Fife Diet Food Manifesto
The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-03046, in the name of Claire Baker, on welcoming Fife diet’s new food manifesto 2012. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament welcomes Fife Diet’s new food manifesto for Scotland, which it considers an important contribution to the debate on food sustainability; highlights the manifesto’s aims of connecting the way that Scotland grows, produces, distributes and consumes food with its climate change targets, connecting the environmental policy framework to its health and wellbeing initiatives and looking afresh at the values that underpin how it organises its food economy; considers that Scotland’s food and drink policy is not only about export growth, but also about nutrition and health indications in communities across Scotland, and values the work of Fife Diet in engaging with communities and raising the debate about how Scotland achieves collaborative gains between community, food and health, affordability and sustainability.
12:34
I welcome Paul Wheelhouse to his new ministerial role. I very much look forward to working with him.
I am pleased to be able to have this debate today and to bring the work of Fife diet and its excellent food manifesto to the Scottish Parliament. Fife diet, which is a network of people who are interested in local food, was established in 2007. It does much good work throughout Fife and beyond, helping to set up allotments and community gardens, running education programmes and, most recently, setting off around the country in its seed truck, delivering a selection of free public workshops on food and climate change. However, today I want to highlight Fife diet’s excellent food manifesto, raise some debate about our relationship with food—the way we eat, the way we grow, the way we trade—and introduce the practical and challenging ideas that are in the manifesto.
I am pleased to hold the debate in the final days of Scottish food and drink fortnight, which has given producers an opportunity to showcase the best of Scottish food and drink locally and internationally. However, the same fortnight has seen Citizens Advice Scotland report a doubling of demand for food parcels and Save the Children report that one in six children in Scotland goes to bed hungry. The reasons for both those figures are complex, although we can point to some obvious pressures. However, both tell us that we need to question our country’s food economics, and the food manifesto challenges policy makers to do just that.
First, I want to congratulate Fife diet on producing the manifesto. I imagine that many of us who have worked on party manifestos know how difficult that can be, but Fife diet has managed to produce an engaging, thought-provoking and vibrant manifesto—if only we could all achieve that. It is the fruition of many years of work on sustainable food practices and has involved other partners, as well as discussion groups.
In the best tradition of artists’ manifestos, the food manifesto is
“a document of an ideology, crafted to convince and convert.”
It describes our food market as one that is monopolised by a handful of companies while we struggle to meet our health and nutrition targets. It brings forward ideas about how we grow, consume and distribute food against a backdrop of the real health and environmental problems that we face.
Organised around four themes—low-carbon communities, culture and education, innovation and enterprise, and health and wellbeing—the manifesto acknowledges the progress that has been made through the climate challenge fund but argues that food and its importance to Scotland are about more than increasing sales and exports. It challenges export growth as our main measurement of food success. Changing the way that we think about food is partly about questioning what we value.
The food manifesto states that the Scottish Parliament has made bold moves to address smoking and alcohol, but argues that our approach to the public health challenges of food lacks the radicalism and foresight that are seen in other areas. The way in which we grow, distribute and consume our food creates 31 per cent of our greenhouse gas emissions; however, the manifesto argues, our food policy is not linked to Scotland’s ambitious climate change targets.
The manifesto identifies lots of the problems, but it goes further and offers solutions—some radical, some practical. In a time of economic restraint, those solutions are not about more money but about changing the way in which we do things with the aim of delivering health and environmental opportunities for the wider community. It proposes that the idea of food sovereignty should replace the idea of food security as the guiding principle of policy, and explores opportunities for collaborative gains between the agendas of community food and health, affordability and sustainability.
The food manifesto sets out 20 challenges to policy makers, starting with the soup test, which is a proposal that no child should leave school without knowing how to make a pot of soup. That is a simple idea but one that brings together lessons in sociability and life skills, affordability, seasonality and locality, as well as health. I heard one of the founders of Fife diet, Mike Small, discussing the idea on BBC Scotland's “Call Kaye” a few months ago, and was surprised at how defensive some of the comments from callers were. I think that the soup test is a good idea, and many schools are already doing similar work—I have enjoyed my six-year-old’s sweet potato soup. The idea is not overly prescriptive, but it captures the imagination and has the potential to involve young people in bigger issues in a more accessible way.
