Boosting community-driven alternatives to the global agri-food industry

Sustainable food systems — providing affordable access to healthy, affordable foods with low carbon impact — should be extended from the margins to the mainstream, argues Dr Les Levidow, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. He believes that people-centred, community-driven policies are needed from local authorities to facilitate such systems. Carried out with Open University colleagues, a pilot study is leading to insights into what kinds of support measures would be most helpful and how to obtain them.

“In 2022/23, almost three million people in the UK turned to their local foodbank for help. With the cost-of-living crisis, this figure is only expected to continue to grow. To save money, more people have turned to ultra-processed unhealthy food,” said Dr Les Levidow. “As another major problem with the dominant food system, it contributes to climate change: 35% of the UK’s CO2 equivalent emissions are linked to the food sector. Meeting net-zero targets will require substantial reductions in this area through changes in the food system and consumer behaviour. All those challenges should be addressed by local authority strategies through Action Plans for 2030 or 2050."

The Open Societal Challenges-funded project has the immediate aim to expand local food-growing, especially schemes involving lower-income groups, initially in five Boroughs along the River Thames corridor (from Reading to London). Local authority support has been generally limited by fragmented roles across administrative units and officers’ roles, e.g. for climate resilience, net zero carbon, land-use planning, food poverty, mental health, diet and nutrition, education, community cohesion and biodiversity. The project seeks integrated, community-driven policy innovation by working with its partners and supportive Council officers.

Dr Levidow is leading the project alongside Dr Lorena Lombardozzi, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences; and Dr Andrea Berardi, Senior Lecturer, Design Group, Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, who is also Co-Director of one of the partner organisations, the Cobra Collective Community Interest Company, which works with marginalised and under-represented communities to achieve positive change towards social and environmental justice. The project brings together partner organizations engaging their local authority in five Boroughs: Food4Families (Reading), Talking Tree Climate Emergency Centre (Runnymede), Englefield Green Community Hub (Spelthorne), Pembroke House (Southwark) and Incredible Edible Lambeth.

The project makes use of Participatory Action Research methods with those partners at all stages: in the initial plan, analysis and communication of results. In each Borough the partner coordinates food-growing initiatives to clarify and seek support measures that would be more helpful. The project carries out knowledge-sharing workshops and visits, bringing together local authority officers and community groups to build a common purpose. The five partner groups involved are learning from each others’ strategies and experiences through regular knowledge-exchange discussions, and the most effective ways to become agents for social change.

Ultimately the work will help to build a local food culture. It will inspire engagement and commitment across food-growing initiatives towards long-term changes to local food systems.