Sweetpea Market Garden aims to support our workers with a viable income while providing affordable, accessible nutrient dense food for our local community. We will provide education and training opportunities for people looking to learn more about sustainable food production.
This is very much, and will always be, a work in progress.
We use AGROECOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES.
Agroecology is a holistic approach to creating sustainable food production systems by centring our ecology and environment. Agroecology provides the solutions to many if not all of the problems ‘conventional agriculture’ (the dominant means of food production) causes. We feel so strongly about this that we’ve dedicated a page to this here.
We produce LOCAL FOOD.
We sell within a 15 mile radius of the farm, and minimise our journeys to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. We are selling through the Cambridge Food Hub, who facilitate connections between local businesses and combine deliveries meaning fewer vans on the road.
We follow ORGANIC STANDARDS.
We are in the process of converting our land to organic certification through the Soil Association. We buy only organic seed, do not use any chemical inputs (including the Organic approved ones), and focus on building soil health and habitats for pollinators and beneficial insects to support a diverse and resilient system. Rather than eradicate pests, we nurture a healthy ecosystem that won’t allow them to dominate.
We are members of the Organic Growers Alliance.
We aim to be SINGLE USE PLASTIC FREE.
Where possible our produce is sold without packaging as this is truly the most eco-friendly option! For produce like salad that needs an airtight container to keep it fresh, we are doing our best to source compostable packaging. This is not perfect, but it is the best solution we have.
We are PEAT FREE.
We do not buy in potting mixes containing peat. Peat bogs perform a wonderful service for the Earth, storing huge amounts of carbon and providing a unique habitat. There are many alternatives, and we also hope to avoid those that are imported such as coconut coir and support the production of healthy compost in the UK.
We support FOOD SOVEREIGNTY.
People working towards food sovereignty seek to place ownership of food production into the hands of the people who eat that food. In our current global food system, food is treated as a commodity with a market price that fluctuates depending on external demand. This means that the people growing the food may not be able to afford to eat what they are growing.
The six pillars of food sovereignty are food for all, the valuing of food producers, the localisation of food systems, centring local control, a food system that works with nature, and one which prioritises agricultural knowledge sharing. Food in Our Hands
We are members of The Landworker’s Alliance, a member-led union of farmers, growers, foresters and other land-based workers. They provide support for new entrants and training, and are involved in ongoing research and political campaigns to transform our food system to support us, the people, and our ecology. The Landworker’s Alliance is part of La Via Campesina – the international peasants movement.
“Food sovereignty offers a vision for our collective future, and defines the principles around which we organise our daily living and co-exist with Mother Earth. It is a celebration of life and all the diversity around us. It embraces every element of our cosmos; the sky above our heads, the land beneath our feet, the air we breathe, the forests, the mountains, valleys, farms, oceans, rivers and ponds. It recognizes and protects the inter-dependency between eight million species that share this home with us.”
La Via Campesina’s Manifesto for the Future of Our Planet