Yesterday afternoon, we debated the proposed community empowerment and renewal bill, which has the potential to take forward ideas that are included in the food manifesto, such as a community right to grow, with a legal presumption in favour of people growing food on land that is lying unused.
The manifesto also takes on areas in which it is fair to say that there is less consensus. It proposes a soda tax, an idea that was promoted by my colleague Richard Simpson last year and which immediately became known as an Irn Bru tax—that reveals the challenges around debating some of these issues
However, the statistics in the manifesto show that Scotland has the highest obesity rate in Europe; that between 2003 and 2010 the percentage of obese men and women rose to nearly 30 per cent; that 13 per cent of girls and 16 per cent of boys are obese; that the conservative trend is that, by 2030, 41 per cent of adults will be obese; and that the cost to the national health service at that time could be as high as £3 billion. We need transformational change to reverse some of those figures, as well as a frank debate.
A moratorium on supermarket expansion is the manifesto’s radical answer to delivering on the national food and drink policy of creating a more secure and resilient food system that is based on diversity of food supply. In Fife, supermarkets take approximately 80 per cent of food retail spending, while local food markets account for just 0.5 per cent of total sales.
As members of the Scottish Parliament, we should be challenged to think about whether that is the right balance and whether we can do more to increase local sourcing. The manifesto argues for elevating food to the climate change agenda by introducing specific annual food emissions targets and provides an analysis of our food infrastructure. With issues such as the possible closure of Hall’s of Broxburn, our infrastructure is going by the day, so we must find ways to build resilience into fragile supply chains.
The manifesto argues for sustainable public procurement. The Government will be aware of concerns that the proposed procurement reform bill does not adequately address sustainability and that that is a shift away from the intention that was set out in the Scottish National Party’s manifesto last year.
Those are some of the difficult proposals, but there are others on which quick progress could be made. They include the establishment of a food leadership team; the creation of new food indicators that reflect the range of important measures; a national campaign for a seasonal five a day; the expansion of Blasda, a national local food festival, as a celebration of food sovereignty; school farms; a Scottish orchard; and farm apprenticeships.
I am pleased to have been able to bring the food manifesto to the Parliament. As individuals and as a Parliament, we might not agree with everything in it, but it is a document of ideas to stimulate discussion and provoke new ways of understanding Scotland’s food economy. The manifesto is an opportunity to celebrate our quality produce while questioning how fair access is and whether power is located in the right place. Therefore, although the debate might be the Parliament’s introduction to the manifesto, I hope that it is only the start of the discussion.
12:42
I welcome to the Parliament Mike Small, Fergus Walker, Meg Elphee and Jessica Ramm. I congratulate Fife diet on the launch of its new food manifesto for Scotland 2012, which aims to connect to our climate change targets the way in which we grow, produce, distribute and consume our food. The manifesto connects our environmental policy framework to our health and wellbeing initiatives and encourages us to look afresh at the values that underpin how we organise our food economy.
All Fife diet’s policies fall into four themes: low-carbon communities; culture and education; innovation and enterprise; and health and wellbeing. The manifesto contains 20 initiatives that are designed to encourage more joined-up thinking about how we grow, consume and distribute our food and to create real urgency around the health and environmental problems that we face.
I will focus on two of the initiatives that appeal to me personally: the soup test and the right to grow. The soup test is about ensuring that no young person leaves school without knowing how to make a pot of soup. At present, the majority of 18 to 25-year-olds—about 57 per cent—leave home without the ability to cook a simple meal. The ability to make a simple pot of soup has multiple advantages. It provides sociability and life skills and is an affordable activity with the obvious benefit of consuming fresh and unprocessed vegetables. All the evidence suggests that, once an individual masters the basic skills of food preparation, they have the potential to look after themselves and others. The soup test fits into the curriculum for excellence and the eco-schools Scotland initiative and allows schools and local authorities to discover and explore more about their Scottish food heritage.
