Food resilience heads the agenda for visiting MSP

Abigail Taylor

Ariane Burgess, MSP for the Highlands and Islands, visited Uist this month holding meetings with community groups across the islands.

Speaking with Am Pàipear about her time here, Ariane focussed on food resilience and the cost of living on the islands.

She said: “In the coming months, Parliament will agree on the Good Food Nation bill, which if consented to, will require the Scottish Government, Health Boards and Local Authorities to create Good Food plans. I was heartened by the conversations with people across Benbecula and Uist to learn that local people and communities are already leading the way.

From the great Community Food Growing project at TAGSA to the Neighbour Food initiative that will connect local producers with people wanting local produce, I am optimistic that food resilience is being taken seriously by everyone I met. It was also exciting to hear about ideas in the works from a community kitchen to even more formed projects like the Food Hub at the Grogarry steading that will provide space for people wanting to set up local food production from bread to cheese and of course a micro-brewery. It would be fantastic to see local people being able to eat affordable, locally produced food in the near future.”

Jemma MacVicar, development officer for North Uist and Benbecula Locality Partnership, also hosted the MSP, following previous online meetings. She said: “It was fantastic to have the opportunity to meet Ariane in person and chat around a number of topics important to the community. The topic of resilience moved quickly onto food production and there are such a number of fantastic growing and production initiatives on these islands which in coming together could create even more opportunities in feeding our own communities and benefitting from the export of products to elsewhere in Scotland.  

There is also a huge opportunity to do more with the potential food waste, food items which can no longer be sold but are perfectly safe to eat could be transferred to a community kitchen to be cooked and bring people together to share a meal, tackling both carbon reduction and social isolation. I do hope that by working together we can make these ideas realities in the near future.”