We believe that everyone should have access to land and the opportunity to grow at least some of our own food. Most of what we cannot grow, we should be able to obtain locally from people we know and trust.
By growing some of our own food and sourcing the bulk of the rest locally, we can make a huge impact on the extravagant energy costs of shipping food around the country and around the world. By using environmentally benign growing methods that nurture and feed the soil, the soil will, in turn, nurture and feed us. By embracing an attitude of reverence for all living things, we must necessarily treat the planet and everything on it and within it with respect and love.
Our definition of the term ‘local’ cannot be a rigid one. It must take into account both city dwellers who must look further afield for production capacity to meet their needs, and the most rural areas which have much greater capacity than can be absorbed by their local communities.
Nevertheless, if we are to make the changes we urgently need to reduce energy consumption and pollution, food miles must be dramatically reduced overall. There is no sense in flying beans in from Kenya - even ‘organic’ beans - that could be grown domestically just as easily.
It is absurd to import thousands of tons of apples from New Zealand while equally good apples lie rotting in English orchards. It is patently ridiculous to export about as much butter as we import, and there is no excuse for inflicting unnecessary cruelty on animals by sending them abroad while simultaneously importing meat from Argentina.