On April 4th, the SFT participated in the launch of the Local Food Growth Plan. This plan was developed in partnership with the Landworkers’ Alliance (LWA), Sustain, Sustainable Food Trust (SFT), Pasture for Life (PfL) and the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC), and was funded by the Rothschild Foundation.
The aspiration was to create a roadmap that will boost demand, channel investment and direct effort into delivering a thriving local food sector across the UK. There are huge benefits of expanding and strengthening local food economies. Firstly, these food systems are deeply rooted in communities and help build connections between people and their food producers. This creates economic growth and expands employment opportunities. Secondly, it tends to be more sustainable with fewer food miles and higher rates of agroecological production. This benefits the wider resilience of our food system, which is critical in light of growing global tensions and the climate crisis. Lastly, it benefits public health by increasing access to fresh, nutritious food so that all citizens can access healthy and sustainable food. You can read more about the benefits of local food in Richard Kipling’s article for the SFT.
In order to successfully grow the local food sector, this plan set out actions that require engagement from a range of people and organisations. Developed through research and a consultation process, this report contains detailed recommendations and seven key priorities.
Seven priorities for a thriving local food sector
- Establish regional local food growth plans: These documents would be guiding principles to inform and advance the expansion of local food within a region. They would be agreed with stakeholders from across the community, ranging from politicians to farmers, businesses and NGOs, and include a strong voice from citizens, and would direct investment and development in the local food sector.
- Enable and invest in policies to support infrastructure: Both national and local government need to invest and support the infrastructure that underpins local food. This means protecting and expanding local markets and increasing regional processing facilities and mid-scale infrastructure. For example, protecting small abattoirs to enable small-scale local meat production to continue. The campaign to protect small-scale abattoirs is a long-running campaign of the SFT and you can learn more about it here.
- Prioritise horticulture support in a national Horticulture Strategy: Defra has been promising to deliver a Horticulture Strategy for years now without any progress. This document would act as a clear commitment from Government that they valued British horticulture and were committed to increasing the supply, processing and distribution of fruit and vegetables to improve public diets through healthy, affordable and climate-friendly food.
- Create a roadmap for meeting the commitment to public sector food procurement standards: The Government has made a strong commitment to increase the target of local and agroecological food in public procurement. But, to achieve that goal of 50%, supporting policies need to be put in place that can provide the necessary support to SMEs to submit bids, along with data collection and monitoring to ensure that the targets are met.
- Enable decisive action to make food supply chains fairer for farmers: Part of the challenge for small and local suppliers is that the system is rigged against them. Large retailers hold too much power. The food supply chain needs to have greater transparency and accountability to ensure fairness. This requires expanding and reinforcing the powers of the Groceries Code Adjudicator, Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator and Food Crime Unit.
- Recognise the vital role of local action and networks: Local food works because it is rooted in community and listens to the voices of citizens. To expand local food systems, we need to ensure that sustainable food partnerships, are established in every area, to advocate for the needs of the local food sector and enable collaboration between local farms, supply chains and citizens.
- Promote influential marketing, targeted business and training support to help the local food sector thrive: People want to buy local food but currently it is often too challenging. There needs to be an effort to promote and connect citizens with local retailers so that we can build a grassroots movement to expand access to local food for all people.
The full Local Food Growth Plan is available here.
So how do we make this aspiration a reality? How do we grow local food in our communities? To do so, we need to catalyse change within our political leadership, and we need local and regional authorities to commit to meaningful action.
A manifesto for local food leadership in Bristol
That is why a collaboration between local food organisations in Bristol (where the SFT is headquartered) have developed a manifesto for the upcoming mayoral election for the West of England Combined Authority. This strategic authority encompasses Bath, Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North East Somerset. Once elected, the next Mayor will have a critical role in shaping how food is produced, distributed and accessed across the region. Through adopting key actions, the region can deliver healthier and more sustainable food for all.
The group is calling for a strategic review of food access across the region to help ensure that local and sustainable food is accessible to all citizens in the region. This review should engage with civil society, businesses and community groups to co-develop a Regional Food Plan that strengthens supply chain infrastructure and improves food resilience. Similar work is already ongoing with the Sustainable Food Places programme. This would be a legal document and would be used to inform spatial development strategies, ensuring that food accessibility is embedded in planning, development and the management of council-owned agricultural land. Central to this document would be the evaluation of St Phillips Market, a local fruit and veg market that has been operating for decades and is critical for the collection, storage and distribution of local food. Ahead of any closure of the market, there needs to be a clear plan for its replacement to ensure a thriving future for SMEs in the food sector for years to come.
Once this document was approved, it would prompt the investment needed to make it a reality. Many groups in the region have been struggling to access the funds that they need to improve public diets and tackle hunger. Through the public commitments within the Regional Food Plan, resources would be unlocked to improve the access to funding for initiatives addressing health inequalities and climate change impacts through food systems, with particular support for small, community-led organisations.
Lastly, one of the key areas that sits within the remit for the Strategic Authority is skills and training. Therefore, there is a huge opportunity for the incoming administration to invest in training, career development and business support for those entering the sustainable local food sector, fostering new green job opportunities and supporting SMEs. Investing in the next generation of growers and food producers will help ensure the viability of local food long into the future and support economic resilience by increasing employment and regional growth.
Call for action: Better food for all
These steps are critical for the region to achieve healthy and sustainable diets for all citizens. There are approximately 150,000 residents in the region who live in deprived communities with poor access to good food. Many low-income families can only afford to buy cheap food, which is often high in fat, salt and sugar, and this can damage their long-term health outcomes. Worse still, this food tends to be cheap because it is produced in a way that is environmentally damaging. Industrially produced food fails to account for its true-cost to the planet – something Patrick Holden, the SFT’s CEO, has spoken out about recently.
Our dependency on cheap food and the inequalities in our food system needs to change urgently, and we need our regional leaders to act. All families deserve to be able to access climate and nature-friendly food that is affordable and nutritious and grown without harmful chemicals. The region is full of incredible agroecological farmers, growers and food producers that want to deliver sustainable food for the region to help meet net zero targets, support nature recovery and improve health outcomes.
So, will the politicians running for the role step up and commit to these five key asks if elected? We will keep you posted.