The right to grow initiative is about making land that is lying unused available to local groups and communities for local food production. I welcome that initiative, which will enhance the local environment and revitalise abandoned land. In the Kirkcaldy area, there is a shortage of available land for allotments and there has been a significant increase in the number of people on allotment waiting lists. Those are all people who are willing to grow their own food and increase local food production, thereby reducing their carbon footprint, but they are unable to do so. I support the suggestion that land for growing should be a central part of the Scottish Government’s food and drink policy.
Scottish food has recently seen a revival, with an increased interest in Scottish produce. That has been helped by the support of the Scottish Government and the role of the climate challenge fund in supporting Fife diet’s work. More than 250 communities from all over Scotland have been able to shrink their carbon footprint with the help of £9 million in funding from the climate challenge fund. They have reduced their CO2 emissions by an estimated 700,000 tonnes. The way in which we grow, distribute and consume our food creates 31 per cent of our greenhouse gas emissions, which is why it is important to support local projects that try to tackle that problem.
Fife diet, which was started as a small group in 2007 by Mike and Karen Small, now has more than 4,000 members and is Europe’s largest local food project. It supports various schemes, including community growing areas around Fife, and it has a huge influence on many local groups.
Growing local produce that is affordable, sustainable and distributed locally promotes low-carbon communities, culture and education, health and wellbeing, and innovation and enterprise. It is undoubtedly worth promoting and I therefore warmly welcome Fife diet’s food manifesto and wish the group every success in the future.
12:45
As well as publicly acknowledging Paul Wheelhouse’s elevation, I would like to thank Claire Baker for bringing this motion before Parliament.
As a non-Fifer, I was not aware of the existence of Fife diet until I was asked to take part in the debate. It has therefore been very interesting to listen to the debate and to learn about the group’s innovative and imaginative work.
We all agree that there is a greater recognition these days of the importance of local produce to people’s diets and to their wellbeing. In June, I was invited to be the opening speaker at the Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society conference in Dunblane, where one of the discussions focused on the health benefits of home-grown food. It became apparent that there was a general consensus that locally produced food not only contributes to healthy eating—helping to combat the risks of obesity and the sedentary lifestyles of so many people today—but simply tastes better. I have fond memories of the delicious produce from my father’s allotment when I was a young girl.
At the conference, it emerged that the other key benefit that is derived from growing your own is that it helps to reduce people’s carbon footprint and so contributes in a small way to the battle against climate change. In that respect, I am aware that Fife diet sees that as one of the pillars of the organisation through its work with Holyrood 350, a group of people from across Scotland who are actively striving to reduce their communities’ carbon footprint.
I acknowledge the significant role that is played by the increasing presence in Scotland of farmers markets in promoting local produce—an initiative, I believe, of my colleague John Scott. In Edinburgh, we saw the establishment recently of a farmers market in Stockbridge and an application for a market on the Meadows. There are at least six or seven monthly farmers markets in communities throughout my area of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire—no doubt there are many others across the country.
Turning to the essence of the motion, namely Fife diet’s food manifesto, there are certainly some ideas contained in the manifesto with which I agree—I will focus on a few in the short time available.
Earlier this year, as a member of the Public Petitions Committee, I listened to a very strong case that was put forward by John Hancox of the commonwealth orchard—he asked for help to make it easier for people to grow food on underused ground that is owned by public bodies and private businesses. Although we would need to look closely at the legality of such moves and avoid accusations of land grabs, as well as taking into account the views of organisations such as RSPB Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage, there is a very powerful and growing argument in favour of greater community use of unused land.
As has been mentioned already, back in June the Scottish Government launched a consultation on its proposed community empowerment and renewal bill, which was debated at its preliminary stage yesterday. The bill aims, among other measures, to allow communities acting responsibly to take advantage of unused land for community benefit. Like Fife diet, we await the final outcome of the consultation with interest.
