Resources to support race equality work in the sustainable food and farming sector

Sustain's diversity outreach project was established in 2023 to increase representation of Black people and people of colour (BPOC) in the sustainable food and farming movement. To meaningfully attract and retain BPOC talent, organisations must ensure that centre equity and justice throughout their organisation. Which is why much of our work in this area has been on movement building, convening, educating and informing. 

Anti-racism training

In 2025, Sustain, Eating Better and Social Justice Collective, co-led a series of anti-racism workshops for people working in the sustainable food and farming sector. Reflections and resources from the three sessions are available:

• Session 1: self-reflection and understanding
• Session 2: impact and why it matters to the sector
• Session 3: action plan and race equity lens

Unearthing Empire webinars

As part of Culture Roots Collective, we have hosted three webinar exploring how colonialism has shaped what we grow, eat and value in the UK.

• Food, land and colonial legacies in the UK: an overview of how Empire shaped what we eat, grow and value today and the impact it has on current global majority farmers. Featuring academic Corinne Fowler and writer and grower Naomi Terry.
• Reclaiming food and community care: bringing together landworkers and activists who are reclaiming ancestral foodways and reimagining community nourishment in the UK. Featuring seed sovereignty coordinator Randa Toko, radical dietician Lucy Aphramor and community organiser Obie Pearl.
• Culture, community and food futures: moving beyond food policy to explore and celebrate the role of people from the global majority in the food system. Featuring writer Mallika Basu, chef and community organiser Betty Vandy, and network coordinator Gnisha Bevan.

Food and racial justice summit and working group

In January 2024, Sustain and Eating Better co-established a food and racial justice working group with participation from across the sustainable food and farming sector. The group meets 4-5 times a year to share, reflect and support on organisational and shared agendas. 

In June 2025, the group co-hosted the first ever summit on food and racial justice: Gathering Table which was a celebration of the work going on in the sector, as well as a place for useful provocation on how to move forward. We have blogs on the following topics covered:

• Allyship, solidarity and brave spaces
• Embracing culture for inclusive futures
• Dismantling justice: decolonial decision-making

In January 2026 we held a follow up in-person session on solidarity and collective care which offered a much-needed and alternative way to work on this agenda. There is appetite to continue to hold in-person gatherings to learn, share, build relationships, collaborate, and centre wellbeing.  

Culture Roots Collective

It’s common knowledge that the sustainable food and farming movement is one of the least ethnically diverse sectors. This is why we co-created Culture Roots Collective with BVEDS, Eating Better and AFN+ Netowrk to amplify and showcase the work of people from racialised and minoritised ethnic backgrounds in the sustainable food and farming movement. It features a directory of people to work or collaborate with as well as resources on DEI and racial justice, including ones relevant to the sustainable food and farming sector. If you're a person of colour in the sector, please add yourself to the directory. 

Disrupt to Transform resource

Co-created with Eating Better, this resource offers an accessible introduction to alternative approaches to movement building rooted in justice and equity, with links to further learning and prompts to support intentional event planning. Introducing terms such as decoloniality, the resource offers ways to shift how we hold space: slowing extractive habits, noticing who takes up room, welcoming complexity without collapsing into chaos. You’ll find practical suggestions for events, collaborative processes and tools that centre accountability, curiosity and connection. 

JEDI leadership programme

In February 2026, Eating Better and Sustain are launching a JEDI (justice, equity, diversity and inclusion) leadership programme, funded by Farming the Future, that will support twelve leaders from across the sustainable food and farming movement over a six-month journey, with impact far beyond that. More information will be shared in due course. 

Inclusive recruitment and employment

We have shared guidance on inclusive recruitment and being an inclusive employer. This outward facing work must happen once you have done the work internally to become meaningfully justice-led and anti-racist, which is why these resources follow guidance on how to develop and centre values. We've also gathered and shared insight from Sustain alliance members on how and why to diversify your board of trustees.