Local Food Growth Plan
A collaborative action plan for local food from Sustain, Pasture for Life, Food Farming and Countryside Commission and the Sustainable Food Trust.
The Local Food Growth Plan advocates for resilient local systems that benefit economies, environment, and communities by supporting SMEs, fair supply chains, regional infrastructure, and public procurement. Key actions include regional plans, infrastructure investment, sector skills, fairer supply chains, collaborative networks, and policy prioritisation at national and local levels to boost local food production and consumption.
They propose seven key priority areas:
1. Establish regional local food growth plans: making the most of regional connections, priorities and relationships with farmers, underpinned by support for Farm Clusters or similar groups, as well as 5 The Local Food Growth Plan Executive summary coordinated food distribution and trading, to make the most of local purchasing, processing, distribution and marketing opportunities.
2. Enable and invest in policies to support infrastructure: supporting markets and retail spaces and increasing access to regional processing facilities and mid-scale infrastructure (such as grain and pulse processing equipment and local abattoirs). This enables efficient local food supply chains that prioritise community wealth, reach diverse communities and return value locally to SMEs and farmers through sales of fresh, healthy and affordable food.
3. Prioritise support for horticulture in a national strategy: increasing the supply, processing and distribution of fruit, vegetables, pulses and legumes, in order to improve both national and household food security, through healthy, affordable and climate friendly food.
4. Create a roadmap for meeting the commitment to public sector food procurement standards: ensuring the use of transparent reporting and monitoring systems that require and enable a greater use of food from local farmers and SMEs, that return enhanced environmental and social value.
5. Enable decisive action to make food supply chains fairer for farmers: expanding and reinforcing the 6 powers of the Groceries Code Adjudicator, Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator and Food Crime Unit.
6. Recognise the vital role of local action and networks: supporting food partnerships, food strategies and action plans in every area, ensuring they grow routes to market and demand for local food through enabling collaboration between local farms, supply chains and citizens.
7. Promote influential marketing, targeted business and training support to help the local food sector thrive: recognising that simply appealing to consumers to buy more local food is not enough in isolation without systemic action to improve trading conditions, and access to infrastructure, supply chains and skilled workers.
www.sustainweb.org/assets/local-food-growth-plan-1748336069.pdf
