As the UK government made preparations to leave the European Union, the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, had unique and important opportunity to involve citizens, communities, businesses, academics and advocates in helping to shape the direction of food, farming and countryside futures.

The evening was an opportunity to hear from Commissioners and the team, and for attendees to contribute their thoughts. There was space to contribute on the interim findings – what we got right, what was missing and how attendees could help develop these ideas.

Between the Commission's launch in autumn 2017 to the interim report launch, the FFCC reviewed 1000 policy proposals, and hosted roundtables and discussions to explore the current policy domain. We also cycled right round the UK to meet people in their communities and workplaces, and set up separate long-term inquiries in the devolved nations and in three English counties to help us test ideas and understand more about what would work in practice. At the interim stage of the inquiry, we outlined some draft proposals which we believed would provide radical and practical ways to address the challenges we heard across the country.

Note: this event was originally published on the RSA website (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce), which hosted the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission between November 2017-April 2020.