Fair Feast CIC | Scottish Land & Estates

Nominee Summary

Fair Feast is a social enterprise that processes deer from areas of extreme overpopulation and environmental damage into venison parcels for those in food scarcity. Fair Feast donations are funded by sales to the public with the slogan 'sales matched in food bank donations' so people can enact the social change they wish to see.

What was the motivation behind the work which was undertaken?

Fair Feast was founded in reaction to an extremely dense population of deer (47/km2) on a SSSI Specially Protected Area moorland - Moulin Moor. Deer damage occurring on Moulin Moor was recorded in grazing damage, peatland damage, reduced biodiversity, and the disruption of important species. Grazing damage was recorded through our resident botanist, Ben Averis, who mapped areas where indiscriminate grazing had eliminated plant species that had been recorded on the moor for decades. Large groups of red deer (100-300) created exposed hags of peat throughout the moorland which releases carbon and contributes to global warming. Exposed peat also contributed to flooding through soil compaction. Specially protected species on the moorland were impacted through the extreme footfall, particularly the significant Black Grouse population (80% of the population of the Forest of Cluny), which incubate their eggs on the ground for almost a month. Wetland areas were muddied with deer traffic which contributed to a significant drop in wader populations such as curlew and oystercatcher. By launching Fair Feast as a deer management model we can sustainably reduce the deer population as we are not dependent on the established venison market or external pickups. We can cull deer as our management plan requires safe in the knowledge that there will be an outlet for the venison in sales and subsequent donations. As all our venison is processed on-site there is minimal environmental impact and a small carbon footprint. Overall the Fair Feast model facilitates sustainable and responsible long-term deer management.

Overcoming Challenges

The primary problem we had to address was finding an outlet for such a large volume of venison. We spent a year building up a network with Perthshire food banks and community larders to ensure complete integration with the community. Listening to community feedback we created sausages and burgers that can fit into a child's pre-existing diet easily, and we invested in fridge/freezer facilities. Integration has reached a point where our largest community larder has bought a van to receive weekly donations of fresh produce. Furthermore, to promote sales we have attended monthly farmers' markets to hand out samples to the public, many who have never tried venison before. We are proud that our venison is opening up a new market both in mainstream sales and food bank supply. People who have never tried venison are now integrating it into their weekly diet. A significant challenge in launching Fair Feast was combating the misconceptions and myths surrounding venison. We had some estate owners and grant coordinators discouraging the project as the consensus was that those attending food banks wouldn't know how to cook venison. We had an open discussion to say that venison must find more of a mainstream appeal as it cannot simply be a luxury prestige product or disposed of/buried. We attended many public meetings to openly discuss our project and publicise our results: if we can put 100 packs of venison into Perth food bank and they're gone within the hour then it shows there is a need!

The Environmental, Social & Economic Benefits

Botanist Ben Averis has entered into a five-year study where we will be able to document in detail the environmental impact appropriate deer management can make through tracking key indicator species. His in-depth tracking and analysis will be publicly available on our website so his findings can be used for identifying various stages of deer damage. Fair Feast provides a new model for deer management that sustainably alleviates deer damage and we document that every step of the way. Social benefits are primarily the consistent provision of fresh and nutritious venison to local food banks. Food banks and community larders generally supply food that is shelf-stable and has a long shelf life as it is easy to store and transport. However this means much of the offering to those in food scarcity is high in salt, saturated fat, and devoid of protein. By providing fresh venison we are adding a nutritious key offering that can be built around with fresh veg etc to create healthy meals. This is of particular benefit to children dependent on food bank support as they need consistent protein to support healthy growth and long-term health outcomes. Fair Feast has an economic benefit as one year on we are expanding from a staff of two, to a staff of nine with the addition of a full social enterprise butcher shop. As Fair Feast is zero waste we have an environmental and economic benefit as nothing is wasted.

Including the community

We have provided two tonnes of fresh venison in our first year, feeding approximately 15,000 people within Perthshire. We look to push this to eight tonnes a year with our new Social Enterprise Butchershop. We look to expand the concept of rural surplus across the sector and in the next six months we will be integrating surplus milk into our donation model. Geographically we look to expand to Dundee over the next year by supporting community lunch halls with free venison and associated veg. Environmentally we integrate with the local community by inviting them on fully funded days with our botanist on the moor to see the damage an overpopulation of deer does and how we can start to see recovery through key indicator species. We find the public are often against deer culling as they do not understand the extreme environmental damage an overpopulation of deer can cause. By inviting people onto the moor with us we can raise awareness of deer damage and responsible management. These days have been so successful that we have support from the local vegetarian/flexitarian group who are interested in sustainable food sources. We have attended local farmers' markets to promote not only our venison products but also our environmental work. We have leaflets detailing our donations and explaining why deer management is necessary. We are reaching the point where customers are supporting us for the social and environmental good we create.