The subject of food sustainability encompasses so much more than just looking at the growing process.

Food miles, the presence of a community-focused circular economy, nature-friendly-farming, all play an important role.

William Longe from Grange Farm and Farm Shop in Hasketon, near to Woodbridge in Suffolk, argues it's high time we take the provenance of our food more seriously.

Sustainability is at the heart of Grange Farm Shop, both economic and environmental sustainability. In the current political, economic and climate crisis this policy has never been more important. We believe that provenance, short supply chains and encouraging soil health are the keys to sustainability. This practice benefits our community, our customers and our environment. Good provenance, ie knowing where our produce comes makes it easier to maintain quality levels and for our customers to where their money is going.  Shorter routes from field to fork not only ensure the freshest, most recently picked or made produce but also, if the food is produced well, the most nutritional value having been picked at peak ripeness or made this morning. Keeping the food miles as low as possible reduces energy use and emissions thereby minimizing our carbon foot print.

We are really proud that 90% of our expenditure lands within a 30 mile radius of our business: Keeping the money circulating locally creates a stronger economy, putting wealth into the hands of people who work next door to us. To illustrate, take a carrot grown here on the banks of the Deben versus a carrot grown in Spain. Both might look the same and be similarly priced, however there are vast differences in cost and benefit between them. The carrot on our shelf grown here could well have been picked early this morning. The Spanish carrot will have spent days on the move needing a large amount of energy and infrastructure to get here via multiple chilled vehicles and chillers. The cash spent on that carrot will have been distributed in tiny amounts across a long chain of people over the 1,350 miles from South East Spain to South East Suffolk. That cash will not be seen in our local economy again as opposed to the cash spent on a carrot 5 to 10 miles away.

Committing to provenance and short supply routes is part of the route to sustainability the other part is teaming up with the growing number of people who realise that soil health is vital for producing better food as well as a better environment. A soil which is alive and carbon rich produces food which has optimal nutritional value. Every farmer relies on their soil and wants to produce the best they can. However, as we know, chemical farming practices have depleted the soil to such an extent that it goes ‘cold turkey’ without those chemicals and collapses. This collapse means that even if you want to make the change to organic or more soil regenerative practices there will be a costly period with poor crops which for a large number of farmers is not sustainable. 

On our own farm we are experimenting with ways to improve soil health and involving a local primary school to share the learning. And we are fast learning that if you want to do better for the soil and bio-diversity it requires a lot of work and patience. On just under a hectare of arable land which had been part of an orchard until 1998 we planted a pioneer, for us at least, line of fruit and nut trees to create a bio-diverse agroforestry area where trees and crops grow side by side. The purpose of this small agroforestry area is to see the change in the soil ecology and to work out how we can best manage the trees, the planting and grazing to create a viable blue print to roll out further.

We now have a real haven for wild life, in mid summer over 6 foot high grasses allowed you to become lost in another world as you walked down the row of staggered fruit and nut trees. We haven’t counted the insects or birds but judging from the levels of bird song and seeing the excitement levels hit almost overload in our dog it seems that this area in 18 months has as much diversity/scent trails as our wood land. While it seems a win for nature it’s not yet a win for farming, we weren’t prepared for the level of damage to the trees by deer and it’s been an eye opener seeing how vulnerable the depleted soil is to climate change: All the trees had deer damage to various extents but it was the cracking and shrinking of the soil that exposed roots that killed the most trees. And despite sowing a green manure of 14 species of wild flowers, grasses and legumes and then grazing them, the soil micro biology has barely changed, the life in the soil which works with the plants transferring nutrients between the soil and atmosphere for example fixing carbon, remains largely absent.

We are still at the early stages of this experiment and watching the recovery and seeing the school’s engagement is both exciting and rewarding whilst at the same time it has really brought home how damaged the soil is. While it’s feels trite to say, we are on a journey and rather like a traveller after the first few nights on the road we feel that we have sorted out our back pack and load and are moving in the right direction. Along the way we are meeting fellow travellers, learning all the time and becoming more connected to the land. Wild East brings these things together and for that reason and more we are proud to be associated with it.