After digesting the new food strategy and considering the reflections and reviews of other professionals in food policy, this is our analysis, and what it means for Shropshire, our communities, and people.

As a note, I write this as someone who has lived and breathed food policy for over 15 years of my career and have watched in disbelief as our food system and regard for farmers has continued to slide into the background of policy and governance. Opportunities have been missed and leadership on food system transformation has been weak. The result has been a heavy corporate influence that has impacted billions of people, our economy, our environment, knowledge, links to nature and confidence in our own abilities to feed ourselves and know food.

Something has to change quickly, which is why I finished my PhD in Food Policy and started a Market Garden, and then became the coordinator of SGFP: We can’t wait for government to hand down a perfectly formed solution for us to take action (perfect is the enemy of the good, afterall). The grassroots must lead the charge on change, as indeed it always has. The National Food Strategy is a positive step for central government, but it’s essentially playing catch up with what we already know, and what many of us have been doing for the last decade(s).

By and large, the National Food Strategy (NFS) is being well received, with comments saying that it picks up where Henry Dimbleby’s strategy left off (a good document that should have been put to work right away), particularly that it makes the effort to connect the dots on food, farming, culture, public health and environment.

To read the full article on Shropshire Good Food Partnership's website please click here.