Community growing, using a regenerative circular economy model, cuts to the chase because we miss out those who would put vested interests above the needs of the beneficiaries the project is meant to serve. By pushing up through community growing we share the fun, our respective skills and of course the delicious healthy produce. The true stakeholders, we humans and nature, community wealth build because there isn’t a shareholder in sight!
Government, indeed 99% of MPs, put party before constituents and country, just take a look at the anti strike, anti protest and free speech legislation, hardly democratic but peddled as in our interest. They have torn up our unwritten two way social contract. Time to take a step out of the financialised matrix and, given inflation and food degradation, become healthier wealthier and wiser. At a national level, wide scale circular economy is hamstrung. It’s talked about more now but like green washing and trickle down economics, little if any benefit is coming our way any time soon.
Getting any agreement through Parliament and industry, on the other hand, will involve numerous gatekeepers, a multitude of actors, both public and private. They will change or water down a policy or law to enable and sometimes force these actors to act differently for the benefit of vested interests.
Compromise accompanies a ‘cut’ before they are willing or able to change the way in which people are influenced and governed by rules, infrastructures, new norms and technologies. This is why all early sustainability transition research focused mostly on understanding the process, governance, power and politics of transitions.
Meanwhile pushing up through community consensus is cheap, quick and easy. It just takes a discussion, a democratic vote and elbow grease. But a project shared is a problem halved. To tackle these challenges we simple need a shift from a linear food production system towards a regenerative circular one that delivers healthy nutritious food all year.
In a circular economy, value chains are closed loops, whereby materials originally intended for disposal are reused, recycled, or reprocessed through the economy. GDPs perpetual need for growth requires a gold mine, whereas a community just needs a green mine that keeps on giving all year round.
So what is Regenerative Horticulture?
It’s growing naturally and encompasses the principles of permaculture (that simulates natural ecosystems), organics (the use of natural fertilisers and pest control) and no dig (mulching with organic manure/compost on the surface – not digging in – therefore simulating natural soil fertility processes).
You simply need your first seeds, a poly tunnel, a netted tunnel, a couple of outdoor raised beds and a composting system. To stimulate the pollinators and soil allies we recommend some wild flowers as part of a simple biodiversity patch. If you want to go the whole hog and make your own stand against Co2, traditionally, there are three levels of biodiversity: genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem diversity.
The circular economy is based on the key principals of keeping products and materials in use, designing waste and pollution out of the system, and regenerating natural systems. By doing so, a circular economy approach not only addresses the environmental challenges, but it also helps to drive innovation, create new business practices, and create new jobs through the utilization of agricultural waste, by-products, and co-products.
Go on re think food within a community based circular economy that is regenerative, so that you can eat and even heat with solar, convert food waste into organic fertilizers and even re-wild unused land strips to stimulate bio-diversity for your pollinators and Co2 reduction. More than a mere alternative strategy, regenerative horticulture and agriculture represents a fundamental shift in our culture’s relationship with nature. The future of food and cities, space, the right of people to have healthy and culturally appropriate food must start at home. Our food systems are broken our soil is barren, don’t wait regenerate.
