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Alongside recent renewed interest in urban agriculture, there has been an increased focus on school farming. The School Farms Network has a large membership base and interest from other green space organisations across the UK. Using contributions from grass roots practitioners and network co-ordinators, we present case studies to illustrate the breadth of the school farms concept, as well as the value which practitioners find in being part of such a network We examine the future role of school farming and how the practice can be sustained or expanded.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has evolved through various reforms since its outline in 1958 and formal inception in 1962. It has changed from a policy focused on farm production outputs to one focusing more on social, rural and environmental support. UK policy interest in the CAP is being shaped by the Referendum decision on whether or not to remain a part of the EU. To disentangle UK food and farm policy from that of European neighbours and then to re-establish workable trading links is not a small task. We argue that ideally the CAP would become a Common Sustainable Food Policy or Common Food Policy. This framework would help integrate farm and fisheries policies with diverse measures that are needed to reduce food’s impact on health, environment and social inequalities. \ud \ud Policy-makers at EU and national levels must help shift the food system to meet the needs of the 21st century. Some of CAP’s founding aims – for food security, affordability, health – remain appropriate today, although what is meant by those goals has altered since the CAP was mooted in the late 1950s. Written before the UK’s 2016 Referendum on EU membership, this paper argues that, whether the UK is in or out, the drive to more sustainable consumption and production needs to be an essential characteristic of the UK’s diet and supply chain. The UK like all EU member states needs to review its entire food system. At the EU level, a Common Food Policy would translate existing commitments to Sustainable Consumption and Production and help meet the new Sustainable Development Goals. The paper signals out some elements where new broader thinking is already emerging or being debated: animal welfare, water, public health, waste reduction and the commitment to the ‘circular economy’. Clearer political leadership and policy leverage is required to enable the structural shifts required. Civil society and academics can play an important role in creating the appropriate arguments, data and conditions for the transition that is sorely needed. \ud \ud Specifically, the paper explains how: \ud • The CAP was first introduced over 50 years ago in response to post-war food insecurity and has been constantly changing over time. The latest reforms of 2013 began to take effect in 2015. \ud • The 2013 reforms introduced a new greening element into the CAP in an effort to encourage sustainable production. Following from the 2000 reforms, payments under so-called Pillar 1 are now made on a per hectare basis rather than per unit of output. \ud • Although considerably less than the 70% seen in the 1980s, the CAP now absorbs 40% of the EU budget. \ud • The Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development in Brussels has only 1,000 civil servants, yet accounts for over a third of the total EU budget. Defra in the UK has 2,000 for England alone. \ud • In the UK, farmers receive only £10 billion of the £198 billion that UK consumers spend on food per year. Many farmers rely on the additional income from subsidies to keep them in farming. \ud • The CAP has social, economic, health and environmental impacts, not all of which are beneficial. Perhaps most success in the UK has come in terms of environmental improvements, but there is still much to be done in this area. \ud • Although the CAP has not impacted animal welfare directly, it does have indirect effects as the subsidies given to arable farming have allowed an increase in the intensive pig and poultry sectors. \ud • Many problems are noted with the current CAP, which means it will need to radically change in the future. Four broad options about CAP’s purpose and preparations for the next phase of reform are explored in which CAP: (a) weakens significantly; (b) evolves pragmatically; (c) becomes a rural development policy; or (d) becomes a Common (Sustainable) Food Policy. The paper favours a Common Sustainable Food Policy that addresses current health crises and environmental costs. \ud • Problems in the food and farming sectors remain whether the public votes to Brexit or Bremain on 23rd June. A Common Sustainable Food Policy will be relevant whatever the outcome.

This briefing paper explores the food terrain exposed by the wider “Brexit versus Bremain” Referendum question to be decided by the voting UK public on June 23. It is written to raise issues; to invite academics and civil society working on food matters to consider how their work fits this momentous issue; and to aid informed decisions. The paper follows from debates and concerns expressed at the 6th City Food Symposium on UK food and Brexit held on December 14, 2015.

