Taking the initiative and serving up food for thought

The Country Trust were among successful applicants to receive funding from the Local Food Programme, which will allow them to develop their educational and skills programme, ‘Yorkshire Food Discovery’.

The new initiative will give children and families from across the region the opportunity to understand and enjoy food, its origin, nutritious value and the importance of using local produce.

Farm visits, urban growing programmes and cooking sessions will all contribute towards more than 4,500 people across Yorkshire acquiring a hands-on appreciation of food.

The project will also improve access to high-quality food, including grow-your-own and fruit and vegetable enterprise bag schemes to encourage increased consumption and healthier choices.

Stewart Goldie-Morrison, Director at the Country Trust said: “The Country Trust is very pleased to have received the Local Food grant as it will enable us to develop and extend our work to include not just education about commercial food production, but also growing, cooking and appreciation of good wholesome local food.

“The people the Trust will be working with do not have access to or knowledge of local food and all its benefits, and this project will extend this knowledge and enthusiasm deep into their communities.”

The project is also set to have a lasting, positive impact on a whole range of individuals and groups, including community groups, local farmers, food co-operatives and Primary Care Trusts.

Mark Wheddon, Local Food Programme Manager said: “It is projects like this that have a wide and lasting impact on the community.

“This project marks just the beginning in terms of Local Food grants. With a record £57.5m to distribute to various groups, we will begin to see a real change in the accessibility of local food.”

Local Food has been developed by a consortium of 15 national environmental organisations, and is managed on their behalf by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts.

Supported by the Big Lottery Fund’s Changing Spaces programme, Local Food will distribute grants to a variety of food-related projects to make locally-grown food more accessible.

It comes at a time when the term ‘local’ is coming under scrutiny after a government investigation found that many food stuffs were falsly labeled as ‘local’ when many were, in fact, imported.

• For information, visit www.localfoodgrants.org