Virtual Farmers Market - Join us on 29th May to Help Develep Bristol's NESTA Big Green Challenge Bid
May 19, 2008 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Bristol, Innovation, Events, Environment, Green ICT, Food, Bids , trackback
VIRTUAL FARMERS MARKET PROPOSAL
The food we eat makes a significant contribution to climate change, accounting for 31% of our greenhouse gas emissions (EU 2007). If we are to stand a realistic chance of preventing runaway global warming, it is time to rethink our agricultural systems. This project seeks to go beyond the popular concept of “food miles” to consider the complete life-cycle of food – from field to plate. A sustainable local food system will address emissions by engaging the communities of the Bristol city-region, from the farmers and allotment associations, to the consumer, to local government, academics and community groups…
Open Collaboration Session
Date: 29th May
Time: 2.30-5pm (followed by networking opportunity)
Location: Connecting Bristol, First Floor, 11-19 Wine Street, Bristol BS1 2PH MAP
Purpose:
Bristol’s bid to create a Virtual Farmer’s Market (VFM) has won through to the next stage of the NESTA Big Green Challenge competition. Well done Matt Fortnam of University of Bristol for taking the proposal this far!
Read a PDF summary of the bid here - Virtual Farmers Market Sumary
The timescale is, of course, very short. A final bid must be made to NESTA by 9th June. We are working with local food consultants F3 and Ed Mitchell to further develop the bid and will be holding an open collaboration session on 29th May to achieve the following,
- Generate innovative ideas that will help to build and sustain a Bristol virtual food community
- Provide feedback on the draft VFM bid
- Identify links with other local food projects and organisations and agree priorities and opportunities for the VFM
- Sign-up organisations and individuals to support the VFM bid and start to build the community that will support and champion the project
Registration
The Open Collaboration Session is an opportunity for anyone who is interested in this proposal to join-in. Please join us at this session. We welcome your input. Just confirm your attendance by registering HERE
We look forward to meeting you
Comments»
I would like to be included in this!
I deliver to all over Bristol with mainly local food.
Order by Monday night for delivery the following Thursday (or Friday for the Chew Valley area)
www.localfoordirect.co.uk
Hi Mike, thanks for your interest Your input would be very welcome. Come along to our workshop if you can. The registration page is here
Hi Stephen
Sadly my delivery days are Thursday and Friday and as I gather the meeting is daytime Thursday I can't make it. I will register though.
Regards, Mike
Doh! Page 404 no connection!
Have corrected the link above,
Stephen
any idea how this was followed up, can't find any outcomes on any of the relevant sites - good project hope it wins through
Hi Sean, we uploaded the bid to the NESTA site at 11.58 last night. We were really working against the clock on this. The scale of support and interest was far greater than we could have hoped for. We will post details of the bid that was submitted soon and keep people informed of progress. Thanks to everyone who helped
For now, please do pledge your support here http://www.pledgebank.com/VFMBristol
Stephen
I am sorry I missed this! I work with the Taste of North Somerset Partnership and we would be very interested in finding out more about this bid and how we may be able to support this project with our network of local producers in the North Somerset District. I have been on holiday for three weeks so completely missed this. Please send me further information or give me a call on 01275 888504
Thanks
Terry
To all VFM supporters
We are sorry to report that Bristol’s Virtual Farmers Market bid to NESTA's Green Challenge has not made it through to the next round. NESTA’s specific feedback says,
“We are sorry not to have been able to invite you to pitch to the Big Green Challenge Judges. The overall quality of detailed plans was high, and all of the ideas worthwhile, so our decision was not an easy one.
We wanted to provide some specific feedback on your idea. Our Reviewers thought this project has great potential and could be a model for other cities and therefore of great significance in the longer term. They praised your ambition to create a step change in the attitudes and approaches of a whole town towards food. Our Reviewers suggest further planning and partnership development would be useful before running the project. The Reviewers also highlighted the large jump between 25 households and 400,000+ people and suggested that you to consider a slightly larger pilot in order to test viability.
We hope that you will continue to develop and act on your ideas, and we wish you every success with this.”
In al honesty, the core team (Matt, Kevin and I) were not fully happy with the quality of the final submission, so the judges’ decision is not a surprise. On the positive side, we still believe that the VFM idea is strong and that Overlay Media’s location-aware mobile solution is very innovative and relevant. Clare Milne, the Bristol Food Links Development Worker is keen to incorporate the VFM into future Bristol bids, including to the lottery, so the effort will not be wasted. Thanks for your support.
Stephen