Remaking Local Food Systems: Progress and prospects for UK local food partnerships

Sustainable Food Places (SFP) supports local food partnerships to harness the diverse energies of the public, voluntary and business sectors along with citizens for a joined-up approach on food issues.

Read more about what Sustainable Food Places are. 

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Some key takeaways: 

• Scottish and Welsh government support is accelerating the formation of new local food partnerships. In these nations established partnerships report a virtuous cycle with increased local stakeholder confidence, a firmer financial footing, and growing scope for action.

• The SFP Network is helping to exchange ideas and solutions to influence decision-making.

• Food partnerships are playing key role in helping to drive the transition from traditional food poverty approaches such as food banks to more long-term, sustainable, and empowering models.

• SFP Partnerships cover about two fifths of the total UK population. 

• Looking towards the end of 2024 financial sustainability is a concern for many local food partnerships. Almost half (44%) are already confident of local funding, but 86% of respondents stated that future viability would also need national/UK funding.

• For most areas in the UK, local food partnerships represent a new way of working. Diversity in their ways of working make every partnership a unique social experiment for tackling place-based food system challenges. Nevertheless, through peer-to-peer learning and our programmatic support, many partnerships have rapidly consolidated how they operate as organisations.