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Manchester’s Food De-Industrialisation

Manchester’s Food De-Industrialisation. Jules Bagnoli for Ragged University, The Castle, 19th February 2013. Manchester’s food glut.

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Manchester’s Food De-Industrialisation

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  1. Manchester’s FoodDe-Industrialisation Jules Bagnoli for Ragged University, The Castle, 19th February 2013

  2. Manchester’s food glut • Northern hemisphere’s single growing season with 8 hour light difference leads to historic preservation/micro-biological food cultures around smoking, salting, drying, brewing: bread, cheese, butter, yoghurt, wine, beer • Harnessing micro-organisms (fermentation) leads to chemical, process, bio engineering advances • NW is UK’s biggest & most concentrated food producing area: Kelloggs, Heinz, Cargills, Goodlife. • 70% increase in demand in food, 2011-50 • So why do we have so little ‘local’ food? 40% undersupply - 80% self-sufficient to within 50 miles in 1940, 0.25% by 2010

  3. Counting the carbon • 41% of all fossil fuel used is oil - 95% of transport. • Production peaked in US (1970/1), world (2008-20) • Pre-1940 farming used organic animal faeces/guano • WW2 use of Bosch’s inorganic ‘chemical’ nitrates stockpiled from WW1 • 1 ton fertiliser = 1 ton oil, 7 tons carbon, 130 tons water • UK diet uses 4.5 litres of oil per day, per person • Price of oil, fertiliser and food linked (x 4 increase in last decade) • Food has changed more in past 50 years than previous 10,000 • Loss of farming heritage, land – Chat Moss, Ashton Moss, Failsworth ‘Back to the Future’ of pre-1945 farming?

  4. Food system resilience 3 day food stocks: Just-in-time supermarket stocks Weather shifts: Outdoor farming struggles with global weirding Adulteration: Horse Meat Scandal, more to come Species Migration: Portugese sardines relocate Crop failures: 2012 UK grain harvest Demineralisation: more trace minerals lost in last 50 years than 5,000 before Pure water shortages: Great Plains Aquafer Pesticide run-offs: Algae blooms Commodity speculation: Corn prices Biodiversity: Hive collapse, 2 million UK species, soil collapse, nutrient cycle

  5. Drive to scale up food • 37 Tesco stores within 10 miles of Liverpool • Agriculture scaled up to supply fast-food then retail chains • 78% reduction in small retailers • Less diverse food chains • Less real consumer choice – 38 apple varieties in Salford 1789 • Food is not scalable – factory or cottage industry • Mountainous barriers to entry stop consumers getting food they need or want to buy – we are sold what’s easiest to make in bulk

  6. Manchester’s Food Revolution • Nano Food Network • Abundance • Unicorn Grocery (Moss Brook) • Kindling Trust (Land Army, Manchester Veg People, Farmstart..) • Biospheric Foundation (Veg box, MIF) • Cracking Good Food • Moss Cider

  7. Future Farming • Consciousness change needed to merge nature with ‘man-made’ • Development of holistic, non-dualistic systems thinking • Personal growth and healing movements merging into ideas on food – a wider definition of growth, endorsed by climate change threat • Grow where 80% of food, 70% of energy is consumed • Global agricultural land grab – fields disproportionately cheap to rent • Rethinking ‘green space’ - forest gardens, green roofs, urban agriculture • Indoor farming – the rise of ‘Ponics’ Aqua, Aero, Hydroponics • Circular food systems mimicking nutrient exchange – Hebden Bridge ‘closed loop’ industrial estate where one firms outputs become nexts inputs

  8. Thankyou! Ragged University Refarming Unlike Minds RSA

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