Stroud is fast becoming an exemplar for local food projects, from our award winning farmers' market to Community Supported Agriculture and communial allotments as well as food distribution and processing. 

Current mainstream agricultural and food retail systems depend heavily on oil. This dependence runs right through from initial production methods (oil-based fertilisers and pesticides), through distribution (supermarkets add thousands of air, sea and road food miles to most foods) to retail outlets, which consume huge amounts of energy themselves and are often out of towns, requiring consumers to travel to buy their food.