Report to Cruickshank Trust on Public Education & Food Resilience

Following recent localised shortages of specific food-types (e.g. fresh vegetables and eggs in the UK in 2022 & 2023) and high inflation in food prices there is much policy discussion regarding the importance of resilient food systems within the Green Economy in response to current and upcoming climate change, disease outbreaks, and patterns of de-globalisation. Food resilience and its definition is complex (Zurek et al., 2022) and can be tackled in various ways. One approach could involve Local Food Partnerships [eg for England, (UK Government, 2022)]. To this end, during 2022/23, we delivered a programme of public education for different ages in an area of land called the Carse of Gowrie (Tayside) focussing on the history of top-fruit (apples, pear, and plum) production in this area. We aimed to highlight the opportunities that communities have to produce a small amount of their own fruit and related produce using community land. This programme of public education was funded by the Cruickshank Education Trust managed by SRUC