Food – Page 2 – The Green Tau

Counting on … day 25

5th February 2025

Fairtrade helps ensure fair working conditions for workers which for many consumers is an issue of social justice that means they are willing to pay a higher price for the product. Ensuring workers have a fair wage and good living conditions is also about the sustainable use of resources. People are resources that we need to value and to treat with respect.

Food systems here in the UK and in Europe, are highly dependant on the use of part time cheap labour. In these situations workers are not paid fair wages nor are they provided with continuous year round work, holiday and sick pay etc.

This article from the Guardian describes the case of Julia Quecaño Casimiro, from Chile, who came to pick cherries in Herefordshire. When she left the farm a month later, she was homeless with little more than £100 in her pocket. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/nov/22/seasonal-cherrypicker-from-chile-files-unfair-dismissal-claim-against-uk-farm?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Counting on … day 24

4th February 2025

Producers of products such as cocoa, coffee and bananas also face problems due to fluctuations in prices triggered by speculators. Fairtrade can help, by guaranteeing a minimum price but also be developing direct, long term relationships between producers and buyers.

“Many initiatives in the cocoa, tea, banana and flower sectors aim to improve the social, environmental and economic performance of producers. They typically focus directly on achieving change at producer and worker level ….[However] trading relationships can have an important influence on a producer’s economic viability and capacity to invest in sustainable practices. In the banana sector in Ecuador, for example, more secure contracted volumes enable banana plantations to provide more stable year-round employment to their workers. Without these guarantees plantations are often confronted with cancellations in buying orders, making it too risky to provide job security to workers.” (1)

Sustainable food systems need to protect producers and workers, and this does ultimately protect consumers by better ensuring a steady supply of food.

https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/legacy/doc/The-Case-for-Fairness-in-Trade.pdf

Counting on … day 23

3rd February 2025

“Farmers are the backbone of our agricultural industry, working tirelessly to bring food to our tables. However, the practice of price manipulation in agricultural markets has severe consequences for these hardworking individuals. One of the most significant impacts on farmers is the financial struggles they face, coupled with a sense of uncertainty about their future.” (1)

Food waste can also be linked with capital waste. Farming requires capital inputs – seed, fertilisers, equipment – for which the return can be unpredictable. Crops may fail due to adverse weather or pests. Prices may fall because of changes in demand or because of the manipulation of the markets by investors such as hedge funds.

Recently there seemed to be a surge in demand for British grown fruit – apples, cherries etc. demand peaked and with inflation consumers (and supermarkets) opted for cheaper imports. What do farmers do who have invested in planting orchards? It can be years before the capital is repaid: should they grub up the new trees and cut their losses?

Do we need more control over prices – limiting the role of investors who are simply playing the market, using subsides to guarantee prices for British grown produce?

https://fastercapital.com/content/Price-Manipulation-in-the-Agricultural-Markets–Impacts-on-Farmers-and-Consumers.html

Counting on … day 205

1st November 2024

Green Christian has produced a useful nemonic for sourcing food sustainably – LOAF = Local, Organic, Animal friendly, fairly traded.

For more details – https://greenchristian.org.uk/gc-campaigns/loaf-2/why-use-your-loaf/

https://greentau.org/tag/vegan/

Counting on … day 177

24th September 2024

Community gardens can not only boost biodiversity but also the supply of locally grown food.

“Pam Warhurst … the founder of Incredible Edible, a food-focused guerrilla gardening movement, wants the state to get out of people’s way. “The biggest obstacle is the inability of people in elected positions to cede power to the grassroots,” she says… Her big idea is guerrilla gardening – with a twist. Where guerrilla gardeners subvert urban spaces by reintroducing nature, Incredible Edible’s growers go one step further: planting food on public land and then inviting all-comers to take it and eat. “I used food because it seemed to me that we needed to act fast,” Warhurst says. “We needed to get experience as soon as we could, and probably food was the thing that we could demonstrate an alternative way of living around, in a really simple way.”” (1)

Here in London the Edible Bus Stop in Lambeth grows a range of flowering plants, herbs, vegetables and fruit trees. https://theediblebusstop.com/the-kerb-garden/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/13/radical-food-group-incredible-edible-guerrilla-gardening?

Counting on day … 159

29th August 2024

After travel and accommodation, food maybe the next consideration. We can, whether eating out or self catering, make our diet more or less environmentally friendly depending on what we choose to eat. Choosing a plant based diet will have a lower environmental impact than one based on dairy and/or meat. “Avoiding meat and dairy products is one of the biggest ways to reduce your environmental impact, according to scientific studies” (1)

(1)https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46459714

Further reading https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local

Counting on … day 140

2nd August 2024

The Earth Overshoot Day website talks about the ‘power of possibility’ and hosts examples of many and various ways in which we could reduce our annual overshoot and so organise our care and use of resources that we could both maintain and enhance the world’s fruitfulness.

One area is food.

If we – prevent food loss and waste

– opt for plant-based foods

– adopt agroecological and regenerative practices

we could, they suggest, shift Earth Overshoot Day by 32 days.

https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/solutions/food/

Counting on … day 99

3rd May 2024

Food waste is an issue in homes too. We aim to minimise such waste by not buying more perishable food items than we need. Getting used to how much a person eats, and how much makes a serving, helps. As does a shopping list. Additionally as most of our meals are cooked from scratch it is is easy to prepare only as much food as is going to be eaten. If there are leftovers they are refrigerated and become the next day’s lunch.

Tea bags, coffee grounds, the outer leaves of a cabbage or onion skins all go in the compost heap. Being vegan there are no bones or skins to be disposed. Root vegetables are washed and used, peel on. Apple cores become cider vinegar, and lemon rinds become preserved lemon. Excess amounts of root and cabbage-like vegetables become sauerkraut, and surplus fruit from the garden is bottled, or made into jam or chutney. During the summer the excessive growth of nasturtium leaves and rocket are made into pesto and bottled for use in the winter.

And it is surprising how many different fruits and vegetables you can use to make a delicious soup!

Further reading – https://wrap.org.uk/resources/report/household-food-and-drink-waste-united-kingdom-2021-22

https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

Eco Tips

Counting on … day 97

1st May 2024

As well as seeking a sustainable supplier for beans and pulses, we have also sought out sustainably motivated suppliers for other food stuffs.

Our flour comes from Priors Flour and is made from locally grown organic grains which are milled in a windmill! Its small scale business model maintains good human relations – a person who answers questions, and a company which can shut down to allow staff a holiday – and preserves an old but still highly functional building. And the flour is full of good feel and flavour.

Our oats – for porridge and oatcakes – comes from Pimhill which grows, mill and sells organic oats, and which come compactly packed in paper packaging. (Waste and plastic free is another feature we support).

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Counting on … day 96

30th April 2024

Even within the option a vegan diet, it is possible to look for the more sustainable options. The bulk of our protein comes from beans and pulses. By buying these from Hodmedod we can opt for beans and pulses – as well as pasta, chia seeds, quinoa and other staples – that are grown in the UK. This supports the UK’s farming industry and especially in these cases, smaller farms and businesses including many innovating with new varieties. It also reduces food miles – the distances over which food is transported from field to plate.

As well as buying dried beans, we buy bean flours from Hodmedod which adds to the richness of the dishes we eat. We also buy Brazil nuts from them which are wild-harvested nuts that come directly from the Kayapó people of Brazil. This is solidarity trading which ensures the protection of the local forest and an income for the indigenous people.