CityHarvest

CityHarvest is a new project to get more people growing more food in London. Local food production can help green the environment, improve people's health and create jobs and training opportunities. CityHarvest will work for a more edible London through:

• Support: assisting new and established projects with advice and information
• Practical research: what's going on? What could be achieved and how?
• Celebration: a London-wide harvest festival displaying London grown produce.

CityHarvest: The Festival

London's digging for change. All across the capital people are sprouting a new and better London.

CityHarvest Festival was a one day edible bonanza help on October 4, 1998, celebrating the wealth of foods that London - and Londoners - produce. A selection of what was on offer:

• A cornucopia of fruit and veg, honey, wine and eggs grown and produced by Londoners from Ealing to Archway, Bow to Becontree
• Food tasting - from aloo bhaji to bubble & squeak, try out what Londoners are cooking up
• Cookery demonstrations - edible tips from London's top chefs
• Stalls - selling or displaying fresh, locally grown goodies
• Workshops and information - interested in low maintenance gardening? Worried about soil contamination? Come and meet the experts
• Kids' activities - make a scarecrow, enter our wonky veg competition
• Music, drama, and more ...

WHAT'S POISONING LONDON?

London is home to 12% of Britain's population. But its 'footprint' - its social, economic and environmental impact upon world resources - extends to about 125 times its surface area. In other words, it requires the equivalent of the entire productive land area of Britain to sustain it.

Each year, for example, Londoners eat 2,400,000 tones of food. The way this food is produced, distributed and consumed is unsustainable in every sense of the word. It contributes to:

Environmental damage: Food transportation, which comprises around a quarter of our road traffic, uses up scarce fossil fuels and causes pollution. London produces 3.3 million tones of waste a year. About a fifth of this is compostable food waste. The vast majority is landfilled, using up scarce land, generating methane emissions and leaking into the groundwater. Much of our food is of uniform genetic stock and is grown using an array of chemicals, undermining the richness and diversity of the natural environment.

Ill health: Rich people are less likely to die from diet related diseases than poor people. Many on low incomes cannot afford fresh produce and live on council estates with no, or inadequate, food shops.

Powerlessness: Celebrity chef shows may top the TV-ratings, but many people have forgotten how to cook food, let alone grow it, and now depend upon food manufacturers for their basic needs. A recent MORI survey of 8-11 year old found that a fifth did not know that cheese comes from milk.

An unsustainable economy: At $122 billion, London's economy is similar to that of Russia or Saudi Arabia. But this wealth masks areas of extreme poverty - 8 London boroughs are in the bottom 15 nationally on rankings of social deprivation. Food-related jobs account for around 11% of total jobs in London, but most of these are low-skilled and badly paid. In rural areas, increasing mechanisation in farming has led to unemployment and the destruction of rural communities.

A CITY GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT

Support for food growing activities in London could yield a range of benefits. These include:

Environmental regeneration: Local food production reduces transport and minimises the need for protective packaging. Instead of landfilling, green waste can be composted and used to grow fruit and vegetables - a counter to the monocultureal wilderness of many rural agricultural areas.

Better health: Food growing projects can increase people's access to fresh fruit and vegetables, and provide a form of cheap, productive exercise. Gardening is a popular way of relieving stress; more formal horticultural therapy has helped those suffering from mental health problems. A greener environment can reduce the incidence of pollution related illnesses.

Green jobs: The US government's Urban Gardening programme estimates that a $1 investment in food growing projects yields $6 of produce. Fulfilling jobs could be created not just in food growing, but in a range of related enterprises, such as processing (preserves, dried and frozen produce, flavoured oils and vinegars, cakes), catering (cafés, restaurants), distribution (food co-ops), and waste management (composting). Research shows that over 350 full time jobs could be created in waste collection, composting and marketing of compost alone. Food growing projects can help boost local shops and markets, regenerate the locality and provide an alternative to out-of-town shopping.

Community pride: The common experience of growing, cooking and enjoying food can break down barriers across age, ethnicity, class and gender, stimulate a sense of 'ownership' of and pride in the local environment, and galvanise people to co-operate on other issues of social concern. Growing and cooking food can be a way for people to take control of their own lives.

Educational opportunities: Some schools incorporate food growing into the teaching of science, geography, maths and other subjects. Growing and cooking food also provide opportunities for hands-on health and environmental education. There is also potential for vocational training; horticulture and catering are already established NVQs.

WHAT COULD BE GROWN IN LONDON?

London's slightly warmer micro-climate is ideal for growing a wealth of produce. Much of the following can already be found in allotments and back gardens:

• perishable crops, including speciality salads, tomatoes, and soft fruit;
• herbs, mushrooms, bee-keeping, poultry and eggs;
• traditional varieties, grown for taste or unusual appearance, or historic links to the local area;
• 'exotic' produce, such as aubergines, various gourds, callaloo and coriander.

IS THE LAND AVAILABLE?

London can never be self sufficient in all its food. It will always make sense to grow bulkier crops in rural areas, and some 'essential' products, such as tea and coffee, cannot be grown here. However, London has a great deal of space which, potentially, could be used for food production, including:

• 14,411 hectares of agricultural land;
• 53,600 hectares of protected open space;
• 1.4 million households with gardens;
• 1,388 hectares of derelict land;
• 980 hectares of allotments;
• school playgrounds, rooftops, parks etc.

WHAT ABOUT AIR POLLUTION AND SOIL CONTAMINATION?

Many people are worried about the health risks of growing food in urban areas, because of pollution and contaminated land.

The problems are not necessarily as great as they seem. Residential areas, allotments and other amenity areas are unlikely to be contaminated, where they have been used as such for a long time. If a site is contaminated, growing the food straight into compost, in raised bed systems, is one solution.

It is also worth noting that most of the countryside-grown food we eat is sprayed with chemicals, sometimes at levels that exceed Government's own recommended levels. Organic city-grown food may be a preferable option.