A bite size insight report that identifies socio-cultural, political and economic factors to describe how new generation of British entrepreneurs are innovating Urban agriculture to feed booming city populations and what the UK Government can learn from China’s political commitment. Created by Karl Aussia | creativeunion.net

1. INSIGHT: AGRICULTURE: UK & CHINA
POLITICAL WILL AND INVESTMENT
IN URBAN AGRICULTURE IS REQUIRED
TO FEED THE URBAN MASSES
A NEW GENERATION OF BRITISH ENTREPRENEURS ARE INNOVATING
URBAN AGRICULTURE TO FEED BOOMING CITY POPULATIONS BUT UK
GOVERNMENT CAN LEARN FROM CHINA’S POLITICAL COMMITMENT
INSPIRATION
-
DEBUNKING THE URBAN
DESIRE FOR PERFECTLY
FORMED VEGETABLES
In honour of the EU designating 2014 as
the European Year Against Food Waste,
Intermarché launched a clever print, radio,
and video campaign to sell these fail pieces
of produce in stores.
Intermarché sold them for 30% cheaper
than their more airbrushed brethren. To
convince shoppers the ugly produce tasted
just as good, The supermarket even offered
soups and juices made exclusively from the
misshapen goods, which resulted in 1.2 tons
average sale per store in the first two days.
foodbeast.com/news/french-supermarket-sells-ugly-fail-
vegetables-to-combat-food-waste/
INSPIRATION
-
CITY WAREHOUSE IS CONVERTED INTO AN URBAN FARM
A city warehouse is being converted into an innovative urban farm producing thousands of
kilograms of salad and fish a year.
Warehouse to become Londons first urban farm growing food without soil, Lonely Planet, 2015
ECONOMIC
-
Britain already relies on imports to feed itself,
importing 40% of the total food consumed
and the proportion is rising.
UK threat. Global Food Security. 2015
CULTURAL
-
Even in the late 20th century, Shanghai
produced nearly 100% of chicken, eggs and
milk, 80% of vegetables and freshwater fish
and 50% of pork in a 300,000-hectare city-
managed green ring integrated into the city.
china paves the way for a new definition of urban farming,
design boom, 2015

2. ECONOMIC & POLITCAL
-
As Chinese rural citizens find themselves
obligated to become part of urban
communities, the government is devising
systems to solve the issue of diminishing
farmland and food supply in way that
regulates urban air quality and provides
green space. The government backed
foundation - Resource Centres on Urban
Agriculture & Food Security is ensuring that
new stakeholder owned agriculture grows
alongside the man-made by increasing urban
farmer’s salaries, providing subsidies and
funding and instituting new quality control
programmes to ensure a high standard of
production.
China paves the way for a new definition
of urban farming, design boom, 2015
Nanhui, an urban farm with almost 300 acres
of fields and greenhouses received millions
in government subsidies. The farm generates
revenue of $18 million to $24 million a year,
and is one of China’s largest organic farming
and retailing operations.
Building the Whole Foods of China,
Bloomberg Business, 2014
COMMENT
-
Morrison’s sells 140 stores to
Greybull Capital to be rebranded as
‘My Local’ stores.
“My Local is not a parody; it’s about
creating ownership. At least 5% of all
products will be local. The word local
is really, really important.”
Mike Greene, CEO My Local
‘My Local to focus on localisation and logistics to succeed
where Morrisons failed’ , Retail Week, September 2015
INSPIRATION
-
METAMORPOLIS
The city of Chongqing, one of the biggest
in central china, went through one of the
fastest development processes in the
country. Tim Franco followed this crazy
development from 2009.
timfranco.com
CULTURAL
-
Reflecting that brand awareness doesn’t
equate to brand loyalty, in a national survey
by AXA Business Insurance 88% said they
weren’t loyal to the big name supermarkets
and 60% have long-running relationships with
local stores. Over half of consumers didn’t
find it sincere if a cashier at a big supermarket
asked about their day.
UK shoppers stay loyal to local retailers over big
supermarkets, Business advice, 2015
ECONOMIC
-
A government-backed drive toward
e-commerce can help open up the
agricultural sector and generate a rapid
increase in incomes for farmers.
Half of China’s 1.34 billion population live in
villages, and at the end of 2010, 178 million
were connected to the Internet.
“Agricultural e-commerce does not
contribute much to the market yet, but it
will produce room for huge growth (for
farmers’ incomes)”
Web boom helps farming grow, The state council,
The peoples republic of china , 2015
POLITICAL
-
China wants to compete with world leading
nations, both financially and ecologically.
Tired of exporting and over investing in
national developments China wants to bring
the nation together and the world’s economy
to its doorstep.
China plans to relocate 250 million people
from the country’s farming regions into
cities by 2026, creating megacities with rural
landscapes.
By moving farmers from the rural into urban
environments, the country hopes to become
a more self-sufficient, environmentally
progressive powerhouse in the global
economy.
China is moving forward on a radical plan to move 250
million people to cities, Business Insider, 2015
CULTURAL
-
China has made great progress in rural
development in 2014 with grain output
growing for the 11th year in a row last year,
reaching 607 million tonnes.
China’s rice output in the next decade will
total more than 200 million tonnes while
domestic rice consumption in 2024 will hit
145 million tonnes.
China confident of food self sufficiency, The state council
The people’s republic of China, 2015
COMMENT
-
‘We want to be an alternative to the
damaging food system and are taking
back control of food production. People
think farming is for the older generation,
and people who live in the countryside,
but we’re showing that it is possible here
in London.”
‘The vegetable patches of east London
are the hopes of a new generation’
The Guardian. 2015
CULTURAL
-
North China’s cities are dangerously short
of water. The capital Beijing for example has
dropped below the United Nations “absolute
water scarcity threshold” to face worse
conditions than some parts of the Middle
East.
Can China keep its new city dwellers healthy and happy,
BBC News, 2015

