Sustainable Food Cornwall

Sustainable Food Cornwall is working together to co-create our vision: a food system for Cornwall that is

healthy and just,

pro-nature and carbon-negative,

productive and enterprising

for One and All

We work to improve practical collaboration across sectors to strengthen our food system that regenerates soils and seas, increases health, skills and access and rebalances food surplus, eliminating food waste and ending food insecurity.

We are building an inclusive, collaborative partnership of empowered organisations and individuals, across public, private & voluntary sectors and in communities throughout Cornwall to represent, champion, deliver and work together around food issues in the broadest possible sense.

We aim to serve as a home for Cornwall’s great food thinking and practice, for good food business and sustainable food communities, as a way for them to develop. 

Our Interim Steering Group draws members from NFU Cornwall, Camel CSA, Volunteer Cornwall, Cornwall AONB, University of Exeter, Cornwall Food & Drink, Tamar Grow Local, Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership & Employment Skills Board, CLA, Cornwall Council Public Health & Economic Development, Cornwall Fish Producers Organisation, Cornwall Food & Farming, Cornwall Food Access Alliance & The Eden Project along with farmers, gleaners and food businesses.

What we do

An informal Food and Cornwall Partnership was first established within a systems leadership programme led by Cornwall’s Director of Public Health on the basis of a strategy developed with Cornwall Food Foundation. The partnership evolved to be a very inclusive grass-roots community-led, user-focused collective mobilising a broad range of activities across Cornwall across all life-stages. It gave rise to the ESF Food for Change programme working with foodbank users to give them improved access to food, food-skills and life opportunities. As Kernow Food Collective the Partnership has linked into initiatives including FoodPower, SugarSmart, Feeding Britain, Slow Food.  Most recently the Partnership has relaunched under the Sustainable Food Places umbrella, supported by the Hive Cornwall.  Membership is, and has been throughout, open to any organisation or individual committed to the Partnership vision and aligned with the Partnership values.

Recognised in summer 2022 as a Sustainable Food Place by the national network, we have now recruited a coordinator and now formalising governance arrangements. 

Throughout 2021 the Hive Cornwall charity hosted a small team of food activists and community researchers to consult a broad range of food system stakeholders about their vision for a Sustainable Food Cornwall. This led to the production of a study outlining ways forward for a sustainable food strategy for Cornwall.  This study guided ongoing engagement with stakeholders through 2021 and in May 2022 the Interim Steering Group was convened to progress an application to Sustainable Food Places.  The Partnership Board (Interim Steering Group) meets monthly. Current agreed priorities are to strengthen and build on existing work in Cornwall to improve:

- food in schools

- food business support

- access to land for community growing

 in ways that improve the overall sustainability of Cornwall's food system

 


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