n By Mark Metcalf
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Insects must have come from soil, the skin of the earth and the bringer of all life
Dr Charlie Clutterbuck, Unite activist and soil scientist
Charlie’s book follows a film produced on his behalf by Dave Hackney and Mark Metcalf aimed at encouraging debate about food and farming which can be used by communities or online.
The film, Just grow to eat is a 30-minute
journey across north west England explaining developments in Britain’s countryside. Charlie highlights that due to the market dominance of supermarkets, food imports continue growing at the expense of the environment, people’s health, real green jobs and rural communities.
Charlie also outlines how growing food locally could help people on low incomes afford healthy food and boost local economies by creating more jobs on the land. It would require about £3bn in subsidies, around the same amount that Britain once received from the EU.
Main discussion points from the film include
• Cut down on ultra-processed foods How can you tell what you’re eating is ultra-processed, and how can you reduce their use? Lobby governments to include this in future plans to reduce obesity.
• Increase access to land for communities to grow more local food Allotments are increasingly under threat as more building takes place. Are there ways to protect them and promote growing areas within building developments?
• Encourage debate about who owns the land and how we can have more say in what is grown there Is using 3m acres of land for grouse-shooting really a sustainable use of resources?
• Promote the idea of using the £3bn ‘old EU subsidy’ money for other things Like helping poorer people buy locally produced better food.
• Introduce ‘seed’ funding To stimulate new green economies, linking town and country to create real green jobs, growing more food.
• How do we get and keep our best resource, good soil? • Add ‘food and farming’ to debates about ‘greening the economy.’ Most industrial strategies rarely mention plants. Plants are the greatest carbon-capture and storage units.
FIND OUT MORE
To watch Charlie's film Just grow to eat visit
https://bit.ly/4toxIjA or scan the QR code.
You can also subscribe to Charlie's YouTube channel @CharlieClutterbuck
You can buy his book On the origin of soils from retailers in the autumn.
Charlie is keen to speak about the book at Unite branch meetings and will be available via Zoom. You can get in touch with him at
charlie@sustainablefood.com
Visit Incredible Farm, Mankinholes Bank OL14 6JA. See
https://incrediblefarm.co.uk/
35 uniteLANDWORKER Summer 2026
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All images: Mark Harvey/Alamy
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