Briefing: Bridging the Gap to healthy and sustainable food for all

Based on learnings from Bridging the Gap’s nine pilots, outlined in the report “How to fix the food system for everyone”, this briefing outlines policy recommendations to solve three challenges.

The 3 Challenges

The pilots highlighted that improving access requires strengthening both demand-side and supply -side mechanisms. This therefore requires co-ordination across multiple Government departments.

Three main obstacles to consumption of healthy organic produce:

1. Not Enough Supply: The UK doesn't grow enough organic and nature-friendly fruit and vegetables to meet everyone's needs. This means we over-rely on imports.
2. Broken Connections: The system for getting food from local farms to communities is inefficient, with unfair pricing for farmers. Our food system is highly centralised, with ten major retailers accounting for 96.7% of grocery sales, squeezing farmers' incomes to less than 1% of overall profits.
3. Barriers to Access: The high cost of fresh fruit and veg and food deserts in less affluent areas make healthy food difficult for many people to buy.

The 3 Solutions

1. Fix the supply -  Boost British farming and food security

• Introduce a cross-departmental horticulture strategy to support green growth and boost production and consumption of fruit, vegetables and pulses
• Support small-scale and organic farmers through grants, better land access, and training programs

2. Fix the missing middle - Ensure fair prices and infrastructure for our farmers

• Invest in local food infrastructure like food hubs, processing and packing facilities (particularly for legumes), and distribution centres to help smaller local producers get produce to market.
• Invest in infrastructure such as logistics systems to connect producers with buyers.
• Strengthen supply chain fairness to enforce fair dealing across more of the supply chain.

3. Fix the access - Enable everyone to access good food

• Use the state’s £5 billion of public food procurement from schools and hospitals to create stable markets for organic and locally produced produce. This does however require the improved local food infrastructure mentioned above. The Labour Government was elected with a commitment to ensure 50% of publicly procured food was local or to a higher environmental standard.
• Pilot schemes to make healthy food more affordable for low-income households and reduce NHS spending, such as vouchers and 'fruit and veg on prescription'.

Bridging the Gap is a partnership between Sustain, Alexandra Rose, Growing Communities, Food Sense Wales and Nourish Scotland, supported by the National Lottery Community Fund. The programme is united in the belief that everyone has the right to healthy and affordable food that works for the planet.