Relevant projects

Report: Local food and climate change - the role of community food enterprises

The Making Local Food Work project has published a new report which highlights the role that community food enterprises can play in tackling food related GHG emissions.

Summary as follows:
Until recently, the focus of public and political debate around the contribution food makes to climate change was on transport. However, a succession of life cycle assessments and scientific reviews over the past decade have highlighted that other factors besides transport, make a bigger overall difference to climate change.

Where does this leave community food enterprises? Most were set up for other reasons – social, economic and environmental – rather than to tackle climate change. They are hugely diverse, spanning community-supported agriculture schemes, community shops, farmers’ markets, food co-ops and buying groups. Many have something distinctively local about them – such as shorter supply chains – but none is defined just by that fact. Little of the research on climate change and local food, which mostly looks at the effect of shorter-distance transport on more conventional supply chains, can offer them direct guidance.

This report forms part of an exploratory study commissioned by Making Local Food Work to understand better the role of local and community food enterprises in addressing global environmental issues, focusing on greenhouse gas emissions. It is about making practical sense of the opportunities and challenges facing community food enterprises.
 

Agricultural Advisory Services Analysis Project: survey for completion

Amongst the measures identified in the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan, Defra has made a commitment to support the agriculture sector in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. There are numerous sources of advice and information available to farmers and some of the advice given contributes to reducing emissions.

AEA has been commissioned by Defra to carry out a review of the advice available to farmers in England in order to build up a picture of what services are out there. The purpose is to explore how existing services can be used to address climate change and to investigate how to fill the gaps, where they are identified – the aim is not to create an entirely new advice service but to enhance what is available through existing channels. AEA has developed a survey designed for those who have an active involvement in delivering information and advice to farmers and is interested in hearing the views from a range of organisations across the country; those that deliver advice across all of the main agricultural sectors and in many different topic areas.

The results of this survey will be used to make recommendations for ensuring farmers receive advice on efficiency savings and reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions that is relevant, understandable and cost-effective. The survey should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire.

If you would like to participate see here.
 

WRAP research: Waste mapping in chilled and prepared foods sector

A new research led by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) will calculate the amount of waste in the UK retail supply chain for pre-prepared food and identify how this can be reduced. Covering four representative products - sandwiches, pizza, quiche and ready meals - the research will develop detailed 'resource maps' to highlight the amount of food and packaging waste generated for each product type at key stages in the chilled and frozen supply chains. It will also calculate the associated carbon emissions and economic impact, as well as detailing the amount of water used and disposed of during the manufacture of these products. Best practice guidance covering storage, handling and packaging will then be produced to enable companies in the pre-prepared food categories to benchmark themselves against data and maximise opportunities for achieving environmental benefits and cost savings. 

For more information see here.

If you’re a business who would be interested in getting involved with the project, email WRAP. 

McDonalds launches project to measure methane in cows

McDonalds, which uses beef from 350,000 cattle a year for its burger meat, is to conduct a three-year study into methane emissions from cattle on 350 farms across Britain. The study will be carried out by E-CO₂ Project, an independent rural consultancy and energy-auditing company. The first readings are due in April 2010 and consultants will advise farmers on the best ways to reduce emissions and increase efficiency.

The story has been covered by the Guardian and The Telegraph.

Cardiff University: Best Practice Tools and Techniques for Carbon Reduction & Climate Change questionnaire

Cardiff University has been commissioned by CO2Sense Yorkshire to investigate the potentials of continuous improvement tools and techniques for carbon reduction. The questionnaire targets anyone who can comment on their company's environmental activities. This questionnaire is designed to capture your organisation's plans and activities for carbon reduction and focuses on how you manage your organisation's climate change impact. It will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. To fill in the questionnaire please follow this link.

Guardian top 10 green living myths

The Guardian's recent myth debunking feature lists an organization called Sandbag that focuses its work on the European Emissions Trading Scheme . It buys up emission permits in order to reduce the pool that’s available on the European market. Here’s the debunked myth in full:

What they tell you: Turning off the lights saves CO₂

What they don't tell you: It makes sense for individuals to use less electricity to help reduce the emissions of British power stations. However, it's worth bearing in mind that the total amount of CO₂ that can be released by power plants and other industrial facilities across the EU between now and 2012 is fixed by the European Emissions Trading Scheme. This means that if the UK power sector reduces its emissions, extra carbon permits get freed up for use elsewhere, such as German power stations or French cement plants. In other words, the same amount of CO₂ will be released, just from different sources. If you want to ensure that your electricity savings do make a real environmental difference, join Sandbag, a charity that will remove CO₂ permits from the EU scheme to stop your good work being traded away on the carbon markets.

