Policy briefing: Cost of living and sustainable food enterprises

Coupled with high energy prices and inflation, lack of infrastructure to support local food businesses and high rents, this is creating a ‘perfect storm’ for many small and medium food enterprises. Most of the enterprises who responded to our survey are experiencing reduced sales and difficulty in recruiting staff and volunteers.

Now is the time to invest in this sector, otherwise we risk reducing the little diversity left in our local food system and losing enterprises that are more likely to produce to high sustainability standards and create value and food resilience locally.