Climate Friendly Food was started as an unincorporated association in August 2008 and became a registered Community Interest Company in February 2009.
The start
The catalyst for setting up Climate Friendly Food was NESTA's Big Green Challenge, where we spelled out our vision for a community-led, low cost carbon labelling scheme for farmers and growers from field to kitchen table. The idea was short-listed as one of the final 20 projects in the UK.
Building on strengths
As so much work was put into getting the business plan together we decided to continue the work as volunteers. Since then the directors have successfully applied for funding to develop the project, making the project stronger and more visionary than under the first phase in 2008.
In November 2008 we held the inaugural meeting of our independent standards committee. This set the boundaries and discussed principles for the development of the carbon calculator, which is the bedrock of the organisation. By March 2009 the first version of the carbon calculator had been developed, which was subsequently pilot tested by organic growers.
Project development
The second version of the carbon calculator was started in June 2009 and finished in September 2009. This, along with the low-carbon food certification scheme, was launched in October 2009 with a week long bike ride from Schumacher College in Dartington to the Schumacher lectures in Bristol, calling in at organic farms along the way.
Plans are in place to develop exciting new ideas and expand the organisation during 2010.