What is the issue?
Community food enterprises are one of the success stories of local collective action and have the potential to contribute significantly to local economic resilience. Despite this they still face systemic problems. Very low food prices make it difficult to increase their income. In response many projects are focusing on reducing the costs associated with growing, however they often find that local authority policies and practice fail to recognise their contribution to the development of resilient local economies.
What will the project try to achieve?
The project will work with three leading community food enterprises to contribute to an understanding of the role they play in delivering local economic resilience and describe the development of sustainable livelihoods that focus on reducing costs rather than relentlessly increasing prices and incomes. It will also explore some specific barriers that such enterprises experience when seeking to acquire land, including land use, planning and procurement policies. It will develop resources to support local authorities to join up and adapt local policies across a range of departments and directorates in ways that support the development of local resilient, sustainable and low impact food production.
Who might be interested in this project?
Community food growing enterprises, the organisations that fund and support them, local authorities, central government and policy makers.