FOOD & BIODIVERSITY WORKING GROUP
Transition Kerry works to create a sustainable and resilient community. At the core of this is a strong food policy and good planning for our future food sovereignty.
- Transition Kerry’s Food & Biodiversity Group believes that the primary energy of any community is its food.
- That our independence and strength as individuals and a community depends profoundly on our ability to feed ourselves. With not just calories, but good quality food.
- Grown or produced from within or around our own communities. We need to be able to provide the basics of a healthy diet from within the Kingdom.
- Transition Kerry’s Food & Biodiversity Group plays a proactive role in the development and establishment of a food security / Sovereignty policy for Kerry. One that not only acknowledges the threats to a secure and quality food supply but builds a resilient and sustainable food supply for the generations to come.
- It not only fuels our bodies, but it maintains our mental and physical well being.
- It builds the foundation of a sustainable community.
- It builds a strong food economy, creating jobs and local employment.
- It reduces the transport and energy costs of maintaining our communities.
- It ensures independence and reenforces our sovereignty.
- It reconnects people to the land and nature that supports them.
- It creates the foundation of a strong culture.
- It makes us stronger and reconnects us to each other.
- Encourage urban food production in the streets, Parks, green areas, allotments and gardens of Kerry.
- Ensure the future adaption of our local and county farms.
- By helping them move away from the high fossil fuel dependency of the industrialised food system towards more sustainable, resilient and nature based systems.
- Support local food distribution systems.
- Farmers markets being the potential incubation hub for local food producers and growers. But most importantly provides the people of Kerry with good quality and tasty local food.
- Develop and support Co-operative models of local production and distribution.
- Support and adopt into policy the Kerry Food Strategy (Connecting the Stake holders)
- We waited too long and ignored all the signals, warnings and indicators that our economy and economic model was failing. We now see and are living the effects. But this is only money, you can’t eat it. But without money most of our community can not feed themselves with a quality diet, effecting their quality of life.
- We need to reconnect ourselves with our food. But most importantly we need to ensure that future generations of Kerry and Irish people will have food. We need to ensure that if the fragile international food system on which we are presently not only reliant, but hugely dependent collapses.
- That we, our families, friends and communities never go back to the food shortages and famines of the past.
