What you can do to reshape the future of how we eat
Campaigner Henry Dimbleby has been tasked with changing the way we produce and consume food. Here’s what you can do to help
No part of our economy matters more than food, but our bounty has come at a cost
Why do we need a National Food Strategy?
This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape our food system for the better. No part of our economy matters more than food. It influences our sense of family, community and nation. The food system also provides jobs for one in eight of us. Much of this is made possible by a free market that produces, exports, imports, processes and serves up a dazzling variety of reasonably priced foods in an abundance unimaginable to previous generations.
But this bounty has come at a cost. Intensive farming practices have caused damage to the environment, and food-related disease is costing the NHS billions and drastically harming lives. Food security is another concern. Population growth, climate change and a global increase in meat eating has intensified resource competition between nations. Over the next year, the National Food Strategy team and I will speak to people who work along the whole length of the food chain, from farmers in fields to chefs in kitchens. We will also consult experts from around the world and those whose voices are seldom heard, but who have personal experience of the failings of our food system, such as low-paid workers in agriculture and food production, those with diet-related diseases, farmers living on the margins, and more. This review will be built on rigorous evidence and analysis, but the answers to some of the most important questions cannot be mathematically calculated. What do we want our countryside to look like? As our understanding of animal sentience increases, how should we prioritise the welfare of livestock? What role should the government play to protect us from our ‘bad’ dietary choices? These are not questions that I – or indeed the government – can answer alone, which is why it is so important that Good Food readers get involved, too. We need people from across the country to help us understand what is working in our food system, what needs to be improved and what the government can do to help.
When will the strategy come into effect?
We will publish our review this summer, and the government will have six months to respond and explain the actions they’re going to take as a result of our recommendations. Twelve months after the government response, I will review the progress that has been made against the government’s commitments. We are determined to make long-term and sustainable change happen.
What can Good Food readers do to get involved?
We’d like to see as many Good Food readers as possible get involved in our National Food Conversation. Soon, we’ll be launching an online discussion kit, so everyone will have the tools they need to take part in the conversation and give their views, thoughts and concerns to the review. If you’d like to be involved, visit nationalfoodstrategy.org to register your interest.