Green fingers

Pretty in pink is how one newspaper headline described HM The Queen last week when she attended her annual WI meeting.  I would say her outfit was more cerise than pink; but it was also definitely pink when she visited Sandringham WI in her capacity as President in January 2012.  I too had the privilege of attending then, and I expect that this year, she will have spoken to her fellow members about her annus mirabilis; her glorious jubilee.   I am so proud that our Queen is a WI member, along with her two daughters-in-law.

The WI is the place to be for so many reasons, and there are currently up to 1,000 women joining every week. Whether they’re looking for new friends, new skills, or new interests, the WI can provide them all, as well as a chance to engage in the big issues of the day.  One of those issues is the many facets of providing enough food across the world by 2050, when it is estimated there will be two billion more o feed.  This has to be thought about now and such elements addressed as farming methods, food waste, genetically modified crops, water supply, sustainability, home-grown crops, pricing and changed climatic conditions.  There are, no doubt, many other factors to consider too, but these and more will be raised across England and Wales with the WI Great Food Debates to be hosted throughout 2013.

Growing food in schools is also of great importance, so that children can learn from an early age the whys and wherefores of planting seeds and eating the vegetable or fruit it produces, which is crucial.  Why, even the First Lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama, has children digging and planting at the White House.  Imperative and necessary, but also very enjoyable.  Many of you, like me, will have such happy memories of holding one end of the line while my grandpa or father walked across the soil to push the iron holder into the ground to enable the digging of a straight trench, in which to plant potatoes, or following after them dropping seeds into the holes they made with the dibber.  Or emerging from the greenhouse where the tomato plants leave a green residue on the hands having touched them when watering.  Memories and skills that stand me in good stead now, and our children deserve the same.

Gardening, or at least what action to take with each tool or how to plant a seed, can be something a person suffering from dementia may forget completely.  Today I have attended the PM's Dementia Friendly Communities Champion Group where the participants were taken through a Dementia Friends workshop, which was a most moving and instructive half hour that enabled one to catch a glimpse of life for the dementia sufferer.  The Alzheimer Society website has all the information you need to sign up to be a Dementia Friend.  Be one of the million to have signed up by 2015 to gain some understanding of this debilitating and growing disease; then in true WI fashion, pass on your knowledge, cascade it to groups who can then form part of a Dementia Friendly Community.

Acting on food waste

2013 for the WI has begun with something long associated with the organisation:  food.  Last week, there was much media attention and talk about teaching cookery in schools more widely than is currently on offer, which is something that the WI has long called for, along with teachers, chefs and many more interested parties.  I have commented before that there are schools where cookery is taught to an extremely high standard and where produce is grown in school gardens and then served for lunches, which demonstrate excellent practice where possible.  However, the interviews came out of what needs to become an important discussion on food: how we grow crops, how we distribute food, how can we produce enough for all – is it to be had through huge factory farming projects, is there scope to deliver more through small-scale farming? Or do we carry on as we are?   By 2050, it is estimated there will be up to nine billion people in the world and there are fears that foods of all types will not be available in large enough quantities. 

In my last blog, I wrote in more detail of the WI’s Great Food Debates soon to take place, but today this very issue is hitting the headlines with the claim that there is far too much food wasted across the world.  Reasons given include a poor harvest and poor harvesting of crops; supermarkets rejecting harvests of fruit and vegetable because they are of the ‘wrong’ size or shape; sales promotions that encourage people to buy more than they need resulting in discarded food; and overly strict sell-by dates, as well as fussy consumers.  The Institute of Mechanical Engineers also comments that water used for these crops is being wasted.

Some four years ago, the NFWI worked with Love Food Hate Waste on a project to address many of these issues, and the wastage of food in particular.  This was undertaken with the aim of helping people to change food buying habits and attitudes in order to avoid waste, and the call today is that consumer attitudes need to change.  I am pleased that the WI is leading the way once again.

Way back in 2007 I attended a conference called “If Only Food Could Talk” when there was much evidence of waste from suppliers as well as consumers.  Locally grown and produced sustainable foods were also in evidence and part of the discussion.  That was five years ago; why do we take so long to listen, never mind to act?  Today’s headline must not be forgotten tomorrow.

Jam and food security

In recent days, jam has been on the menu with the third WI Real Jam Festival taking place at Denman.   This year, the festival was exciting not only for jam buffs but for all the family as it included a Christmas market in the Georgian house where, once fortified with mulled wine, those must-have Christmas purchases could be made and children could listen, enraptured, to stories from the resident elves.  Santa’s grotto, handbell ringing, a brass band, a barrel organ, and a pop group also featured, making sure that all tastes were catered for throughout the weekend.

The path to the craft demonstrations passed the miniature farm with sheep and donkeys, but a pat on their broad backs was simply irresistible.  Once inside again, there were the four hundred odd entries of jam to be viewed, as well as a Christmas chutney and mincemeat too.  If that were not enough, then there were the cookery demonstrations to watch from Pam Corbin of River Cottage, Kath Mepham of the WI, celebrity chefs Alex MacKay and Paul Hollywood, not to mention Denman's own Peter Lien.  In true WI fashion, homemade lunches and cream teas were available, as well as 800 freshly baked mince pies – and hardly a crumb was left.  And crumbs must not be left in the battle for food security!                          

Indeed, food security, and the question of how we ensure that people have a safe, sustainable and nutritious food supply is one of the biggest public policy challenges of the 21st Century.    To raise awareness of this challenge and generate debate on the way forward, the WI launched ‘The WI Great Food Debate’ a few days ago at the Yorkshire Museum in York. With its commissioned report, Food for Thought, prepared by the IPPR, the NFWI hosted the event, attended by WI members, farmers, environmental activists, industry representatives and other interested parties, who were addressed by Secretary of State for the Environment, Rt Hon Owen Patterson, alongside NFU President Peter Kendall and Jennie Barron from the Stockholm Environment Institute.   How the world shall be fed with an estimated population of 9 billion by 2050 was one issue at the centre of discussions.  There is plenty of food to go round we are told, but distribution is inequitable and we are woefully wasteful.  There can be many solutions and yet there are also tensions and difficult trade-offs that must be considered.  Factory farming, GM crops, local produce, Meat Free Mondays and balancing our need for food and energy security all formed part of the conversation at the York launch event.  The debate is on. In the New Year, individual debates will be springing up across England and Wales opened up by the WI. Do join in and be part of the conversation.