The 2030 Food Vision
By 2030, Totnes and District has become a pioneer for local food production, having proactively reorganised its food system based on the idea of a ‘foodshed’, applying the idea of the watershed to food, producing food that can be grown as close to where people live as possible. 80% of food consumed locally is now grown within 50 miles of Totnes, and the proportion of the population employed in agriculture has grown sharply. The Dartington and Sharpham estates on the edge of the town have now re-directed their land use to focus mainly on the production of food for local markets. The towns and villages have seen a huge increase in ‘urban agriculture’, growing food in back gardens, public spaces and on any available land. In Totnes, as a result of ‘peak cars’ in 2009, when the number of cars on the road began to fall sharply due to the recession and high fuel prices, around two-thirds of car parking spaces have now been converted back into the market gardens they were until 1980.
The drop the oil and gas dependency of food production to a ninth of what it was in 2009 has led to less intensive but more productive food production. Garden food production systems are now recognised as the most productive use of land and enable people of all ages to be actively involved in producing fresh healthy food or local use.
KEVICC now prides itself on being a farm school, the only lawn now visible being the playing fields, with every other available space now being used to grow food, providing many business opportunities for enterprising students. Local farms have experienced a renaissance, often by forging direct links with more urban-based communities by becoming community supported farms (CSAs). Farmer’s incomes are now more diverse and secure, with farms producing much more than food, having also become providers of building materials, energy, and other vital supplies.
A walk around the town of Totnes in 2030 reveals food production in most gardens and back yards, productive trees (fruits and nuts mainly) planted in most public spaces, and a much increased number of allotments. Many more people are now able to cook using fresh ingredients, cookery having become a core part of daily life from an early age. Food is eaten in season, and meals are less meat oriented. Levels of obesity have fallen, and all health indicators have improved significantly. Across the area, a number of centres have been established to act as catalysts for food production and healthy living, the first of which was opened in Totnes in 2010.
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