Another area of interest in the manifesto is the emphasis on eating what is termed a “seasonal 5 a day”. Although I do not believe that there should be any barriers that stifle choice, I believe that the concept of eating, for example, rhubarb in the spring, raspberries and strawberries in the summer, and apples and pears in the autumn and winter has merit. I reiterate that that should not be prescriptive, but I am sure that people would agree that fruit in season not only tastes better but is of greater nutritional value. Recently, I have to a large extent adopted that pattern myself.
Although I do not support all the measures that are identified in Mike Small’s manifesto, I certainly pay tribute to his contribution to the debate on how Scotland can be a healthier nation through how we produce our food. Mr Small’s organisation may be called Fife diet, but his Aberdeen-born passion for food shows throughout the document.
12:49
I congratulate Claire Baker on securing the debate and welcome the opportunity to discuss Fife diet in the presence of Mike Small and his colleagues. I also welcome my friend and colleague Paul Wheelhouse to his new position.
As Fife diet has grown over the past five years from a one-year experiment to a network with a growing membership—it currently has 4,400 members—the clear message has been that the environment and food policy are inextricably linked. However, at the root of this remains its importance to people’s health and the regionalisation of food production and consumption.
Fife diet’s latest manifesto highlights several ways to improve not only the regionality of food and the success of buying locally sourced produce, but people’s health, through both the style of diet involved in eating Fife-based goods—a low meat intake and a high consumption of seasonal produce—and the diet’s long-term goal of reducing CO2 emissions. Both those aspects represent the benefits that individuals and families can reap from being part of the diet. However, the diet is about more than individuals; it is about helping communities to survive.
Currently, full details of only the first 10 points of the diet’s manifesto are available online, but I am assured that the second 10 points will be available in the not-too-distant future. From the first 10 points, it is evident that the manifesto is designed to be not only a Fife manifesto, but one that can be translated nationally, with aims such as a “seasonal 5 a day” and the decentralisation of food infrastructure.
In North East Fife we are blessed with fine local produce, from strawberries and potatoes to venison and fresh fish—and even ice cream and beer. It is right that we make the most of what is available on our doorsteps. That is not to say that we should stop purchasing any food from beyond our local authority boundaries—I believe that Mr Small would agree—but we should be encouraged to use resources that are already nearby and to explore what can be grown in the region. With places to eat such as the Anstruther Fish Bar and the Peat Inn, it is reasonable to ask why anyone would choose to eat anywhere else anyway.
On a serious note, our local and regional food systems are under threat—no more so than in my constituency, where there is a planning proposal that, if it were passed, would close the St Andrews abattoir. That could result in animals being transported far outwith North East Fife to be processed if no local alternative is available. Although that is currently a sensitive matter, it has the potential greatly to affect meat farmers and local businesses throughout my constituency. Regardless of that, the problem remains that overreliance on a small number of large abattoirs, mills and dairy processors makes us all the more vulnerable to fluctuating food prices. Although the consumption of locally sourced goods would not protect us from that, it would offer some help.
It is clear that the aims of the Fife diet are to improve people’s health and reduce everyone’s “carbon foodprint”. I understand that Mr Small has called regional eating only one step of many, and there is more that we can do to help ourselves and our environment, but ultimately it comes down to what we as individuals, families and communities are able practically to achieve. I welcome the publication of the manifesto and its relevance to North East Fife, and I hope that it continues to provoke debate about food and the environment well beyond this debate.
12:53
I join others in congratulating Claire Baker on securing the debate and welcome Paul Wheelhouse to his ministerial position. I also congratulate the Fife diet organisation on producing such a high-quality and challenging manifesto.
One of the greatest health threats that faces Scotland today is the population’s obesity problem. In 2010, 32.5 per cent of children had a body mass index outwith the healthy range. Statistics from the 2010 Scottish health survey suggest that 27 per cent of people between the ages of 16 and 64 are obese—the figure is up from 17 per cent in 1995. That unfortunate trend means that the figure could reach 40 per cent by 2030. The number of adults in Scotland who are deemed to be overweight—with a BMI greater than 25—has now reached 65 per cent. Being overweight can not only restrict severely a person’s ability to lead an active life, but have dire consequences for their health and lead to many other health problems, including the development of cancer.
