The Soil Association has urged the UK government to take bolder steps to ensure sustainable British food is prioritised in schools and hospitals. This call to action follows a keynote address by Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed, at the Oxford Farming Conference (OFC) on Thursday, 9th January.
During his speech, Reed outlined the government’s long-term vision for farming, emphasising a commitment to making agriculture more profitable while ensuring food security. His proposed reforms include monitoring the origins of the food currently bought in the public sector and a commitment to uphold and protect British environmental and animal welfare standards in future trade deals.
Responding, Soil Association Policy Director Brendan Costelloe said: “These commitments from government are welcome, particularly the vow to protect our farmers in trade deals as this will help create a more level playing field for nature-friendly farming.
“But if the secretary of state wants to achieve his goal of long-term food security, profitability and sustainability for our farming sector, then simply monitoring for British food in public institutions will not be enough. We need mandatory standards that actively help to get more British food on the public plate, especially local fruit and veg in schools and hospitals – and we must make sure this is coming from nature-friendly farms like organic.
“The proposed planning reforms will also need to be aligned with broader sustainability goals. This means putting a stop to destructive forms of food production and preventing the construction of new intensive poultry units, such as those that are destroying UK river ecosystems.
“The government’s forthcoming food and farming strategies need to be bold and they need to be aligned, so they can drive the kind of farming we need to protect climate and nature by creating better markets for healthy and sustainable food, and putting a stop to harmful practices.”
Ahead of the Secretary of State’s announcement, around 100 stakeholders gathered at the Great School Dinner Debate to discuss the role of sustainable British food in schools. Hosted at St Ebbe’s Church of England Primary School in Oxford, the debate brought together farmers, environmental campaigners, caterers, teachers, councillors, government advisors, and academics and featured a school meal prepared with local, organic ingredients to showcase the potential of sustainable sourcing practices.
Farmer George Bennett, who runs Sandy Lane Farm in South Oxfordshire, supplied organic carrots and onions for the meal and spoke about his experience working with local institutions through the OxFarmToFork project.
George said: “It is great to be part of the discussion and to talk about my experience of supplying fresh organic produce direct to the Oxford colleges. The OxFarmToFork scheme is a great model to show the government how it really can work by building connections between local growers, institutions, suppliers and caterers to work through the issues and barriers to local supply. We are hoping for bold ambition from the government when it addresses public procurement and its planned changes to Government Buying Standards to provide greater support organic and regenerative farming and reap the benefits for health, nature and the environment.”
