Editor's view
Smallholder Editor Liz Wright expresses her personal views and opinions on current affairs and controversial matters of interest to smallholders universally. Readers’ replies are encouraged.
"FOOD security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation."
This description is courtesy of Wikipedia, but I think it is a very clear definition. It covers all countries. In Britain, food security in practice might be having enough money to be able to buy what you need from the local supermarket while for many other countries it means being able to produce enough food for your family and extended family until the next harvest.
Until this year it was not a word that was heard often in relation to the western world but the rising price of wheat has frightened many commentators into its usage. At the time of writing, feed wheat is around the £133 per tonne for November delivery and milling wheat (breadmaking) is a minimum of £20 a tonne higher. Reactions to these high prices have been varied and diverse.
The Cabinet Review of food policy attracted much criticism by quite correctly in my view, stating that the UK is wasting too much food. Apparently we throw away more than 4.1million tonnes of edible goods, the equivalent of £420 for every home. All smallholders know that the real figure for many householders must be much higher than this because we don't throw anything away do we?
Firstly much of our produce is growing outside until we need it and secondly, what we don't eat we use elsewhere on the smallholding. I think, too, there is much less desire to not finish your meal or to cook too much when you realise how much hard work it has taken you to produce that food. Regular readers will know I am boring on the subject of food waste, I hate it. I try not to waste anything.
Other responses have predictably been the pro-GM movement rubbing their hands together and pronouncing that they were right all along and that we need to produce more food and the only way to do this is by GMs, while the intensive farming lobby has a similar cry - bring all land into production, farm intensively to meet the current and future needs. Meanwhile the RSPB warns that farmland birds will drop in number this year even before the scrapping of set-aside land is taken to account. Organic farmers are insisting that they are right, non wasteful, efficient and working to the full benefit of the soil while those working to feed people in countries less fortunate than ourselves, mostly maintain that small farming using traditional methods but with provision of tools, farm animals, etc, is the way ahead.
Whatever the view, it seems to me that for the first time for many years, people everywhere are noticing where and how their food is produced. School gardens, village allotments and making the most of your own plot are all at the forefront of every paper. It's hard sometimes as a smallholder, not to say, "hey, it's what we have being doing all these years?"
Calling all Smallholder groups, allotment associations, poultry cubs or gardening clubs!
Smallholder is going to have a page dedicated to your news and views so please, if you have events planned, want to tell us about your group, profile one of your members or talk about your area to fellow smallholders UK wide, send an email to
liz.wright1@btconnect.com - Look forward to hearing from you.
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