More sustainable food production?

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More sustainable food production?

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Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Thu May 19, 05 12:35 pm Post subject: More sustainable food production?

Rather than finding myself responding in a negative way in the "in general" post I thought I'd post up some of my ideas. Nothing new but what do people think?

I think most people would agree that we will need more food and need to reduce food miles. How to change people's attitudes is probably another topic in it's own right, but education, laws and tax incentives etc could all be looked at.

1) I would like to see far more food grown in people's gardens if they can. Not everyone has a garden and not everyone is able to but the are many people who could. Growing your own fruit, vegetables and herbs is probably the best thing you can do and something that really should be being encouraged more. Perhaps some form of 21st century "Dig for Victory" campaign, perhaps "Dig for the Planet" or "Dig for Life!"?

2) Without going into the do we/don't we need to eat meat I think it's widely accepted that some people consume far too much. A concerted effort should be done to try and change peoples attitude to meat, perhaps a government study and a campaign?

3) Review farming practices and animal welfare to improve conditions. High density stocking should be stopped and more emphasis placed on animals having a good life before slaughter. If the amount of meat consumed is reduced then this would mean less would have to be produced.

4) Make game, especially pests, more popular. I wonder how much meat could be supplied by managed rabbits, pigeons & deer etc? I'm sure it could be done, just have a Jammy Oliver programme!

5) Increasingly people are realising various threatened habitats can be managed better with livestock than many other ways. For example keeping a few cattle on water meadows rather than draining them and either growing crops or over stocking. Using pigs in woodland to keep down the dense brambles and turn over the soil to allow other plants to grow, keeping rare breed sheep on the chalk downlands. If feel these schemes should be more closely looked at and expanded again this goes hand in hand with some of the other ideas.

6) I'm sure I've missed quite a few please add your own ideas.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Thu May 19, 05 4:45 pm Post subject:
we'll it probably won't make such interesting reading as the in general thread, but I agree with all of the above. I'd like more people to cook and process more of their own food, but I can't see it being good for the economy, and I can't see any reason why people 'should', just because I want to and appreciate the results!

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