What do people in the UK really want from food?
Across the UK, people are remarkably consistent about the future they want.
Farmers, business owners, and people from both urban and rural communities tell us they want a healthier, greener, fairer and more resilient food economy. They know the issues are complex and sometimes contested, but they also know their communities better than anyone and want to be partners in finding solutions. We help those voices come together with leaders, and be part of making good decisions about the future.
Some of our work to amplify voices includes:
The Food Conversation – the UK's biggest ever conversation about food, with 12 citizen assemblies taking place across the country – and over 75 more hosting their own local food conversations, leading to...
The Food Strategy – facilitated by FFCC and the Food Foundation, a groundbreaking programme of citizen engagement for DEFRA's new food strategy.
Farming Voices – through films, podcasts, events and more, #FarmingVoices asks farmers what they really think – and takes those voices to leaders and decision-makers.
The Better Food Forum – a network of progressive business leaders, at different scales, from hospitality, to horticulture, retailing, food service, manufacturing, investment - all developing new and disruptive business models that help tackle the barriers to change.
The Food Conversation is the UK's largest-ever public dialogue about our food system. Since 2023 FFCC has hosted in depth deliberations in 12 parts of the UK and supported over 75 communities to host their own community-led food conversations reaching hundreds of citizens. What it reveals is a clear, consistent public appetite for action on food – evidence now in front of politicians and decision-makers, and growing with every conversation.
There's a lot of noise in farming right now and for many, the future feels uncertain. Our Farming Voices work brings balanced and thoughtful voices together to have better conversations about the biggest issues facing agriculture – and what needs to happen to set us on the path to a thriving, resilient and prosperous farming future.
We also take farming voices to decision-makers through our role as secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Farming, facilitating conversations between farmers and politicians and ministers on issues such as land use, nature, profitability and more.
FFCC and the Food Foundation have been working with Defra to run a groundbreaking programme of citizen engagement for the new Food Strategy. A Citizen Advisory Council (CAC), made up of Food Foundation Ambassadors and Food Conversation participants, is helping to co-ordinate the programme and feed back to the Defra policy team. So far, the CAC have run workshops with other citizens, produced reports, attended government events, and most recently run the 'What Works Here Inquiries' to find out what national government can learn from the work already happening on the ground in different places across the UK.
Why food is so important for climate, nature and health, now and for the next generation.
Sue Pritchard talks about the impetus behind #TheFoodConversation and what we’ve learnt so far.
Explore the national polling results for The Food Conversation.
Download our summary of findings.
Download the full report
Our first film for The Food Conversation brings citizen voices to the fore.
