FOOD REVOLT! Report on the International Conference on Food

The word “community” was heard a lot during the Food Revolt Conference organised by the Fife Diet on the 12th of November. Mike Small (founder of Fife Diet) spoke of communities organising communal gardens and allotments to grow their own fruit and vegetables all over Scotland in his opening presentation. Daniel Lopez Garcia then explained how rural communities in Spain are organising their own markets to sell local producers' food and taking part in the larger movement of Los Indignados and national Forums where farmers are finally being heard.

After a shared “community lunch”, there were different workshops where we had the opportunity to hear about indigenous community values and traditions from various parts of the world from Gemma Sethsmith of Life Mosaic and a growing social movement in Ecuador that is dedicated to protecting the Amazon rain forest from exploitation by international oil companies. Bob Hamilton shared his experience of a community garden in Govan, Glasgow, that is using property protected by the Common Good law in Scotland and Juliana Lutz presented SpeiseLokal!, an initiative that encourages people to buy local, organic food in Europe. At the end of the conference, Stan Blackely from Friends of the Earth, spoke of the impact on the environment due to mass production of food products by multinational companies and supermarkets and the various campaigns that are on-going to regulate this, including local community efforts.
 
Communities play a valuable role in the creation of local sustainable food sources, whether it be through community gardens and agriculture, reclaiming public land, creating communal allotments, neighbourhood and urban agriculture, farmers markets or food co-operatives. The local food movement depends on the organisation of local communities and action is being seen in Scotland, Europe, Ecuador and many other parts of the world.