Stories from the future: Bailey & Poppy

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It’s 2030. Bailey is 24. When he was a child, his home-town of Camborne was one of the poorest places in Europe. That was until the Kerrier Green Fund was established to provide investment in the growing local renewables sector and new skills training. Now Bailey is a newly-qualified engineer, part of a team responsible for the maintenance of local wind turbines.

Bailey’s older sister, Poppy, set up her own bakery. She sources all her ingredients from a local food-producers’ cooperative. It provides her with a wholesale discount, while guaranteeing farmers a local market, increasing the price they receive ‘at the farm gate’ and affording them greater protection against shocks.

Both Poppy, Bailey and many of their friends and family are part of a local consumers cooperative. Since profits are distributed among members they get to keep the cut that used to go to the supermarket owner. Their control over the co-op means that they choose what products to stock. After the UK government finally introduced the Carbon Tax, local food is much cheaper than food that’s had to travel long distances. The co-op also participates in the Cornwall-wide Sustainable Food Forum that helps match Cornwall’s farming output to what Cornish consumers want to buy.

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