‘THE PIONEER’ Interview with Chloe Dunnett, Founder, Sitopia Farm

Chloe Dunnett, is the Founder and Chief Grower at Sitopia Farm - an urban modern farm in London growing healthy produce with and for their local community using organic, regenerative agricultural techniques. In this week’s ‘Pioneer’ interview Chloe shines a light on why a locally grown organic food approach is so powerful for people and the planet - and in reconnecting people to the joy and reality of where their food comes from. She shares the challenges of competing within a food system that externalises its costs, making food - and flowers - artificially cheap; and touches on the growing movement of young people and career changers like herself entering the world of horticulture, agriculture and sustainable flower farming.

1. What inspired you to start Sitopia Farm, and what do you do and offer there?

We believe we can and should grow more food in the city, for a whole host of environmental, health and social reasons. We urgently require transformation of our food system and we want to be part of, and help inspire, the wider change we all need to see.

We grow vegetables, salad, herbs, fruit and flowers on two acres of land in Greenwich, on the wider Woodlands Farm Trust farm. Everything is grown using organic, regenerative agricultural techniques and we work closely with our local community.

From April-November we offer weekly seasonal produce bags and flowers for home delivery/local pick up, have a Saturday pop-up shop at the farm where people can come to buy our produce and see what and how we’re growing. We also sell to London restaurants, grocers and florists who care about sustainability.

We have regular community volunteering days, and also offer team away days at the farm. We’re also very excited about the launch of our new food and flower growing course, spread over three days in Spring, Summer and Autumn so people can come and learn about growing in different seasons.

Soon we hope to launch other events including Feasts in the Field, talks and much more!

2. What are the benefits of an urban food growing approach alongside the use of regenerative practices?

Much more food could and should be grown in and around our cities, which reduces food miles and - if done using eco-friendly farming methods - can help further green our cities, reduce flooding and greenhouse gas emissions, sequester carbon…and critically help reconnect the millions of city dwellers with the reality of food production. We see people’s eyes light up when they pluck what may be their first ever carrot out of the ground, realise that cucumbers grow up vines, and enjoy the delight on children’s faces when they taste what properly delicious, flavoursome tomatoes taste like for the first time! We believe if more people understand how food could and should be grown, and are engaged with the realities of food production, then that will help put pressure on government, supermarkets and other food businesses to make the urgent food system changes we need to see. Another key advantage of growing food in urban areas is proximity to the market: the vast majority of our customers live within a few miles of the farm! It makes particular sense in urban areas to grow food that may not travel well, is highly perishable, or which maximises use of smaller spaces like ‘cut and come again’ leafy greens, salads, herbs and flowers. It means the freshness, taste and nutrition of our produce is hard to beat.

3. What has been the greatest gift and challenge on the journey so far since you launched? 

Wow, that’s a tough one. There have been so many! I’ve been absolutely bowled over by the support of so many people who have come forward to help us, as they believe in what we are trying to do. From Woodlands Farm Trust who have generously loaned us some of their land, to the 400 folk who supported our crowdfunder, the hundreds of volunteers, the experts who’ve donated their expertise in design (thank you Tentsen!), floristry, and of course to all our loyal customers who make our social enterprise work and whose enthusiasm and feedback buoy us along.

In terms of challenges, there have also been plenty! As with any new small business, there’s just so much to do and we started literally from scratch. As a small organic farm (in conversion: we should receive our full organic certification from the Soil Association in June this year) we’re competing with a food system that externalises its costs, making food -and flowers- artificially cheap. There’s no such thing as cheap food: someone, somewhere, is picking up the costs, whether it’s through the environmental damage wrought by the way it was farmed; through the appalling working conditions and well-below living wage the people working in the fields (or more likely factories of chemically sprayed heated greenhouses) endure; to the massive health costs- to the NHS and all of us - arising from the obesity and malnutrition epidemic we’re suffering due to the prevalence of highly processed, low nutrition foods. The giant food, seed, fertiliser and pesticide companies and supermarkets are not paying these costs: we are.

4. What could be done to help more local farmers and growers flourish here in the UK?

There’s a really exciting movement afoot of young people and career changers like me entering the world of horticulture, agriculture and sustainable flower farming. Many of them are motivated by the climate crisis, and a vision for a better food system. This passion and energy needs to be harnessed and supported, and there is a raft of government measures that are needed, as well as support from customers. Where you spend your money makes a huge difference: we vote with our forks at least three times a day! An actual coherent Government food policy would help (at the moment there isn’t one), so you would have a national land use strategy, enabling currently underused bits of land to be converted into agroecological farms; you would have agricultural subsidies or other financing schemes which supported small scale growers and actually incentivised farmers to grow good food well. You would have a trade policy and coherent fiscal policy which doesn’t incentivise the production, import and export of food that is poor for health and the environment: instead you could use tariffs, taxes, subsidies, VAT etc to effectively increase the costs of those foods, and reduce the costs and therefore the affordability and accessibility of food that is good for both people and planet.

5. How do you think our approach to food can be part of the solution when it comes to tackling the climate and ecological crisis?

It’s absolutely at the heart of it. Carolyn Steel’s book Sitopia, which inspired the name of our farm, and who is on our advisory board, means ‘The Food Place’. It’s from the Greek sitos, meaning food, and topos, meaning place, and is about how we live in a world shaped by food, though it can be almost too big for us to grasp it. Food is so utterly central to the economy, to our health, to our culture and society, and to the environment. While she describes how we currently live in a bad Sitopia, if we restructure our food systems and the world around it we can live in a good Sitopia.

We know what the answers are: agroecological, organic and regenerative farming practices, a properly coherent government policy which supports the production, distribution and consumption of good, nutritious food, that is accessible to all as well as being beneficial rather than harmful to the planet.

Moreover, food is a source of joy, of connectivity. It’s part of what we want to harness here, right in the heart of London: bringing people together though food, and changing the world around us as a result.

For more on Chloe Dunnett and Sitopia Farm visit www.sitopiafarm.com

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