Action Briefing Oct 2003 - Nov 2003
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

Localise West Midlands update

You might remember two newsletters ago an article about Localise West Midlands’ conference on “public food procurement” i.e. food bought by local authorities for schools, hospitals and other public sector catering.

A report on the conference can be found at www.localisewestmidlands.org.uk. The main outcome was a proposed pilot project for one local authority or health authority to source locally. Interest has been widespread; in fact more local authorities in the region have expressed an interest than have not! Even Birmingham, the largest local authority in Europe, has made tentative enquiries.

Of course the trick with this stage of the local food revolution is supply side capacity, which has been severely run down by EU and global economic policy. It takes several years to transform a failing farming business, and while it also takes a year or so for catering contracts to expire, matching up timescales and demands is difficult to say the least.

Meanwhile, LWM remains involved in this but is examining the options for further work and future directions. Local food is now going mainstream, so perhaps as we near our first birthday it's time for us to tackle another area of trade or money flow.

A localisation that focuses too heavily on improving conditions for a relatively rich region (in the global scheme of things), quickly falls into a snakepit of environmental injustice and Little Englander conservatism. Localise West Midlands has, of course, a region-specific focus, but we are also keen to follow up links with the ever growing number of localisation organisations in other countries, including Ghana where we have discussed working with Ghanaian procurement experts for mutual support against the current trade regime.

This is localisation, with internationalism.

Karen Leach