Last June, the Secretary of State (then Michael Gove) commissioned Henry Dimbleby to conduct an independent review to help the government create its first National Food Strategy for 75 years. Its purpose is to address the environmental and health problems caused by our food system, to ensure the security of our food supply, and to maximise the benefits of the coming revolution in agricultural technology.
Dimbleby made a Call for Evidence on 17th August 2019, with submissions to be made by 23:30 on 25th October. On this webpage about the Review, there is this statement about the National Food Strategy:
It is intended to be an overarching strategy for government, designed to ensure that our food system:
- delivers safe, healthy, affordable food, regardless of where people live or how much they earn
- is robust in the face of future shocks
- restores and enhances the natural environment for the next generation in this country
- is built upon a resilient, sustainable and humane agriculture sector
- is a thriving contributor to our urban and rural economies, delivering well paid jobs and supporting innovative producers and manufacturers across the country
- delivers all this in an efficient and cost-effective way
At our 5th September Board meeting, we decided we would respond, and that we should get together to think through the relevant issues for a National Food Strategy. So after a month of background reading, thinking and planning, we hosted a facilitated workshop on 3rd October, the subject of the next blogpost in this National Food Strategy series:
A link to our submission is here. A list of all the blogposts in this series is here.