There is so much incredible work happening in the world of local food across the UK.
We now need a collective plan that can scale-up the sector to maximise its positive impact.
The Local Food Plan’s aim is to get us there.
One of the challenges to growing local food systems is that they’re so diverse. It’s vital we define them in a way that leaves space for that diversity, while being clear about the types of system we’d like to see.
With that in mind, we set out at the beginning of the project to examine the definitions of local food that people currently work with. This has helped guide our exploration of what matters to the local food sector, how we can monitor change and, most importantly, where we want to get to.
The review was conducted in the first year of the Local Food Plan project - Spring 23 - Spring 24. It brought together knowledge from across the sector, to discover where we are, and what needs to happen next in order for local food to thrive.
We interviewed 44 people working on the frontline of food. We spoke to farmers, wholesalers, retailers, buyers and many more across our four nations.
Our aim was to understand our collective vision for local food, the barriers preventing its growth and the solutions we need to see the sector thrive.
You can find out more details on the situational review in our report.
Growing the Local Food Sector report
If you’d like to find out more about the situational review, you can visit our ‘findings’ page.
The next step in creating the Local Food Plan is to further develop the solutions uncovered by the sector snapshot review with stakeholders across the country throughout 2024.
We’ll be consulting experts and running collaborative workshops to unpack, strengthen and fine-tune the suggested actions and recommendations.
Together, we’ll be creating a road-map towards a healthier local food system for the UK.
If you’re interested in being involved in the Solutions Design phase, please visit our Take action page.
From the insights gained, we’ll create a solutions-focused Action Plan, laying out the steps that need to be taken, how they can be done, and by who.
This plan can be used by stakeholders across the food sector, as well those in local and national government, investors, researchers to help us get local, nourishing food to more people.
If you’re interested in being involved in the Action Planning phase, please visit our Take action page.
To support the growth of the local food sector longer-term, we need ways to monitor and measure success.
As part of this work, we have several research projects on the go:
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