Across the country, groups of citizens have been getting together to discuss what they really think about the food system and their priorities for change. Led by the Food Farming and Countryside Commission, the voices of ordinary citizens are being fed back to decision-makers at a national level, to put food on the agenda from the people who are most impacted. On 20th November, 10 local citizens came together at the Lewes Climate Hub to share what really matters to them around food. Read on to find out more.
The conversation kicked off by introducing the concept of food systems and considering how confident we were in our knowledge of where food comes from. We discussed the gaps in food education that can leave us feeling unsure about food, in the absence of generational transmission. Even further than a lack of education, one participant said they felt “misled” about food. This resonated with the room, reflecting the huge power of food industry marketing and advertising.
Even those of us with extensive experience working in different areas of food said that we felt confused by the system as a whole, because of it’s complexity and all of the mixed messages.
We sat down together to watch a short video, to tease out some of these complexities and focus our discussions.
We reflected on the concentration of power in the hands of a few industry giants, which can lead to outsized influence – for example, in getting planning permission for polluting intensive farming activities despite the negative environmental impact. In stark contrast to the wealth and influence of industry moguls, we discussed the hidden costs of profit-driven food production:
- On public health and the cost of the treatment dietary related disease
- On the natural environment and the climate
- On the precarious and poorly paid labour that underpins the food industry
Considering the pull away from small-scale farming, one participant remembered the influence of the quotas of Milk Marketing Board on their family farming activities, reflecting the long process of industry regulation and homogenisation of activities.
While some participants felt able to make decisions on food based on ethical or environmental frameworks, it was generally agreed that these individual choices did little to reshape the food system. Even if as an individual we avoid eating factory-farmed chicken, we are still vulnerable to the effects of industrial farming on nature and the climate. This summed up the way we are made to behave as consumers of food rather than food citizens – making consumer choices, rather than a political movement.
Finally, we discussed our priorities for change, each choosing one priority for change, and coming to a consensus about the change we’d like to see: more power for local authorities and local communities to take action, by putting more regulatory powers and resources in the hands of local authorities and empowering them to support local grass roots action. Whilst we agreed that this was the overall top priority, there was widespread acknowledgement in the role of national government to enforce regulations on food industry actors to level the playing field and facilitate good practice.
What next?
We’ll be feeding back these priorities to the national Food Conversation via the Food Farming and Countryside Commission, alongside all of the other conversations and workshops we’ve been having for our strategy consultations.
The Lewes District Food Strategy will be published in early 2025, and includes the priorities and actions of a wide range of community, business and local authority voices.
You can find out more about the National Food Conversation here: The Food Conversation