How Food Partnerships help Organic markets thrive

What does it take to get more organic food onto school plates, into community settings and onto local shelves? Growing the food is only part of the picture. Strong local supply chains also need committed buyers, practical infrastructure and people who can connect the dots.

To coincide with the Soil Association's Organic September, we’re celebrating food partnerships doing exactly that: creating demand, strengthening routes to market and helping organic production thrive.

We’ve reached out to our members across the UK to identify five case studies that bring these benefits to life.  From Glamorgan to Calderdale, local food partnerships are boosting productive Organic capacity, demand and accessibility by:

 

1. Increasing Organic Production

Supporting growers through access to land, infrastructure and collaborative networks.

2. Strengthening Routes to Market

Creating practical connections between producers, retailers, wholesalers and buyers.

3. Public Procurement as a Driver

Using school lunches, breakfast clubs and public-sector catering to create demand for Organic food.

4. Improving Access and Affordability

Ensuring Organic food can be accessed by lower-income communities through community settings and alternative distribution models.

5. Building Partnerships Across the Food System

Connecting growers, caterers, buyers, public bodies and communities to create viable local Organic supply chains; mapping supply to demand; creating a powerful strategic commitment to food that is healthier for people and nature.

 

The work in action:

 

1. Calderdale Food Network: Increasing Access to Land and Markets

What is happening?

Calderdale has established an ecological land trust (CELT) to increase access to land for market gardeners producing agroecological and Organic food. The partnership is working with:

• A local veg box scheme

• An Organic retail co-operative

• Community centres hosting monthly lunches

This approach aims to support growers while making fresh produce more available and accessible, particularly for lower-income residents.

Why it matters

This is a strong example of activity on both the supply and demand sides:

• Supporting agroecological and Organic production

• Creating routes to market for growers

• Improving access to fresh food for local communities

• Using community settings to increase availability and affordability of healthy food

 

2. Food Vale (Vale of Glamorgan): Building Infrastructure for Organic Growers

What is happening?

Food Vale has secured Welsh Government funding to support local growers, including those producing to Organic and agroecological standards.

The project will explore:

• Shared routes to market
• Greater visibility for local producers
• Shared infrastructure such as cold storage
• Shared delivery arrangements
• Shared machinery and equipment

Why it matters

One of the main barriers facing smaller Organic producers is the cost and complexity of infrastructure and distribution. This project focuses on practical mechanisms that can strengthen local supply chains and improve market access.

 

3. Bury Food Partnership: Using School Food Procurement to Grow Organic Supply Chains

What is happening?

Bury’s partnership approach has transformed food provision across 56 schools by bringing the council, caterers, schools and suppliers together around healthier and more sustainable school meals.

Menus now include 25% Organic produce. Bury Council has worked with suppliers including Organic North and Dunsters Farm to increase the use of fresh, Organic and regionally sourced ingredients. Procurement changes also generated a one-off saving of £50,000, which was reinvested in further improvements to the local food system.

Why it matters

Bury demonstrates how coordinated public procurement can:

• Create substantial and dependable demand for Organic produce
• Give suppliers the confidence to develop regional supply chains
• Make Organic food accessible to thousands of children
• Align spending with public health, climate and social-value goals
• Reinvest financial savings in continued food-system improvement

The work shows the influence food partnerships can have by connecting policy, procurement and delivery around shared local priorities. It offers a practical model for using school meals to support Organic supply chains while improving food for children. Read the Food for Life Bury case study.

Listen to Bury's work via a feature on BBC Radio 4's Food Programme A Day in the Life of a School Catering Manager

 

4. Queen of Greens / Feeding Liverpool / Alchemic Kitchen: Bringing Organic Food to Communities

What is happening?

Work undertaken in Liverpool through Bridging the Gap enabled Organic food to be supplied through Queen of Greens, a mobile greengrocer and community food enterprise.

Why it matters

This example demonstrates how food partnership approaches can:

• Increase availability of Organic food
• Reach community customers directly
• Support local access to healthier food
• Translate supply-chain interventions into tangible community benefits

Read the Queen of Greens impact report

5. Brighton & Hove Food Partnership: Organic Procurement Pathways

What is happening?

Brighton & Hove Food Partnership are activating work focused on:

• Introducing a local Organic wholesaler into Primary school breakfast clubs
• Working to increase sustainable food provision within public-sector meals (in part thanks to DEFRA public procurement test & learn funding awarded to five Gold SFP places in 2026)

Why it matters

This is a strong example of procurement-led demand creation, using institutional purchasing power to create new markets for Organic and sustainable producers.