Rooting for Justice – Sheffield graduates create a community-led campaign for food and environmental justice

Their plan? To grow and distribute fresh food for community centres, kitchens and people, building communities and tackling social isolation through and beyond Covid-19.

Rooting for Justice – a project led largely by a team of Sheffield graduates from the MSc Environmental Change and International Development programme – was formed in the final months of 2020. This non-profit aims to break down stigma surrounding food poverty in the UK by working with local groups across Yorkshire to grow food and re-energise disused green spaces. All their food produce will either be shared and cooked with local groups or distributed to community centres and kitchens who are facing immense pressure through Covid-19.

Based in York, the Rooting team have already begun work on two key projects, supporting urban ward plans to re-vitalise local land plots, and collaborating with St Nicks Nature Reserve on their allotments. Despite York’s relatively affluent reputation, recent research by the York Food Justice Alliance shows that nearly one quarter of 4 to 11 year olds have experienced food insecurity. 
 
For a lot of the team, getting involved with Rooting for Justice has provided a chance to take control over their lives as well, slowly building a future they can all be a part of. For Lily Draper, the Founding Director of Rooting, the project represents a form of activism, raising awareness of environmental justice issues, from land rights to food sovereignty in the UK. The Rooting team support each other and hold one another accountable in their actions, recognising how race, gender, ability, class, and more can influence access to safe living environments.

So how did we get here? Here’s what the Rooting team have to say.

Read more from Tania

What comes to mind when you think about food? For me, food is not only about politics or nutrition. Food is a necessity and millions of people – in the Global North and South – are struggling to access it. Rooting for Justice is a great example of global thinking to take local action. It has been an honour for me to join this initiative which, surprisingly, is run by mostly women!

A contentious topic in our Sheffield lectures was the categorisation of the world into Global North and South. Before coming to the UK, looking at the Human Development Index (HDI) with my bare eyes would imply that people in the UK have higher standards of living, and that people here do not necessarily struggle to access basic human rights… such as food. So little could I tell by just looking at those numbers. I blame my management/business-minded background!

One of the most important learnings from the University of Sheffield was not only to look beyond numbers in reports and factsheets, but also to think about feasible and realistic solutions to tackle social inequality.

In our Rooting for Justice meetings, we are not just exchanging raw data or facts from corporate reports but nurturing our knowledge about food justice and agroecology with everybody’s insights and expertise. It has been amazing to learn from each other and support ourselves (remotely) in such uncertain times! In the long term, I would like to take this practical knowledge about food justice and community resilience to the Mexican setting, promoting the use of surplus food and agroecology for social good.

Read more from Natalie

Almost ironically, my studies in international development made me increasingly aware of the development issues we face here in the UK. The onset of the pandemic was a pivotal moment for me. With travel completely restricted, I found myself paying more attention to what was happening immediately around me. I began to realise many of the development theories we had been learning about through our Masters degree - many of which were developed in the Global South - were applicable to situations in the UK. 

Covid-19 has shone a light on issues of poverty and hunger in the UK on a national scale. Marcus Rashford’s Free School Meals campaign, and the recent disaster with the distribution of food parcels, for example, have helped dissolve widely-held misconceptions that so-called ‘developed’ countries aren’t impacted by issues of food poverty. 

Rooting for Justice struck a chord with me. It’s an initiative that raises awareness of the need for global environmental justice at the same time as addressing UK food inequality. It provides an incredible platform for maintaining links with friends from Sheffield and for sharing my own work. Rooting has also been a fun, creative way to generate tangible impacts in local communities. In many ways, this comes at a time when the demand for UK food justice seems more critical than ever. 

Read more from Elle

Working part-time as a supermarket assistant, both before and during university, has given me a valuable insight into key issues within the UK food system. I have seen how food waste is often created by rigid ‘use-by’ and ‘sell-by’ dates, a constant supply chain of produce, and a system influenced by consumer demand rather than seasonality. At the same time, I have experienced efforts to tackle this problem, through store and organisation policies and, increasingly, through the groups who collect food waste and distribute it to people experiencing food insecurity. 

My undergraduate degree at Sheffield furthered my understanding of food issues and justice. First year lectures on food security and waste sparked my interest in community food projects, which led me to volunteer with Sheffield on a Plate. This project helps primary school pupils to understand the origins of food, food waste and seasonality. It was an experience I really enjoyed, particularly in seeing younger generations’ understanding develop. By the end, we worked with children to grow their own seeds and persuade their parents to embrace wonky veg! In my third year, we learned about food justice within Sheffield, visiting local projects such as Regather - a group involved in creating food boxes and community gardens. 

During my MSc, I began to understand that environmental conservation projects - if they are to be truly sustainable - must support food security. I am excited to get involved with Rooting’s work, not only to contribute to tangible actions in York, but also to work alongside fellow writers and activists for environmental and food issues, both in the UK and globally. 

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You can find out how to support Rooting for Justice’s project on their website or on their social media pages: Facebook / Instagram. To get in touch, email lily@rootingforjustice.co.uk.