solution. It’s now abundantly clear that the climate and nature crises are two sides of the same coin and that we need to restore nature on a grand scale to halt emissions from degraded natural carbon stores: such as peatlands, woodlands, wetlands and the ocean. And it turns out that our natural resources, on land and at sea—if properly managed and protected—are our very best defense against the impacts of climate change: flooding, drought and overheating.

The main obstacle to creating ‘nature-based solutions’ to combat climate change is the industrialised food system that controls agricultural output: the big grain and livestock traders, animal feed and agrochemical companies, food manufacturers and supermarkets, all supported by £1 billion worth of food advertising. Farmers take most of the blame for the state of the natural world but the majority are locked into an unsustainable and unfair market where they can receive less than 1% of profits, leaving very little capacity for change. North Aston Organics, and farms like it, operate outside of the system and provide services and benefits of local and national importance.

A food system in crisis

The UK food system is one of the least sustainable and most unhealthy in the world; it’s equal to the fossil fuel energy system in causing climate breakdown. As well as being responsible for 35% of our emissions, including imports, it’s the primary cause of the decline of nature on land and at sea. Destruction of our natural resources makes us highly vulnerable to dangerous levels of flooding, drought and overheating, damaging the economy and threatening our homes and livelihoods. We are transitioning the energy system to renewables but there is no coherent plan to transition to a safer, more sustainable food system.

The main problem with the current system is that diversity has been stripped out in the name of efficiency. Our agricultural land—making up around 70% of the UK—now primarily produces commodity crops in wide open areas with nothing to protect them from the elements. The vast majority of farmland supports livestock and arable crops for livestock feed. The majority of remaining land grows crops that support the ultra-processed food industry. As well as taking up vast tracts of land, all this requires enormous amounts of water and agrochemicals to sustain it. A very small percentage of farmland feeds people directly, with only around 1% now producing fruit and vegetables. The UK is heavily reliant on imports of fresh food: over 50% of veg and over 80% of fruit.

The hidden costs of our so-called cheap food are becoming unaffordable:

Food Security

Lack of resilience in our food system now threatens our food security as many farmers struggle to cope with unprecedented levels of flooding and drought. Heavy reliance on imports from climate vulnerable countries further threatens our supplies. This all drives the cost of living crisis. These threats are well documented e.g. in Defra’s 2021 report on food security.

Health

The Food Farming and Countryside Commission recently produced a report called The False Economy of Big Food. It shows that the costs of our unhealthy food system amount to £268 billion every year—almost equivalent to the entire cost of healthcare. The costs of dietary related disease to the NHS have been known for a long time to be just less than £68bn. This report shows the knock-on costs to welfare: £10.1bn; social care: £14.3bn; loss of productivity: £116.4bn; and the ‘human cost’—or loss of potential for the nation: £60bn. There is much talk in the government of healthcare reform but not food system reform.

North Aston Organics - Working with Nature

If this all sounds overwhelmingly grim, there is an antidote, North Aston Organics and similar small to medium sized farms are creating nature-based solutions to some of our biggest problems at the same time as producing a huge diversity of healthy food. And their model can be replicated.

Diversity creating resilience

Since 1998, North Aston Organics has been quietly getting on with creating a network of trees, hedgerows and shrubs and increasing soil fertility—using natural methods. Like the wider North Aston Farms and Dairy, North Aston Organics relies upon rich levels of biodiversity—of plant and animal life—in the soil and surrounding landscape. This precious green infrastructure delivers natural pest control and creates resilience by protecting the growing areas from wind, soaking up excessive amounts of rainwater and minimising the impacts of drought and overheating. The ability to retain excess water on the land helps stop surrounding waterways from being overwhelmed, reducing flood risk downstream.

Food security – the beauty of small-scale production

This healthy growing environment, lovingly maintained for almost 30 years, produces a huge diversity of fruits and vegetables—around 50 crops throughout the year. The small scale of the operation enables the team to take swift action if particular crops are under threat, whether from the elements or wildlife thieves. Diverse production maintains biodiversity but also means that, unlike ‘industrialised’ farms, failure of a single crop isn’t catastrophic forthe business, there is still plenty of food to deliver to customers.

Keeping our land, water, and air healthy

Chemical free production means that North Aston Organics operations are not polluting land, water, or air. This is of enormous value to the wider population. Conventional agricultural practices cause most of the UK’s pollution. A significant amount of this comes from ammonia which is a major threat to biodiversity, air & water quality, and human health. According to Defra 87% of ammonia emissions come from agriculture. Ammonia is the largest component of air pollution and it pollutes over 60% of UK land. Defra statistics also show that fertiliser, pesticides and animal waste from agriculture are the biggest source of water pollution. Sewage discharge comes second.

Can the likes of North Aston Organics feed Britain?

This model is capable of delivering an enormous amount of food using very little land. Recent research shows that supplying an average veg box to Britain’s 28 million households could take up less than 3% of our farmland. Research from the Food Foundation shows that the UK doesn’t produce or import enough fruit and veg for even the minimum health recommendations. If the government invested in more sustainable small-scale production with emphasis on fruit and veg, more farmers would be able to switch from industrial methods to diversify and free up land for nature-based solutions to climate change. Support for direct sales to the public is vital to enable farmers to retain enough profit to keep their businesses financially sustainable..

The economic case is strong. Food manufacturing is Britain’s biggest manufacturing industry and the entire food sector, including agriculture and retail, supports millions of jobs that are at risk because of increasing lack of resilience in the system. Becoming more self-sufficient in food would be a sustainable way to grow the economy. Transitioning to a healthier more sustainable, localised food system would be an investment in both urban and rural communities, generating jobs in revived local food economies. Small-scale production employs more people than conventional farming and could free up land, providing jobs not just in food but in the creation of nature-based solutions to climate change. A healthier system would cut healthcare costs.

This is all obviously a big ask of the government but as consumers we have the power to demand a much better food system by supporting local organic producers like North Aston Organics.

Further reading:

Creating a Nature Rich UK co-authored by Jane King

zerohour.uk/reports