Sally Churchward meets the man behind The Food and More Project (From Daily Echo)

Sally Churchward meets the man behind The Food and More Project

12:08pm Tuesday 11th August 2009

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Watch out Tesco, there’s a new player in town. But it’s not another supermarket, flying in food from around the world wrapped in plastic. It’s a collective of farmers, producers and businesses, trying to transform what we eat and the way we shop – before it’s too late. And it’s set to be rolled out in Hampshire.

IAN Nelson is a passionate man. As he shows me round his farm, Sunnyfields, just outside Southampton, he enthuses about his runner beans, organic growing, the freshness of his carrots and his hardworking team.

But he’s also deeply troubled.

As a farmer, Ian is perhaps more aware than most of the effects climate change is already having on his crops.

And he’s also aware that the rising cost of oil and the fact that most of our food is imported, means that Britain could run out of food.

“There are a lot of things that scare me,” he admits.

“We’re running out of oil, climate change is here – 2007 and 2008 were the worst two years for farming and this year is shaping up to be no better. The world’s population is growing dramatically. Even Chatham House, an independent think tank, said that the UK can no longer take its food supplies for granted. We’re told that if we can’t import food, supermarkets will be empty in three to four days. The future looks amazingly challenging. I don’t think anyone knows what’s going to happen but what I do know is that if we don’t change the way we live and do business, the credit crunch might start to look like a children’s tea party in a couple of years.”

It would be easy to get depressed in the face of such a bleak forecast but luckily Ian is a man of action.

He is putting his 20 years of farming and networking experience to good use and has come up with The Food and More Project. Its aim is to develop and support a major sustainable network of local businesses with food at their core. These enterprises will have a large component of local social ownership and will produce, process, provide and serve great food and more. The idea is that while The Food and More Project will be rolled out across the country it will be broken down into regions so that food is produced, processed and consumed in the same area.

This will both buffer the UK from threats to imports from rising oil prices and dramatically reduce resources used in transporting food around the globe.

Food security is something that really troubles Ian: “If there isn’t food in the shops people will go wild. My fields would be looted and I wouldn’t be able to stop it – I’d be mad to try.

“If we can’t get food from overseas we can’t suddenly turn to our own countryside to provide it. More and more people are leaving farming. Once those skills are lost you can’t get them back.”

Of course there are already local producers, shops and restaurants, but Ian believes that there aren’t enough to seriously tackle the impending environmental and food crisis.

What’s more, because of the red tape that businesses have to cut through and the economies of scale that large companies have, it can be difficult for small businesses, such as food producers or independent shops, to compete and survive.

By joining together, these businesses will be able to maintain their independence and enjoy the benefits that allow large corporations to prosper.

For example, Ian says that farmers could share expensive equipment, helping to reduce the price they have to charge for their produce and making it more appealing to consumers.

“Companies like Tesco seem to be able to build a new supermarket overnight,” says Ian.

“We want something on the scale of Tesco but with farms and processing units as well as shops.”

The plan is to have two farms just out of town, processing units where food can be prepared for sale and five or six town shops. These may be newly built or may be existing businesses which sign up, though Ian is keen to emphasise that they won’t be taken over by it.

There’s also even more ambitious plans for a large sustainably-built centre with farmland, hotel and conference facilities, which Ian compares to Center Parcs, where people can learn about the land and enjoy a holiday.

Unsurprisingly all this is going to cost – Ian estimates about £400m in Hampshire alone.

What’s more, he is adamant that until all the money is raised, work will not start.

“This needs to happen all at once. The infrastructure needs to be there from the outset or it’s not going to work. So if we don’t get enough money to go ahead, we’ll give it back.”

However, Ian is so confident that the project is going to capture people’s – and businesses’ – hearts and minds that he doesn’t think this will be an issue.

In the next couple of months people will be able to buy shares in the project via the website, thefoodandmoreproject.com, and he hopes that big businesses will sign up to support it, the way they have with, for example, the London Olympics.

“It will be owned by farmers and by people on the street so people will own their own food supply,” says Ian.

“There will be big business in this. Eventually it will be turning over millions of pounds per week in Hampshire alone so will it compete with the Asdas and Tescos of this world? It will, without a doubt but are we looking to put them out of business? No. I’d rather companies like that saw that what we’re doing is important and said they’d like to get involved. That’s the positive response that I’d like to see.”

n For more information visit thefoodandmoreproject.com.

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