An individual can take action on preventing obesity, therefore it is paramount that urgent and decisive action is taken to support the correction of the dangerous trends of overeating, eating the wrong things, not eating the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables and not doing regular exercise. The Government’s commitment of £7.5 million to that area is frankly a pittance in the attempt to stem the tide.
For those reasons, I welcome the timely publication of the Fife diet food manifesto, which promotes and explains healthy eating in a simple easy-to-understand document.
Last year, I lodged a motion to applaud France for introducing a soda tax, to which I notice the manifesto refers. New York has followed up its requirement for every food outlet to publish calorie values with an attempt to get rid of large bottles of sweet soda drinks. Scots consume 23 per cent more sugary drinks than the UK average. Noting that one quarter of Scots’ daily calorie intake is consumed in that form, Professor Naveed Sattar stated:
“What you drink can be as damaging to the body as what you eat and there is no question that consuming too many sugar-sweetened drinks can greatly contribute to abdominal obesity and, therefore, increase your likelihood of developing health conditions such as type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”
He went on to say:
“Some varieties of drinks such as pure fruit juices and smoothies, which are perceived”
and advertised
“as ‘healthy’ options are also very high in sugar.”
Denmark has introduced a tax on saturated fat, which we should look at. It banned trans fats five years ago, but the Government and other parties in Scotland refused to support my member’s bill on that subject, which I find regrettable.
There are some encouraging signs, and people’s consumption of five portions of fruit and vegetables a day has shown some slow improvements since 2001. However, I advise the Government that those figures have now reversed and urgent action is required.
NHS Fife and Fife Council are working on developing more opportunities for growing food. I took part in a seminar at Stratheden hospital on that area, and some of its innovative approaches should be developed in the proposed community empowerment and renewal bill. The use of smaller brownfield sites and contracts to bring back into use underutilised gardens—
The member needs to bring his remarks to a close.
We need to develop such initiatives. I welcome the Fife diet food manifesto, but I call for further action. I am sorry that there is no health minister present to back up Paul Wheelhouse, but I hope that he will communicate strongly to the minister the wishes of us all to improve the situation.
12:57
I congratulate Claire Baker on bringing the debate to the chamber, and I welcome my colleague Paul Wheelhouse to his new position. I also congratulate Mike Small on bringing the Fife diet food manifesto to the attention of the Parliament and the wider public. He has made a huge contribution to the debate on sustainable food and wider debates in Scotland in the past few years, and it is good to see him in the public gallery.
Unlike many members who have contributed to the debate, I am not from Fife, although I enjoy visiting that corner of our country. However, my thoughts turned to Fife when I was on holiday in Italy this year. The links between the Veneto and the east neuk might not be immediately apparent, but Mike Small sent me his food manifesto before the recess, and travelling around Italy made me think about food culture and national and regional identity, and how those things can serve our health and economic needs.
The slow food movement began in Italy and, along with France, it is probably the European country that comes closest to meeting the food manifesto’s aims. As an environmentalist, Mike Small will be pleased to hear that I had a very carbon-efficient holiday in Italy, travelling around by bus and train between Verona in the north and Puglia in the south.
In the hundreds of miles that we covered, we did not see a single supermarket. I am sure that there must be some, but in Scotland it sometimes seems that you cannot turn a corner without happening on a megastore, whereas in Italy it is very different. The results were immediately apparent in the presence of independent retailers, and food retailers in particular. Although Italy is facing severe economic challenges at present, its small towns do not suffer from the scourge of empty shops as ours do. Likewise, fast-food outlets are few and far between.
The food manifesto’s section on decentralising our food infrastructure points out that while large plant bakeries supply more than 90 per cent of the UK market, craft bakeries supply 90 per cent of bread in Italy.
