Celebrating International Youth Day with Alex Breeze

Hi, my name is Alex Breeze, a member of the Young Co-operators Network and Click and Collect Buyer for the Local Team, today I’m taking over Colleagues Connect to celebrate International Youth Day!

What is International Youth Day and the theme for this year?

Created in 1999 by the UN General Assembly, the day is the annual celebration of bringing youth issues to the attention of the international community and celebrating the potential of youth within today’s global society.

The theme for today is “Transforming Food Systems: “Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health” which aims at highlighting that the success of such a global effort will not be achieved without meaningful participation of young people.

So, I wanted to share with you some of the work that I do and how the Best of Our Counties are contributing towards Transforming Food Systems and sustainability.

 

We hear Click & Collect is coming, can you tell us more?

Firstly, what is Click & Collect? The proposition is very exciting, we are going to deliver a premium Best of Our Counties range via our new Click & Collect platform. In short, our customers and members will be able to shop a selection of our bestselling lines and have them delivered to a participating convenience store for collection.

Prior to joining the Local team, I was on the Graduate Programme. I owe a great deal to the scheme and how it has facilitated my development. I look forward to bringing my experiences and ideas forward, contributing to the future of the Society.

My role is new for the Society, I’m currently supporting the project team to ensure a successful launch. At this point that includes producing the web and product copy, liaising with internal and external partners, in addition to any project related requirements. Post pilot I will take ownership of the platform, monitor performance, review ranges and support the team on any other additional workstreams.

 

What do we mean by ‘transforming food systems’?

Transforming food systems is all about benefiting people and the planet. It will help us understand what we should be producing, manufacturing, consuming and importing.

Transforming food systems is deeply complex and will require significant large-scale efforts from multiple industry stakeholders. Through such efforts, we can address issues including human health, sustainable farming, climate change, animal welfare and waste reduction. Consumers are becoming more aware of these issues, media coverage has increased, and the time to act is now.

Ultimately our younger generations will be the ones who will live the longest with the consequences based on decisions made today! Young people are being taken seriously in relation to such issues, like climate change with the likes of Greta Thunberg. Malala Yousafzai is another inspiring young activist who challenges today’s policies and practices for the greater good of future generations.

 

How is the Best of Our Counties ranges part of the process?

By offering the Best of our Counties ranges we are able to positively contribute to and support shopping local:

• Local products are of higher quality and more nutritious. Taking fresh produce as an example, the time from farm to consumer is considerably shorter, reducing the degradation of nutrients and taste.

• Local products are more environmentally friendly. The distance travelled for local products from farm to store is also much shorter. Multiple factors contribute to a reduction in CO₂ such as reduced food miles.

Buying local is an investment in your community. By supporting your local farmers and producers, money you spend is retained in the local community, ensuring future food security.

Educating younger generations is pivotal and an important part of Best of our Counties. A great example of where we support future talent is the Create & Cook competition. It aims to encourage young cooks to discover their local food and develop the next generation’s cooking skills.

 

We have heard some great local supplier stories over the last 18 months, how are they involved?

Our suppliers are at the heart of what makes Best of Our Counties. Many of them are making exceptional efforts to be sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Napton Cidery is a great example of one of our suppliers who are supporting sustainable British farming. They collect any unwanted apples from their village and surrounding orchards to produce their cider.

More generalised examples from our suppliers include moving from bottles to cans, investment in new technologies to reduce energy consumption and sourcing local ingredients where possible for product manufacturing.

I feel as a Co-operative Society we are in a favourable position to help influence positive change in the industry. Transforming our food systems will be pivotal in being able to sustainably feed not just today’s generation but future generations to come.

There will be more updates coming soon as we progress towards the launch of Click & Collect, and I look forward to sharing these with you.

 

Did you know we have a dedicated forum for our younger generation called The Young Co-operators Network (YCN)?

It helps to provide the opportunity to have a say about the things that matter the most to our young co-operators by influencing the future of Midcounties through events, activities and competitions.

Aged between 16-30? Then why not join the Young Co-operators Network here.

Be inspired.  Get Involved.  Make a Difference.