For the Guardian article, see here.

Nitrogen in Europe project

The Nitrogen in Europe project adopts a multidisciplinary approach to examining and tackling the main problems of excess nitrogen. It identifies nine main problems associated with excessive nitrogen use: aquatic, coastal and terrestrial eutrophication, acidification, climate change, photochemical smog, urban air quality, particles, and stratospheric ozone depletion.

The project has recently drafted a declaration on nitrogen and the food chain which you can read here.

Anyone is welcome to add their name to the declaration.

New Database for Animal-free Agriculture

The Vegan-Organic Network, in collaboration with Vegatopia, has produced a new database of over 1700 references related to the science, practice and benefits of animal free agriculture. The database will be immensely useful for those with a research or practitioner interest in animal-free agriculture, including growers, government, NGOs, academics and students. The database includes full academic references for every entry. Most entries are also annotated with summary notes and key quotations.

If you have any queries, comments or corrections, contact Phil.

For notes explaining the database fields and the abbreviations used, click on the pdf link to the left of this entry.

For more about the Vegan Organic Network see here.

Campaign for the Farmed Environment

Growers and farmers in England have joined forces with government and conservationists to launch a new campaign to enhance wildlife habitats and the wider environment.

The Campaign for the Farmed Environment (CFE), will last for three years and will encourage landowners and managers to introduce measures that will retain the benefits of set-aside, which was abolished by the EU last year. These focus on protection in three main areas:

• for farmland birds
• for farm wildlife
• for natural resources

For the Defra press release see here.

UK Government Healthier Food Mark Website

In the Autumn of 2009 the UK Government introduced its Healthier Food Mark scheme, which aims to encourage and recognise best practice among public sector organisations buying and serving food. This food based standard will be awarded to public sector organisations offering healthier, more sustainable food and catering services. The Mark will be tested through a series of pilots during 2009/10. A full consultation process will follow in 2010 and it will potentially roll out in 2011. The initiative is being developed as a collaboration between the Department of Health, Defra and the Food Standards Agency.

There will be 3 award levels (bronze, silver and gold) . More on the award criteria can be found here. Broadly they relate to issues such as:

• Promoting fruit and vegetable consumption
• Energy efficiency and waste management
• Higher welfare standards for meat and dairy products
• Sustainable seafood procurement
• Provision of food lower in fat, sugar and salt

For more information and for details on how public sector organisations can volunteer to pilot the Mark see here.

World Food Prize Winner 2009

The World Food Prize is the foremost international award recognising the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.

The 2009 Prize has been awarded to Dr. Gebisa Ejeta of Ethiopia, whose sorghum hybrids resistant to drought and the devastating Striga weed have dramatically increased the production and availability of one of the world’s five principal grains and enhanced the food supply of hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa.

Carbon footprint of nations website

This website gives the carbon footprint of different countries broken down by different consumption categories (food, manufacturing, transport etc), by users (government, household etc) and by domestic vs imported and exported production. The site is hosted by the Industrial Ecology Program at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. To date, the site’s information is based on results from a recent study using a multiregional IO-model, but guest authors will be invited to help develop and improve the information on the site over time.

Eat Seasonably campaign

A new Defra-backed campaign called ‘Eat Seasonably’ was launched on 28 May. It aims to introduce people to the benefits of seasonal produce and reconnect them with the food they are eating and the seasons in which it’s grown. This builds on the earlier phase of the campaign, ‘Grow your own’. Linked to the campaign is the ‘Big Lunch’, which will take place on 19 July. It’s encouraging people across the UK to set up street parties and eat locally grown, made or bought food and drink with friends and neighbours in streets, parks and church halls.

See here for the press release, here for the Eat Seasonably website and here for The Big Lunch.

UK Biochar Research Centre launched

The UK Biochar Research Centre was launched in April 2009.

