Volunteers

This year we sent our Shop Manager Morag and Volunteer Fiona to the Nourish Conference 2019. This is Fiona’s take on the event:

Volunteering at Dig In is a happy endeavour.

Greengrocering in a local community owned enterprise supporting local growers and producers serving friendly, interested customers is a delightful ‘location’ to be in our national food system. However, our food consumption and food systems are highly contested, in a state of enormous inequality and environmental dysfunction.

The Nourish Conference 2019 ‘Game Plan For A Good Food Nation’ brought together people from across Scotland and beyond from every nook and cranny of our food chain to share information, debate ideas and plan for a more equitable and sustainable food system in Scotland.

Firstly, it was warm, welcoming, exciting and … Nourishing! It was wonderful to meet with so many (over 120) growers, farmers, suppliers, processors, distributors and campaigners from across our amazing, vital and complex food system.

Secondly, it was an explosion of connections: from air miles to food banks, from equitable working conditions for small growers to national food excess, from sustainable local food production to iniquitous large scale farm food subsidies. A ‘right to eat well and a right to fair and sustainable food system’ was top of everyone’s agenda, as Sue Pritchard one of the key speakers put it “healthy food is everybody’s business”.

Thirdly, it was a call to action! Over the two days we listened, debated and learned from each other about our food systems from people from every nook and cranny of Scotland’s food chain. Importantly we pinned down actions that we promote to create a fairer, healthier food system. From personal actions such as mindful purchasing and community involvement to political demands such as a right to food in Scots Law and food labelling that includes the environmental impact of a product.

It was an inspiring conference which refocused the essential, vital impact a wee community owned shop like Dig In can make promoting a progressive, equitable, sustainable food system.

Find out more about Nourish Scotland.