Food activism

The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' Food activism. Learn about how communities positively impact through innovations, different projects and collaborations. This article focuses on networks, events and concepts relevant to Food activism. Separate spin-off articles cover Community action food projects and Food activism resources.

‘Not just a museum’: Kenya’s seed bank offers unexpected lifeline for farmers, theguardian.com (Oct 31, 2024)
The UPF giants: “staggering” global emissions of the top 10 food and drink manufacturers higher than UK’s total carbon footprint, wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk (Oct 01, 2024) — Ultra processed foods aren't just damaging our health – they're decimating the environment too
The Farmers Abandoning Big Ag to Grow Mushrooms and Herbs, reasonstobecheerful.world (Sep 17, 2024)

Events[edit | edit source]

February 15 - 23, 2025 (Sat - Sun) — Real Bread Week, annual, international celebration of additive-free bread and the people behind its rise, sustainweb.org
Mar 01, 2025 (Sat) — World Seagrass Day, Mar 1, annually. Raising awareness about seagrass and its important functions in the marine ecosystem.
May 4 - 10, 2025 (Sun - Sat) — International Compost Awareness Week, compostfoundation.org
May 20, 2025 (Tue) — World Bee Day, May 20 each year, fao.org
Oct 01, 2025 (Wed) — World Vegetarian Day, Oct 1 each year, bringing awareness to the ethical, environmental, health, and humanitarian benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle, worldvegetarianday.navs-online.org
Oct 16, 2025 (Thu) — World Food Day, celebrated every year around the world on 16 October, often with a focus on food security, fao.org

Networks[edit | edit source]

Soil Care Network, global community of scholars, researchers, growers, and civil society members from a wide range of backgrounds, all animated by the love of, fascination with, and dedication to soils. We believe that soils are key to addressing current challenges to human and ecological flourishing. And we believe that improving the state of soils and ensuring an abundant future for all life requires action across academic disciplines. added Philralph (talk) 17:27, 16 February 2021 (UTC)
Open Food Network, global network of people and organizations working together to build a new food system. "Together, we develop open and shared resources, knowledge and software to support a better food system."
Food Swap Network

Pam Warhurst from Incredible Edible Todmorden, 12/5/2011, on vimeo

Incredible Edible network. The Incredible Edible project is an urban gardening project which was started in 2008 by Pamela Warhurst, Mary Clear and a group of like minded people in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, England, UK. The project aims to bring people together through actions around local food, helping to change behaviour towards the environment and to build a kinder and more resilient world. In some cases, it also envisions to have the groups become self-sufficient in food production, hence having all food being produced locally.

Since its conception, the Incredible Edible ethos has been taken up by communities all over the world and there are now 120 Incredible Edible official groups in the UK and more than 700 worldwide. In 2008 to help sustain existing groups and continue to inspire new ones in the UK, the Incredible Edible Network was launched with Pam Warhurst as its chair and Tanya Wall, as its operational lead.

In the UK, these groups' collective success has begun to directly influence decision-makers both on a national and local level. In response, the network has evolved from a resource for members into a fully fledged movement, simply known as Incredible Edible. ^W

10 Steps Toward an Incredible Edible Town, Dec 3, 2013

Community food security[edit | edit source]

Community food security (CFS) is a relatively new concept that captures emerging ideas about the central place of food in communities. At times it refers to the measure of food access and availability at the community level, and at other times to a goal or framework for place-based food systems. It builds upon the more commonly understood concept of food security, which refers to food access and availability at an individual or household level (in health and social policy, for instance) and at a national or global level (e.g., in international development and aid work). ^W / See also Food Sovereignty

Local and seasonal food[edit | edit source]

Local food or the local food movement is a "collaborative effort to build more locally based, self-reliant food economies - one in which sustainable food production, processing, distribution, and consumption is integrated to enhance the economic, environmental and social health of a particular place." ^W

More video: The Joy of Local Food on Vimeo

Seasonal food

Greater local connection with food and food growing enables communities to better appreciate food in season, thereby strengthening the local food economy.

Foodshed[edit | edit source]

A foodshed is the geographic region that produces the food for a particular population. The term is used to describe a region of food flows, from the area where it is produced, to the place where it is consumed, including: the land it grows on, the route it travels, the markets it passes through, and the tables it ends up on. "Foodshed" is described as a "socio-geographic space: human activity embedded in the natural integument of a particular place." A foodshed is analogous to a watershed in that foodsheds outline the flow of food feeding a particular population, whereas watersheds outline the flow of water draining to a particular location. Through drawing from the conceptual ideas of the watershed, foodsheds are perceived as hybrid social and natural constructs. ^W

Methods of Distributing Food within a Local Foodshed

The “farm-to-table” movement is focused on producing food locally within a foodshed, and delivering it to local consumers. Methods of Distributing Food within a Local Foodshed include Farmers’ markets, Roadside stands, Pick-your-own, Subscription farming and Community-supported agriculture. ^W

Local Foodshed Mapping

The internet can be used to locate foodshed maps of almost any area. Some maps are interactive, where sources in an area can be found for organic produce, microbreweries, farmers’ markets, orchards, cheese makers, or other specific categories within a 100-mile radius. A 100- mile radius is considered "local food" because it is large enough to reach beyond a big city, and small enough to feel truly local. ^W

Foodsheds and Sustainability

Buying local food within a foodshed can be seen as a means to combat the modern food system, and the effects it has on the environment. It has been described as “a banner under which people attempt to counteract trends of economic concentration, social disempowerment and environmental degradation in the food and agricultural landscape.” Choosing to buy local produce improves the environmental stewardship of producers by reducing the amount of energy used in the transport of foods, as well as greenhouse gas emissions. ^W

Campaigns[edit | edit source]

Compassion in World Farming, campaigning and lobbying animal welfare organisation. It campaigns against the live export of animals, certain methods of livestock slaughter, and all systems of factory farming. ^W
Feedback, environmental organisation campaigning to end food waste at every level of the food system
I know who grew it, campaign to fix broken food and farming
Think.Eat.Save

Near you[edit | edit source]

Food activism Argentina - Food activism Ireland - Food activism UK - Food UK news - A People’s Food Policy (UK) - Food activism London - Food activism Hackney - Food USA - Food USA news

local information and news can be found, or shared, via our many location pages

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Authors	Phil Green
License	CC-BY-SA-3.0
Language	English (en)
Related	0 subpages, 61 pages link here
Aliases	Food, sustainable community action, Community food action
Impact	775 page views (more)
Created	January 5, 2015 by Phil Green
Last modified	October 30, 2024 by Phil Green
Cite as	Phil Green (2015–2024). "Food activism". Appropedia. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
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