Food Partnership
We’re part of an exciting new development for Waltham Forest - a blossoming Food Partnership! A food partnership is an alliance of people, organisations, local council members and food businesses who want to help build a better local food system for everyone. There are some fantastic examples of Food Partnerships around the UK - see the Sustainable Food Places website for more on this.
Here in Waltham Forest, the food partnership is made up of 2 main networks: the Food Resilience Network (FRN), made up of local food aid organisations, and the Food Growers Network (FGN), made up of local food growers. There’s potential for more - a small food businesses networks, a community meals network, or even networks for community composting, backyard poultry feed or scrumping.
The incredible work that these network members do is helping to create a better food system for everyone. By coordinating these networks, sharing resources and providing support to members, we aim to create a linked up, localised food system.
Multiple factors are compounding the current cost of living crisis, with Covid and the war in Ukraine exposing the fragility of our international food supply chains. Global heating is already making itself felt in higher olive oil, sugar and wheat prices, those high costs being pushed throughout the system, making all our food shopping more expensive and severely impacting the health and security of our most vulnerable community members.
Robust, localised food networks help our community build towards food security and food sovereignty. As the Food Partnership continues to develop we will share updates and invitations on ways to get involved.
Call Out to all Growers, Gardeners, Fruit pickers, Foodies and Foragers!
Summer is upon us and as the seasons shift, fruit, vegetables and herbs will be growing in abundance over the next few months. Every year usable food in our neighbourhoods goes unpicked; or there ends up being so much that gardeners don’t know what to do with it.
The Waltham Forest Food Partnership are organising an initiative this growing season to get under-utilised fruit and produce to community food projects tackling food poverty and the cost of living crisis: reducing our carbon impact and building power and resilience in the local community at the same time. By strengthening ties between local food growing and mutual aid systems we are taking another step closer to food security and food sovereignty in Waltham Forest!
Our questions to you:
Do you grow food?
Do you know someone with a fruit tree in their back-yard you could speak to?
Do you know a spot where herbs are growing in abundance?
Where is the best bramble patch to pick heaps of blackberries?
Do you know somebody who works in a food business ?
If you can answer YES to any of these questions, get in touch!
We will also need a team of volunteers to help with picking, collecting, storing and distributing surplus produce. So if you have some time to spare on a sunny afternoon, would enjoy cycling a swish electric cargo bike, take pleasure in making jam, or have ties to a community space, school or food projects in your area that could receive and distribute produce, we want to hear from you!
If you have any ideas or contacts to share, please get in touch with us at outreach@hornbeam.org.uk