Local food is powerful

Around the UK, local food systems are helping to create thriving town centres, stronger local economies and fresher, more delicious food in climate and nature-friendly ways.

And local food brings resilience. In a world increasingly impacted by climate and political disruption, having more food production close to where people live is just common sense.

The challenge

Despite all these benefits, local food currently makes up a tiny proportion of the food on offer to us.

A whole range of barriers stand in the way; from the political, to the financial to the infrastructural.

Our response

We believe things can be different. We can grow our local food systems to help us address some of the biggest environmental, social, economic and wellbeing challenges we face today.

So we’re co-creating a plan to grow the local food sector across the UK and we want your help.

Check out Sustain’s report The Case For Local Food for more detail on the benefits.

Local Food Plan - growing salad. Credit: DC Studio | Shutterstock

What do we mean by local food?

Local food means different things to different people. For us, it’s typically characterised by the following:

Shorter supply chains
Fostering greater proximity and connection between producer and eater than the status quo.
Diversified retail
Sold through a variety of independent and community-owned retailers beyond the big supermarkets which could include box schemes, farmers markets, local shops, convenience stores, symbol groups and even vending machines.
Local benefits
Local food maximises value for the communities, economies and environments where it is produced, sold and eaten.

What about distance?

‘Local’ is a relative term that means different things in different contexts, so setting a one-size blanket ‘food mile distance’ that makes food local doesn’t really work. For example:

Local food’ means something different whether you live in a city, town or rural area.
Local food means something different depending on the type of food – it’s much easier to grow herbs in close proximity to where people live than it is to produce plant protein for example.

So rather than being about distance alone, truly local food brings closer proximity between producer, processor and eater and maximises the economic and environmental benefits locally.

Should all food be local?

Not at all! Not all types of food can be produced everywhere at all times of year. So we need our food to come from a mix of places. We’re big fans of the Food Zones model created by Growing Communities.

But we know that much more of our food could be produced much closer to where people live and that that brings resilience for our communities in disruptive times.

What people say about local food?

The produce I was supplying the restaurants lasts two weeks longer than anything else they're getting because they're getting it straight from the farm, you know, so why wouldn't anyone want that?

SourceGrow Northern Ireland

Local is the thing that people value and are keen on. So I think we just shouldn't forget that by focusing on its carbon impacts alone. It can be a kind of Trojan horse for other outcomes, like more fresh fruit and veg, and local employment.

University of Cambridge

Local Food Plan growers. Credit: Sheffield Wheat Experiment

Local food just ticks a lot of boxes; environment, community, connection between farmer and consumer, economic benefits to the local area, and more resilience.

Seb Mayfield, Ooooby

Local food systems respond quicker than big ones. They are built on relationships between people, and help people build relationships. It's not competitive, they all support each other and are bigger than the sum of their parts.

Nikki Storrar