Executive Summary \ud Public health analysis suggests that many lives can be saved if the UK population actually followed dietary guidelines on fruit and vegetable daily intake. The Government’s Eatwell Plate suggests that more than a third of UK daily diets should comprise fruit and vegetables and yet currently less than a quarter of diets are taken from this source. A UK debate on the status of the horticultural industry and its potential to meet a recommended increase in consumption is long overdue. \ud \ud This paper, largely based on secondary sources of data, presents current national levels of fruit and vegetable production and consumption. It outlines the origins of what horticultural produce is consumed here and the potential for meeting demand should diets adapt to those suggested by government guidelines. The Briefing provides a summary of key facts on UK horticulture based on information that is publicly available. An FRC seminar is planned to take account of non-documented industry views in order to complete or correct the picture presented here but our current objective is to outline the situation as it appears from published data:\ud • There has been a big decline in area given to horticultural production. From 1985 to 2014, there has been a decline of 27% for fruit and vegetables combined. The area growing vegetables has declined by 26% and the area growing fruit by 35%.\ud • Fruit and vegetables are by far the greatest source of imports in the UK food system. The trade gap in horticulture has risen to £7.8 billion a year, about 37% of the UK’s total food trade gap of £21 billion in 2014. Although some growers have extensive growing operations in Southern Europe and further afield, this makes sense for them as commercial enterprises but still does not resolve the serious lack of UK horticultural output. This is important to meet the 21st century challenge of increasing production for health everywhere and to ensure that rich consumer societies do not excessively distort international trade for their purposes.\ud • Some imports (e.g. pineapples, avocados) could not be grown in the UK (or not yet) but others which could be UK grown (e.g. brassicas, mushrooms, lettuce) have seen massive drops in production.\ud • The proportion of the adult population (over 16 years) in the UK consuming five or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day stood at only 26% in 2013.\ud • Only 16% of children achieved an intake of 5-a-day or more in 2013.\ud • The Consumer Price Index for food items as a whole has shown a significant increase of 35% in 2007-2013. Within this, the price of vegetables has increased by 27% and fresh fruit by 26%, less than the average for the food sector as a whole.\ud • Horticulture is unevenly distributed across the country, partly for climatic reasons, but areas that used to have sizeable sectors (e.g. the South West) have seen a heavy decline. A ‘re-boot’ of regional strategies is overdue to incorporate a review of planning and financial regulations and to rebuild bioregional resilience where appropriate.\ud • Land used for horticulture is highly productive. Only 3.5% of UK croppable land is down to horticulture, yet producing £3.7 billion worth of produce. For every one hectare of land under fruit and vegetables, 4.5 hectares are used for wheat for animal feed- with the inevitably slower and less efficient energy conversion rates.\ud • Horticultural wages for seasonal workers are low, not helped by the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board. Horticulture occupies only 2% of the farmed area in England yet employs 12% of the agricultural labour force and at least 35% of the UK’s casual farm labour force. \ud \ud The Briefing makes a series of recommendations:\ud • The Government (DEFRA) forthcoming 25 year Food Strategy should apply a ‘health lens’ to its proposed focus on ‘Brand Britain’\ud • Government, growers, land use specialists, industry and regional bodies should begin to plan the infrastructure needed for a massive reinvestment in, and policy support for, horticulture.\ud • Both academics and civil society should examine the scope for encouraging demand for more home produced, sustainable horticulture and higher consumption of fruit and vegetables in the UK\ud • Public health and environmental analysts should work more clearly on how to narrow the gap between supply of, and demand for, fruit and vegetables. Modelling studies as well as practical investigations should be funded.\ud • A new research strand should be set up by the Government Research Councils into how to build demand for more sustainable home production.\ud • A new more unified voice between all parties is needed to champion the British horticultural sector; this lack should be the subject of a joint inquiry by the Parliamentary Health, Environmental Audit and Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Committees.

This paper contributes to public debate about sugar, the ill-health consequences of which have rightly been highlighted in recent years. This and an accompanying paper seek to dovetail these public health concerns with other issues arising from and associated with the sugar industries.\ud \ud Sugar is a commodity with a long and troubled social history: slavery, colonialism, unequal trade relations, bad working conditions, heavy land use, pollution and other forms of environmental damage. On the other hand, it is a large employer, an economic lifeline for some small countries and many growers, and a considerable concern for the fair trade movement. The paper supports the public health concerns about unnecessary and rising consumption of sugar through processed foods and soft drinks, but mainly explores how these concerns can be squared with other interests championed by civil society organisations. It asks whether a progressive route can be charted through a potential minefield of conflicting interests.