Whether we are healthy and feel well or not depends on lots of different things. Our community farms are designed to make looking after our bodies and our minds easier for everyone.
Nature based environments are known to holistically support our health and well-being. Image: Tony Buckingham | CoFarm Cambridge.
SUpportive environment
Currently, two-thirds of adults and one third of children in the UK are overweight or obese - a public health crisis which is projected to cost our economy £50bn per year by 2050.
Diabetes alone already costs the National Health Service approximately £1.5m every hour, or, at the time of writing, around 10% of the entire NHS budget.
These conditions - and other lifestyle-related illnesses and diseases - are driven not just by what we eat and drink but also other lifestyle factors such as our working practices, how (and, indeed, whether) we socialise and the types of exercise we give our minds and our bodies.
We know that loneliness and isolation, for example, can be a significant factor in eroding mental and physical health, which can lead to serious illness and disease. We believe some of these impacts could be improved or prevented if we create more opportunities for people to meaningfully connect with other people in a supportive - nature-based - environment.
safer food
Chemical contamination of our food from the use of some herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and fertilisers is causing unknown and relatively untested human health impacts.
We promote good health by not using harmful chemicals at any stage of producing, storing or distributing our food.
This also prevents accidental disruption and contamination of other parts of the food chain - for example where chemicals applied to land-based crops could enter our water table, our rivers or our seas.
Vitamin-packed beetroots! Image: Sam Mellish: CoFarm Cambridge
Farm Manager Pete Wrapson with some immune-system-boosting garlic fresh from the soil. Image: Sam Mellish | CoFarm Cambridge
better nutrition
Access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food is a fundamental human right.
Yet, for so many people in the UK, this right could not be further from being a reality.
We are committed to increasing access to safe, nutritious food for all. This means rethinking and re-imagining our food system so that sustainably produced, healthy, nutritious and seasonal food is no longer a niche interest for the privileged few who can afford to pay a 30-50% premium for it.
Better nutrition starts with planning to grow the crops that our bodies and minds actually need in order to thrive.
Throughout the pandemic, CoFarm Cambridge has donated its entire harvest (over 10 tonnes to date) to 9 community food hubs in Cambridge in support of people experiencing food insecurity.
We will continue to work with a broad base of experts across public health, nutrition, government and other civil society groups to pioneer new ways of ensuring that good nutritious food is accessible to all.
