Why Food and Solidarity don’t (and won’t) grow our own food

Written by the Food Logistics Committee, Food & Solidarity. This is Part 1 of a two-post Food Logistics series: here we explain why Food & Solidarity do not attempt to grow produce at scale. Part 2 will ask whether small-scale growing can “feed the world” and examine the political and historical forces that shape that question.

Why Food and Solidarity don’t (and won’t) grow our own food

Making sure our members have consistent access to food is one of Food and Solidarity’s core activities . Finding food that is produced in a way that doesn’t harm people or the environment is an ongoing challenge, as ‘sustainably’ produced food is often very expensive.

Why then, many people ask, do we not get a patch of land in or near Newcastle and work with our community to grow our own food?

We buy between 300kg and 400kg of fruit and veg each week to distribute to members in food parcels. To grow even a fraction of what we distribute every week would require acres of land and large amounts of labour, and inputs (e.g., seeds, water, fertilizer). Successfully growing and harvesting large quantities of produce also requires a lot of skill and experience. This is the work of a large market garden or a farm, not an urban community garden.

Market gardens are businesses dedicated entirely to growing fruit and vegetables run by teams of highly skilled, professional food growers. Community gardens are usually volunteer-run and welcome local people to enjoy maintaining a small patch of green space. While food growing is often part of this, only small amounts of produce are ever grown. Setting up a community garden is worthwhile, and we love to see the region's fantastic gardens support access to green space, but a community garden would not even begin to meet our food needs.

Food and Solidarity sources fruit and veg from growers we trust when it is available and affordable to us (shout out to North East Organic Growers!). We are part of the Landworkers Alliance and are working with northern food producers to help create a more sustainable and just food system. But we are not now, or in the future, going to try to grow our own produce.

We will leave the growing to producers who have access to land as well as the time, skill and inclination to grow produce at scale. We will keep advocating for a food system that ensures access to good food for all, and collaborate with others doing the same. And we will continue to focus our efforts on what we’re good at: organising our community to distribute food to our members; standing up for everyone’s right to good, safe housing

Solidarity in Buying: BDS

Solidarity doesn’t stop at our city. As a community, we’ve chosen to align our buying with the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. This means we avoid Israeli-grown goods and other boycott-listed products. Our collective buying power is modest compared to a supermarket’s, yet, but it is real: every time we spend as a group, we send a signal about the kind of world we want. As we demand power here, we show solidarity with those resisting dispossession abroad.

Join us

Food & Solidarity is built by members who contribute what they can. Your membership funds essential food parcels and supports campaigns for housing justice, against child poverty, and for an internationalist food system based on solidarity. By joining, you’re not only helping distribute food, you’re part of building the power needed to change the system that causes hunger in the first place.

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Why Food and Solidarity don’t (and won’t) grow our own food