“Biochar is a black carbon material produced from the decomposition of plant-derived organic matter (biomass) in a low- or zero-oxygen environment (i.e. pyrolysis or gasification) to release energy-rich gases which are then used for producing liquid fuels or directly for power and/or heat generation. The carbon atoms in biochar molecules are strongly bound to one another, and this makes biochar resistant to attack and decomposition by micro-organisms. By contrast, the carbon in most organic matter is rapidly (between 1 and 5 years) returned to the atmosphere as CO₂ through respiration. Consequently, biochar is a potentially highly valuable way of stabilising carbon and storing it in soils and is one of very ways of removing CO₂ from the atmosphere. There are a very wide range of potential biochar feedstocks: e.g. wood waste, timber, agricultural wastes, manure, leaves, food wastes, straw, paper sludge, green waste, distillers grain, bagasse and many others.”

Defra Task Group on anaerobic digestion

Defra has announced a joint initiative with the public and private sector to make greater use of anaerobic digestion.

Stewardship Index for Speciality crops

The Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops is a multi-stakeholder initiative to develop a system for measuring sustainable performance throughout the specialty crop supply chain. More than 30 leading growers, suppliers, buyers, technical experts and environmental and public interest organizations are involved in the initiative. The group will develop and share a comprehensive system for measuring sustainable performance across the supply chain-at farms, processors, distributors, food service providers, and retailers. The project will address the unique needs of specialty crop stakeholders while demonstrably improving environmental and social impacts. “Specialty crops” are defined to include fruits, vegetables, nuts and horticulture.

Farming Futures

Farming Futures is funded by Defra and is run by Forum for the Future on behalf of a partnership of organisations comprising the National Farmers' Union, the Country Land and Business Association, the Agricultural Industries Confederation and all of the levy boards via the Agricultural and Horticultural Research Forum. Farming Futures provides inspiration and information on the impacts of climate change and how farmers, land managers and their advisors can adapt to and mitigate these impacts. The website features a series of sector and topic specific fact sheets. Case studies, regional maps and a series of on-farm workshops also encourage taking action to reduce cost and risk associated with climate change.

For more information on the project see the website or email Claire Wyatt.

Research programme – 'science in the field: understanding the changing role of expertise in the rural economy'

Jeremy Phillipson, Assistant Director of the RELU programme, is leading this 2.5-year ESRC-funded project to explore the current and potential role of field-level advisers as knowledge-brokers between scientific research and land management practice, focusing on three different groups: applied ecologists, rural vets and surveyors/land agents. The research will aim to: first, understand the training and experience that underpin the specialist knowledge of the advisers and how they and their professions adapt to scientific advances on the one hand and the changing rural economy on the other; secondly, compare approaches to knowledge exchange used by different field-based specialists; and finally, explore how land managers relate to the different types of specialists and gauge the appropriateness of advice received. By increasing understanding of these issues, the research will improve ways in which research is communicated to land managers and also improve the flow of evidence between field-level specialists and policy-makers. For more information see here.

UN trials model bioenergy's effect on food security

Tests on a tool to help policymakers assess the impact of bioenergy development on food security have begun in developing countries. The 'analytical framework', developed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), uses country data to predict the effects of bioenergy production. It will be tested on data from Peru, Tanzania and Thailand before being released to the international community.

Find out more here.

Nitrous oxide focus group

The University of East Anglia have set up a new consortium-based research project to explore the action of nitrous oxide, its role in climate change, the role of bacteria in nitrous oxide emissions and to develop techniques to mitigate its effect. The team of computer scientists, biologists, soil scientists, microbiologists, chemists and environmental scientists aims to develop a computational model of the process by which land-based bacteria produce nitrous oxide. The focus group will also concentrate on understanding the sources of this potent greenhouse gas, the chemistry and biology behind the production of nitrous oxide and its overall impact upon climate change. For more information see here.

Food refrigeration – useful research project and information resource

For the past couple of years, the University of Bristol’s FRPERC (Food Refrigeration and Processing Energy Research Centre) has been working on a Defra funded project that investigates refrigeration energy use in the food supply chain and technologies that could reduce energy use. See here for details.

Recently, the project held a dissemination event that reports on its findings to date. The project website has a number of really useful ppts from this event plus other outputs. These are accessible to anyone who wants to see them but you need to get an ‘enrollment key’ to log in. To do this, email Judith Evans at Bristol.

Food Retail Industry Challenge Fund

In December 2007, Gareth Thomas, UK Minister for Trade and International Development announced a new £2 million fund (the Food Retail Industry Challenge Fund), to help increase the UK market for sustainably produced food from Africa.

