Reports / Sustainable Food Places
Policy briefing: Cost of living and sustainable food enterprises
Sustain surveyed sustainable food enterprises in our networks to find out the impact that inflation and increasing energy costs are having on them. This briefing summarises the findings and recommendations for national and local policy makers.
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.
Published 7 Dec 2022
Sustainable Food Places: The Sustainable Food Places Network helps people and places share challenges, explore practical solutions and develop best practice on key food issues, so if you are working to drive positive food change or are interested in developing a programme, please do get in touch.