Centralisation in the UK is relevant also to the recent concern around the dairy prices that are being paid to farmers, many of whom are found in the South Scotland region that I represent. Six processors control 93 per cent of UK dairy processing. It is good news that the Scottish Government has given a £100,000 grant to dairy farmers together. I also welcome the fact that, through the climate challenge fund, the Scottish Government has done much to promote food sustainability in local communities, including the Fife diet. In the south of Scotland, another local food initiative, Let’s Live Local, has managed to develop some interesting initiatives thanks to that funding, such as money for allotments, Moffat landshare and a food sharing event at which local growers can advertise their surplus produce.
I welcome the food manifesto’s acknowledgement of the role of public procurement in developing a local food economy. I very much look forward to the procurement bill being introduced later this year and the effect that it will have on ensuring that local suppliers to public bodies are considered for health reasons as well as on the basis of cost.
13:01
I add my congratulations to the new minister. I am looking forward to working with him on my own brief and to challenging the Scottish Government constructively where we see that necessity.
I welcome the Fife diet debate that Claire Baker has secured. It helps to focus our attention on a range of proposals that, taken together, could lead to a new food economy. It is also timely, given the urgent concerns about food poverty, which have been highlighted by other members as well as by Citizens Advice Scotland and the Trussell Trust, which reports a 100 per cent increase last year in the demand on its network of food banks. The trust aims not only to have food banks, but to feed communities and to help to empower them. Access to fresh, affordable food that is sustainably grown should not be seen as a charity for those on low incomes. That is one of the reasons why I believe that the Fife diet is absolutely fundamental—as are other such initiatives throughout Scotland.
In my region—which is also the new minister’s region—there are some fantastic projects, such as the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service project in Lesmahagow in which volunteer drivers deliver fresh, affordable food to pensioners. In the Douglas and Nethan valleys, the healthy valleys initiative brings together voluntary and public sector organisations to reduce health inequalities and to promote positive lifestyles. It has run events including “Dads can cook”, which aim to demonstrate a balanced and healthy diet and to improve access to fresh produce through the Clydesdale community food market and the market bus.
As an organic vegetable gardener, I know the pleasurable taste of tomatoes, although this year many of them have been green because of the lack of sunshine and I have had to find recipes for green tomatoes on the internet. The Fife diet stresses the right to grow, which is something that the proposed community empowerment bill will help with. We need to look at that further. Nanette Milne mentioned farmers markets, and there are some in Dumfries. There are also community markets such as that in St Abbs, in Berwickshire.
Today, we have heard of initiatives across Scotland, but how can such action be taken on a more strategic level? How can we make fresh, affordable food accessible at a fair price countrywide? It is a question of scale, and the necessary changes cannot happen without a strong continuing lead and support from the Scottish Government and all levels of government. I call on the Scottish Government to go further in supporting the changes that we need, so that the dots are joined up.
I was talking with Pete Ritchie of Whitmuir Organics in West Linton yesterday. The farm shop and restaurant there sell organic produce and he knows farmers who have pallets of vegetables that they want to sell locally, but the supply chain does not exist. He stressed that a lasting legacy of the Commonwealth games could be the creation of sustainable food supply chains on a city-wide basis. The Scottish Government could then possibly go on to work with City of Edinburgh Council, which is starting to work on a sustainable food project, and build on that by developing partnerships with local authorities, communities and producers in Scotland’s seven cities. Thus, urban and rural Scottish communities that ask for these opportunities could be helped by the Scottish Government, which could do more to facilitate the structural changes that are needed to help low-income families and communities in particular. I ask the minister to consider those points in his closing remarks.
13:04
I, too, welcome Paul Wheelhouse to his vital ministerial role, welcome the authors of the Fife diet to the chamber and thank Claire Baker for giving us the opportunity to debate the food manifesto.
The Fife diet initiative understands the problems that society faces across a wide range of issues, from the growth and distribution of food to the impact of some of the junk foods that too many Scots consume. However, the manifesto is about far more than food. It connects a host of challenging policy areas and gives us a practical means with which to address them, but it is no hair shirt manifesto. It is bursting with positive ideas that will empower individuals and their communities. It will bring people together through community growing projects, improve our woeful national health record and highlight all that is good about seasonal Scottish produce.
