Local food is powerful
It can feed us in a crisis, strengthen our local economies and create better places to live.
Demand for local food is strong but the sector faces enormous structural challenges to scaling up and out. With more support and investment, the sector could grow to meet that demand and further strengthen our national resilience and quality of life.
That’s why we created the Local Food Plan.
Over 2 years, Sustain collaborated with Landworkers Alliance, Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, Sustainable Food Trust and Pasture for Life to find out what the sector needs to grow. During that time we consulted 500+ local food systems actors to shape the actions in the plan.
What do we mean by local food?
Local food means different things to different people – in fact we discovered over 80 different definitions in academic literature. But for the purposes of this project we needed a clear definition so ours is:
‘Local food is food that is produced, processed, sold and eaten within the same region (or local administrative area) through transparent SME-focused supply chains.’
Our definition doesn’t set a fixed geography, as this necessarily must flex according to location across the UK and to the type of food.
It does, however, specify the scale of food business as small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). A ‘Review of Local Food Definitions' by Sustainable Food Trust found SMEs are more likely to be rooted in a specific location in a way that larger national or multinational businesses are not and are more effective at delivering benefits to the local area (i.e. the ‘local multiplier effect’).
What's in the Local Food Growth Plan?
The Local Food Plan identifies four shifts and 31 actions needed to grow the local food sector. These shifts will require a combination of policy, sector collaboration and investment interventions to achieve. Some of these actions are already being worked on by existing campaigns and organisations, while others represent areas that need new work. It calls for involvement from local and mayoral authorities, national governments, investors and food and farming organisations to grow local food.
For a full list of the 31 actions and what’s required for each see the full Plan.
Regional approaches to local food growth
The Local Food Growth Plan takes a UK-wide view but acknowledges that much of the work to build the local food sector must practically happen and the regional and local levels. To understand this better we commissioned four regional cohorts of Food Partnerships to develop their ow Local Food Growth Plans.
The Regional approaches can be seen here.
Turning the plan into action
Sustain continues to convene the Local Food Working Party, bringing together national organisations working on local food sector growth to collaborate on solutions. Through that we are working on developing approaches to implement specific sections of the plan, particularly in relation to data, marketing and procurement.
If you would be interested in inputting into the plan please contact rachel@sustainweb.org
If you’d like to find out more about the plan, and the findings so far, visit the Local Food Plan website or sign up to our newsletter.
Veg box Sitopia Farm. Copyright: Rachel Jones
Good Food Enterprise: Working to provide food that is good for people and the planet, and support local production playing a part in community beyond trading.