3. POLITICAL
-
Beijing authorities have created five agro-
park zones in the city.
1. Inner urban core: focuses on gardening,
landscaping, and exhibition
2. suburban plain” specialises in recreational
agriculture, which attracts tourism, and
precision agriculture, which utilises smart
technologies such as moisture monitoring
for automatic irrigation;
3. The “outer suburban plain” emphasises
large-scale, modern agricultural production
and processing;
4. the “mountainous” zone is devoted to
special fruits and ecologic protection;
5. The “regional cooperation” zone helps
bolster food security by facilitating
relationships with nearby cooperatives and
helping to ensure the quality of imports.
Urban agriculture makes China’s cities more liveable,
China Dialogue, 2014
CULTURAL
-
China’s urban farming, developed integrally
with its growing urban cities, is so efficient
that many of its largest cities almost
exclusively sustain themselves. Most produce
is sold within 10km of the farm and within a
day of its cultivation.
An incredible feat considering China has 22
percent of the world’s population, but less
than 10 percent of its arable land.
china paves the way for a new definition of urban farming,
design boom, 2015
foreignpolicy.com/2014/05/05/chinas-surreal-urban-farms/
POLITICAL
-
The National Farming Union states that
more than half of the UK’s food will come
from overseas within a generation, as a rising
population and stalling farm productivity
and failure of government to create policy
combine to erode the UK’s self-sufficiency.
UK will need to import over half of its food within a
generation, The Guardian, 2015
CULTURAL
-
Mobile payment is accepted at over 50
Chinese farmer’s markets in cities, increasing
efficiency as the technology has cut the
amount of time required to count change.
No more small change! Chinese shoppers go cash-free
at farmer’s market thanks to tech that let them pay with
smartphones, Daily Mail, 2015
INSPIRATION
-
CROP DROP
A Berlin-based startup is taking London’s
farmers’ markets online in a bid to make food
shopping more local and sustainable.
wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-02/25/farmers-market-
london-bonativo
INSPIRATION
-
SHENZHEN FACTORY REBORN
AS AN URBAN FARM
The project’s design inspiration came partly
from an emerging global trend whereby city
dwellers are reconnecting with the hands-on
experience of growing crops as a means
of offering a more secure, accessible food
supply.
cityfarmer.info/2015/10/22/rusted-out-shenzhen-factory-
reborn-as-a-thriving-urban-farm
COMMENT
-
In response to the UK Government
regulator’s new ability to fine large
retailers for breaching the supply chain
code of practice; ‘The crucial next step
is ensuring that any fines do not go
into Treasury coffers but support the
innovation and growth of local food
supply chains and into the country’s
network of micro-, small- and medium-
sized food suppliers, providing a boost
to the rural economy which has been
undermined by the supermarket sector.’
Graeme Willis. Campaign to Protect Rural England, 201 5
INSPIRATION
-
COCKNEY CHEESE
Founded 2008, the UK’s newest cheese, Kappacasein made in a 100 year old vat situated in an
abandoned railway arch in Bermondsey has been nominated for the Urban Food Awards 2015.
The Urban Food Awards is being run by City Hall’s food team and London Food Link — a network
supporting food producers in the capital.
The awards are part of the Urban Food Routes initiative, which provides specialist business advice,
mentoring and funding to London’s small culinary enterprises. Funded by Seeds of Change and the
Mayor, it helps businesses become more sustainable, have a greater impact on their community
and enable more people in London
to buy or eat locally produced food.
Urban Food Awards 2015. Evening Standard. 2015
www.kappacasein.com