Author – Jenny Salter.
In 2022 Gloucestershire successfully joined the Sustainable Food Places programme, with the Gloucestershire Food and Farming Partnership (GFFP) hosting the county membership, FWAG SW hosting the Project Coordinator, and Feeding Gloucestershire providing funding and support.
The Gloucestershire Food and Farming Partnership’s vision was to draw together food and farming, health and food security, and good food enterprise from across the county using a systems-based approach. By joining the Sustainable Food Places programme, and with leadership and coordination from FWAG SW, it was hoped that the food and farming partnership could better support the county’s transition to a more sustainable food and farming system.
Gloucestershire’s Sustainable Food Places project had 3 key aims:
- to increase engagement with the county’s community-based organisations
- improve opportunities for local food procurement
- Achieve the Sustainable Food Places Bronze Award.
It was hoped that a Project Coordinator could help join up action on food across Gloucestershire’s 6 districts and use the Sustainable Food Places Network (which is facilitated by the Soil Association, Sustain, and Food Matters) to connect with over 120 food partnerships across the UK and help Gloucestershire benefit from the national food conversation.
Within the 2-year span of the project, targeted coordination and facilitation enabled the delivery of several successful outcomes. In 2023 we designed and facilitated a Sustainable Food and Farming Action Planning Workshop which led to the co-creation and publication of a 3-year Sustainable Food and Farming Action Plan. We also convened a cross-sector working group to capture the county’s sustainable food activity and impact, which ultimately led to Gloucestershire being successfully awarded a Sustainable Food Places Bronze Award in 2023.
As part of the project, Great Food Gloucestershire, an umbrella campaign to raise more community awareness of food and farming issues in the county, was launched. In 2024, as part of this campaign, we facilitated the co-creation of a county-wide Sustainable Food Gathering, to celebrate our achievements and bring together a diverse group of stakeholders to shape sustainable food in the county.
Working collaboratively, we brought together farmers, growers, local councillors, community organisations, environmental charities, and local authority officers working on climate, procurement and community wellbeing, to hear from guest speakers (Vicki Hird from the Wildlife Trusts, Leticija Petrovic from the Food Foundation, and Andrea Gibbons from the Soil Association) and participate in workshops to help shape future work and projects.
We have learned that local action to deliver a more sustainable food system is a complex process, with dynamic elements shifting across multiple geographies and policy landscapes. Key to success are shared visions and values, strong strategic frameworks, collaborative co-creation, local authority support, and resilient, agile and responsive project coordination.
FWAG’s Jenny Salter with MP Roz Savage, at the SFP day of action in Westminster 2024