Announcing the funding Gareth Thomas said: “I am pleased to announce £2 million for a new Food Retail Industry Challenge Fund – the FRICH. This fund will help bring together retailers and African farmers to increase the market for sustainably produced food.”

“By purchasing Fairtrade labelled, Organic and other certified products from developing countries, people are already making a real difference to poor farmers’ lives, but we want to go further as I don’t think we can rely on labels alone. We need to trade more with the poorest countries in Africa, and we want more of this trade to be fair and ethical. This is why we are announcing the FRICH. The FRICH is designed to help African farmers come up with innovative business ideas to compete in our globalised world. We want to see new products in our shops so that many more African farmers have fairer and more profitable trading relationships with UK shoppers.”

Gareth Thomas also challenged more British firms to join the Ethical Trading Initiative which brings together businesses, trade unions and NGOs to tackle poor working conditions in developing countries some major British retailers have still not joined the initiative.

Read the press release and Gareth Thomas’ full speech here.

Food: an analysis of the issues

This project, run by the UK Government Cabinet Office Strategy Unit, is examining current and emerging trends in the production and consumption of food, the key drivers of those trends and the implications for the wider economy, society and the environment. It is looking at the opportunities and challenges facing the food system, including issues such as diet's contribution to public health, food safety, changing consumer tastes and preferences, and environmental sustainability.

The results of the first, analytical, phase of the work are provided in the discussion paper that is available for download here. Comments and contributions are welcome.

A second part, now in progress, involves consulting on the trends, the challenges the UK faces in responding to the many issues in a coherent way, and how Government can help. These consultations involve (i) NGOs covering a wide range of consumer, environmental and health issues; (ii) industry representative bodies and companies from all along the food chain; and (iii) others with an interest.

A third and final part will draw out policy implications.

Carbon Action Plan (CAP)

Plans for a new global system to measure and record the carbon footprint of beverages on their packaging labels were launched on 10 April 2008. The scheme has been developed by a partnership between NSF International, the food safety and standards accreditation organisation, and Zenith International, an international beverage industry consultancy.

It is supported by Trucost, an environmental research company. While initially being implemented for bottled water manufacturers, the scheme is expected to eventually extended to other soft drinks, before a possible roll out across the food industry. Besides carbon footprints, the scheme will aim to include a variety of additional information on their energy and packaging requirements of a specific beverage.

These include

• The amount of renewable energy and offset carbon emissions used in making the product
• The number of litres of water used to make a single litre of the beverage
• The percentage of recycled material used for a product's packaging

The CAP pilot has been undertaken by UK bottled water producer Highland Spring.

For more information see the Zenith website.

Sustainable Consumption Institute

The University of Manchester’s Tesco-funded Sustainable Consumption Institute’s aim is to be a multidisciplinary centre of global excellence researching major national and international issues associated with sustainability in the retail sector and encouraging consumers to adopt more sustainable lifestyles. There is a fair amount of material on their website here.

Of particular interest is a recent presentation by Tim Lang, of City University on the theme of ‘Can governments and supermarkets deliver a sustainable food system?’ You can dowload the ppt here and a recording of the speech will be available shortly.

The Institute works in the following areas:

• ways to motivate consumers to live greener lifestyles
• a globally accepted carbon footprint labelling system
• development of greener stores and building programmes
• development of shopping via the internet
• evaluating new technology that could reduce environmental impact
• training in low-carbon technologies
• incentives needed to develop a lowcarbon economy
• evaluating new packaging to maximise recycling and minimise waste
• understanding the long-term impact of non-greenhouse gases on climate change

Food Stories

This website was produced as as a result of a four-year research project by the University of Sheffield, Centre for Rural Economy at Newcastle and the British Library, and includes material from interviews with over 40 people connected with the British food industry, at all points along the supply chain, from people born in the early 20th Century to today's schoolgirls. The interviews are grouped into themes as follows:

• Food, nation and cultural identity
• Ritual and tradition
• Retail experience
• Consumer knowledge and power
• Changes in eating habits
• Food and regulation
• Technology and change

The Chatham House food supply project

This project is concerned with the effects of global trends on the realities of everyday life. Examining in detail the networks that supply two staples - milk and wheat – to the United Kingdom market, the study will map the patterns likely to emerge over the next 20 years.