The Fife diet food manifesto is not a call to a utopian vision of the good life. It calls for a soda tax and highlights the impact of sugar-sweetened beverages, some of which contain known animal carcinogens. It is, to be frank, astonishing that children can easily access such drinks and that they are considered a treat. Children are also bombarded with advertising for such drinks—ironically, often linked to healthy sporting pursuits.
The Government is making determined progress in tackling our national problems with tobacco and alcohol, while acknowledging that there is more work to do. However, as the manifesto points out, we are the third-fattest country in the world. We are beaten to the unwanted title only by the United States and Mexico, but we are leading the way in the fatness stakes in Europe.
The Fife diet manifesto joins up policy in a simple and effective way. For example, making soup is a simple activity but is outwith the experience of too many young Scots. It teaches about selecting produce and budgeting and enables the cook to avoid the sugars and additives that are too often unavoidable in many well-known brands. That simple task increases self-reliance and, therefore, self-esteem.
The manifesto calls for a right to grow, reflecting the huge and unmet demand for allotments or, simply, any space to grow our own produce. That call fits well with calls to push on with land reform and to ensure that the proposed community empowerment and renewal bill provides further opportunities to local groups.
The diet also focuses on the challenge of encouraging Scots to consume even only five pieces of fruit or veg a day. In Canada, the target is 10; in Japan, it is 17. We have a real cultural barrier to overcome. Engaging people with local food, increasing access to it and increasing its affordability are essential to achieving that change.
The diet understands the impact that current inefficient methods of production, consumption and distribution have on climate change. Refrigerating food and shipping it around the globe mean that we consume scarce resources and pump out CO2 into the bargain. However, planning committees throughout the country jump for joy every time a new supermarket proposal is announced.
A decentralised, local food infrastructure is the only way to increase food security and build the truly resilient local systems that we need to positively confront the dual challenges of peak oil and climate change. Promoting sustainable public procurement enables the development of different scales of mills and abattoirs, so there are real opportunities to create jobs, increase the provision of affordable fresh food and improve animal welfare.
Our current policies have given power over food growth and distribution to the mighty few. As Albert Einstein said:
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex … It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction.”
As we strive to close the gap on climate change targets and face the challenges of peak oil, good health and increased obesity, moving in the right direction is simply common sense.
The Fife diet food manifesto is a manifesto for a more connected, healthier and better Scotland. We should learn from and embrace it.
13:09
As Stewart Stevenson is in the chamber and it is my first opportunity to speak as a minister, before I move on to address the substance of the debate, I will—if Claire Baker will forgive me—take the opportunity to highlight the fact that I admire him hugely for his intellect, wisdom and approachable manner with members, staff, colleagues and stakeholders. We should recognise the huge contribution that he has made to furthering the climate change agenda, the climate justice agenda and other issues. I thank him for his work. I know that I have huge boots to fill, and I assure members that I will throw myself into the role with great gusto.
I come to the motion, which is the important reason why we are here. A number of members have rightly welcomed the debate, and I do too. On behalf of the Scottish Government, I thank Claire Baker for lodging the motion, which highlights important issues, as we have heard in well-balanced and intelligent speeches.
It is especially fitting that the debate is taking place in Scottish food and drink fortnight, as Claire Baker said. The fortnight is our annual celebration of Scotland’s wonderful larder. Events throughout the country have created a real buzz about our local food and drink, and such efforts are critical in supporting local economies throughout the country.
Scotland’s food and drink are renowned around the world for their quality. Indeed, Scotland Food and Drink has highlighted plans to grow the value of the industry’s exports to £7.1 billion after targets that were set three years ago were met early.
Claire Baker was correct to highlight that this is not just about food exports. Food and drink are clearly exceptionally important to this country’s economic success, but they are equally important to our health and our impact on our environment. “Recipe for Success—Scotland’s National Food and Drink Policy” recognised that and sought to raise the debate about food and drink in Scotland to a new level.
