““Food production must represent a balance between what the land can sustainably produce and what the population needs to be healthy”

— Feeding Britain from the Ground Up, Sustainable Food Trust, 2022”

Grow and Graze is a grassroots campaign designed to attract local landowners and farmers to explore the possibilities for local food production across a network of small parcels of land and projects.

THE TEAM SO FAR

  • Founder

    Jenny has endured a lifetime of obsession about what to eat for optimum health of people and planet. The search continues but her current hunch is that the answer may lie in the soil. Founder member of The Eighth Day Wholefoods shop and restaurant in Manchester , NHS dietitian, Director of Burnley Food Links, co- worker with Pennine Cropshare, Mum, Grandma, Gardener, Cook and occasional blogger as The Political Vegetable https://jennyfoodlinks.wordpress.com/

  • Founder

    Luke is on a quest to help in the development of regenerative agriculture. With a background in engineering and architecture, he has helped to develop a series of innovative food production systems and ventures. Luke will help the land owners and growers to plan and design their schemes.

  • Founder

    Sue Mellis is a director of the Egg Factory, a co-operative consortium that runs a coworking space in Hebden Bridge. In 2016 she published the Hebden Bridge Annual, a big book which celebrates the town and its people. She believes the future is local!

  • Áine is the chair and coordinator of Calderdale Food Network - a locally led cross-sector partnership, working together to establish a culture where healthy, sustainable, affordable food is accessible to all. Members include individuals, groups and organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors, working collaboratively to create a sustainable and equitable food system for the region.

    Calderdale is a bronze award member of Sustainable Food Places.

    Áine is passionate about food and sustainability and their important role in creating positive outcomes for individuals, families, communities and the planet.

    Áine enjoys working collaboratively with people to inspire and empower by sharing knowledge, developing projects and initiatives, promoting ideas and achieving positive and lasting outcomes.

Partners

 

OUR VALLEY’s HISTORY

Nowadays, the accepted mindset is that the terrain in our valley is only suited to livestock. But before the days of easy imports and supermarket shelves stacked with exotic produce, there was a network of small mixed farms which fed the local population with meat, dairy, vegetables and fruit.

“… vegetable and fruit production would double, with a diversity of crops being grown much more widely across the nation, often as part of mixed farming systems”

— Feeding Britain from the Ground Up, Sustainable Food Trust, 2022