The briefing paper is available here.

Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU ) Programme

This programme is a collaborative programme funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and runs through to 2009. RELU supports an interdisciplinary programme of work to investigate the social, economic, environmental and technological challenges faced by rural areas. RELU funds a broad range of food-relevant projects. Of particular note from a food climate change perspective are:

• Comparative Merits of Consuming Vegetables Produced Locally and Overseas
• Impacts of Increasing Land Use under Energy Crops
• The Effects of Scale in Organic Agriculture

RELU also organised a series of debates on food issues for the 2006 Science Week. Click here to see the presentations.

RESOLVE

RESOLVE is a new and exciting collaboration located entirely within the University of Surrey. RESOLVE aims to unravel the complex links between lifestyles, values and the environment. In particular, the group will provide robust, evidence-based advice to policy-makers in the UK and elsewhere who are seeking to understand and to influence the behaviours and practices of ‘energy consumers’.

Retail Futures 2022

Retail Futures 2022 is a Forum for the Future project. It explores answers to the following: What are the possible futures for the UK retail industry in 2022, in particular FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) retail, and what are the implications for sustainable development?

CarbonLimited

This three year project is exploring the scope for controlling carbon emissions using a market based carbon trading mechanism. By providing us all with a financial incentive to reduce our carbon emissions, it is argued that tradable allowances could accelerate change in attitudes and behaviours at individual and society level and in doing so, bring about growth in a sustainable economy.

Through CarbonLimited, the RSA is bringing together expertise from the commercial, social and financial sectors to subject these ideas to analysis and field testing and make practical policy recommendations.

SCORE!

The SCORE! Project is one of the EU's central support structures for the UN's 10 Year Framework of Programs for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP). SCORE! runs a series of workshops and conferences which look at the current state of SCP research, and which promote examples of radical sustainable consumption for mobility, agro-food and energy use. The project is building up a library of useful resources, while the proceedings of its April 2006 workshop are also available online.

Individuals can contact those listed on the Experts database and add their details to it. The project also allows you to communicate with others via the forum.

SHARP

The Swedish project, SHARP focuses on quantifying household energy use and analysing aspects of domestic energy use as they are shaped by attitudes, behaviours, the law etc. The objectives of SHARP are to:

a. investigate the correspondence between environmental policy intentions and the environmental values and attitudes held by households;

b. explore the resource constraints that people face when engaging in ‘sustainability' promoting activities in their daily life, and how they choose to organize their activities given these constraints; and

c. use this information to clarify under what circumstances different environmental policies will be effective and perceived as legitimate.

The project focuses on four different areas of household activity: waste management activities; the active purchasing of environmentally benign products; transport choice behaviour and the use of water and sewage systems.

The SHARP approach attempts to combine in-depth interviews and time-diaries, with more extensive information about attitudes and constraints gathered via surveys from a large number of households.

Warwick HRI

Warwick HRI is undertaking a wide range of climate change research with the aim of identifying the problems, providing the solutions and recognising the opportunities of a changing climate for agriculture and the rural landscape.

Love Food Hate Waste

This major campaign by the Waste Resources Action Programme is aimed at reducing food waste. Each year UK households throw away 6.7 million tonnes of food, or a third of what we buy, most of which could have been eaten. For more information see the Love Food Hate Waste campaign website.

WRAP

WRAP have commissioned a life cycle assessment of the evironmental impacts attributable to the use of biodegradable and non-biodegradable containers, both virgin and with recycled content, for uncarbonated drinks. The results of this research will both inform decisions on the development of future policy in this area and provide a deeper evidence base for WRAP activities. The data will also be used in reporting on the performance of related projects. The project aims to identify the relative environmental economic value merits of using:

• PET (virgin plastic and recycled content);
• HDPE (virgin plastic and recycled content);
• Flint and Green Glass (virgin and recycled content);
• Liquid cartons (recycled content to be specified by the contractor);
• PLA

The study will also:

• identify and assess similar research.
• consider the disposal of the container to landfill, recycling, or via energy recovery for all containers, plus recovery via composting for PLA.

Environmental IMprovement of PROducts (IMPRO)

This EU-funded project builds upon the findings of the EIPRO report (See LCA section of this website). The project will identify possible ways in which life-cycle environmental impacts can be reduced for products with the greatest environmental impacts. These are: passenger cars, meat and dairy products and housing.