I welcome Mike Small and his colleagues to the chamber. He and Fife diet have an important role to play in the debate. Their groundbreaking work has brought new ideas and insight to a wide range of people. To help, they are to be supported by over £800,000 of funding from the Scottish Government from 2009 to 2015 to promote the Fife diet, develop wider support and deliver its local food solutions project. I welcome Fife diet’s food manifesto and its cross-cutting community work to promote the development of a food system that better supports environmental sustainability in Scotland, and am delighted to hear that local food in Fife is thriving, with local food networks, farmers and publications such as the Fife Larder all contributing to promoting the outstanding produce that Fife has to offer.
Nanette Milne mentioned farmers markets throughout the country becoming an increasingly important feature of our food retail landscape. It is a testament to the dedication of Fife diet that it is connecting people to produce on their own doorstep. Indeed, that dedication of people individually and collectively will help to drive our food policy forward.
The Scottish Government is committed to pursuing collaborative and sustainable approaches to food production and consumption. It recognises that doing so will not only reduce our impact on the environment, but help individuals to lead longer and healthier lives. As part of the recipe for success initiative, we are taking forward a number of the issues that are covered in the food manifesto, including skills development, food education, grow-your-own, environment and healthy and sustainable procurement initiatives. I have time to talk about only a few examples of that work.
To start with the grow-your-own approach, we have experienced a food revolution over the past few years. Interest in local food is growing, along with a desire to know where our food comes from. The grow-your-own approach is an important part of that food culture. It is an excellent way of getting back in touch with our food roots, origins and provenance. The Government is fully committed to supporting individuals and community groups that are interested in grow-your-own initiatives and projects.
We recognise that access to land is key to developing grow-your-own initiatives and projects in Scotland. A number of members, including David Torrance, have mentioned the linkages with the lack of supply of food allotments. In May this year, the Scottish Government announced a £600,000 package of funding for grow-your-own projects. A number of the projects that are being funded by that money will directly contribute to considering ways to provide access to land for grow-your-own purposes.
A number of members have mentioned childhood obesity, which is obviously a key issue. The Scottish Government aims to ensure that every pupil in Scotland benefits from food education by 2016. That will help our youngsters to make healthier choices and ensure that they are more aware of the importance of eating sustainably.
I am a poor example when it comes to the soup test. I think that I left school with absolutely no knowledge of how to make a bowl of soup, which is a disgrace. I am glad that we are addressing that issue, and I commend Mike Small and his colleagues for raising it.
In 2010, we funded several pilot projects that led to more schoolchildren than ever visiting farms and producers and learning about the food on their plates. They also often helped to bridge the gap between the city and the countryside. In March this year, Richard Lochhead announced the commitment of a further £2 million to food education in Scotland’s schools to help every child to learn about the journey that food takes to get from plough to plate. I commend the Co-op’s from farm to fork project in the Borders, of which I am sure Claudia Beamish is aware, for doing similar work. That is based at the Hirsel estate in Coldstream, which I visited last year.
The Scottish Government is determined to play its part in rising to the climate change challenge; indeed, we want to lead that challenge. We want Scotland and its communities to be part of the solution. We remain committed to the climate challenge fund and we will maintain funding at £10.3 million per annum between 2012 and 2015. By 2015, we will have provided a total resource of £68.6 million for Scottish communities since the fund was established in 2008. To date, 273 awards have been made from the climate challenge fund to projects that contain a food element in their project plan.
I will refer to a number of issues that members raised. Under the Scottish Government’s obesity strategy, we have a long-term plan, to which local authorities, health boards and industry all contribute.
Claudia Beamish made an important point about the evidence from citizens advice bureaux on the need for food banks and emerging issues. Perhaps that is a damning indictment of the impact of welfare reform on Scottish society.
Nanette Milne made an important point about eating a seasonal five a day. If we all adapted our diets to that, that would have a huge impact.
I have referred a number of times to communities. Roderick Campbell made the important point that we are talking not just about individual behaviour but about community action.
I apologise if I have not picked up all the points that everybody made. I very much enjoyed the debate, in which we heard quality speeches. I look forward to working with all the members present in the months and years ahead.
13:16
Meeting suspended.
14:30
On resuming—