Food Sense Wales at the Wales Real Food and Farming Conference

Last week, the Wales Real Food and Farming Conference (WRFFC) was held at Bridgend College’s Pencoed campus, and for the first time, was hosted in collaboration with Food Sense Wales, combining two key annual gatherings: the WRFFC and the Food in Communities event. This partnership was reflected in the 2025 theme: Communities, Food and Farming: Working Together. 

With nearly 400 attendees, 30 sessions and 100 speakers across two days, the Conference explored sustainable food and farming, bringing together farmers and other food businesses, environmentalists as well as people involved in public health, food education, food sovereignty and social justice.  The Conference’s aim is to open conversations and take positive steps about the future of food in our country, mapping out a sustainable 21st century food system for Wales and how we might begin to build it.

During the conference, members of the Food Sense Wales team took part in numerous sessions, chaired panel discussions and launched key documents.

Highlights included:

• The Deputy First Minister with responsibility for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies, announcing the grants allocated to Local Food Partnerships through the Welsh Government’s Community Food Strategy
• Launching guidance for Local Authorities co-produced with the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales
• Hosting the Wales Sustainable Food Places Awards
• Launching Food Policy Alliance Cymru’s pre-election priorities, Putting Food at the Heart of Welsh Government
• Katie Palmer, Head of Food Sense Wales giving the conference opening address and the closing remarks

You can read Katie’s opening address below:

In thinking about what to say, I’ve reflected on what might be the ingredients for success in trying to shape a food system that is good for people and planet. I gave myself 4 words and these are the ones I’ve chosen: 

Collaboration, Innovation, Determination, Celebration  

The challenges that we face as practitioners and actors in the food system sometimes feel unsurmountable and can be overwhelming. How can we possibly make a difference? Finding ways to support those who can’t afford to feed their families as they would like to; working out how to turn the tide on the damage we our doing to our planet. Children starving through war and famine, through to farmers and growers feeling desperate – unable to control the impacts of climate change or unfair market forces. And then there is the wave of diet-related ill health blighting individuals and communities.  

We could easily become overwhelmed – and that is why this amazing community here today, and others not in the room, bringing hope and solutions to the table, is so important.  

The truth is – that as you / we all are all aware – we can’t fix it all. But my experience, over the last decade, is that by focusing on those things we can influence – in our own sphere of power – we can make a significant difference to our local communities. And those impacts have a way of rippling out, having impacts in places and ways we hadn’t imagined. And I know we will be hearing many examples from the room over next couple of days from deforestation free meals to weatherproof farming. 

For now, I’d like to take the opportunity to indulge in an example of my own – how a ripple has become a wave, or even waves, over subsequent years. 

In 2014, three organisations in the UK piloted Sustainable Food Cities/Places: 6 places across the UK took part including Cardiff.  Twelve years on, there is a movement of over 120 UK places taking holistic, place-based approaches to local food systems. 13 of these are in Wales and 7 of these will be receiving an award tonight recognising the incredible work that is happening in those areas.  

The Sustainable Food Places approach has enabled us to build the case for support from Welsh Government and the Future Generations Commissioner. Wales is the only UK nation with a Food Partnership in every Local Authority area with cross government funding that is supporting the development of more resilient supply chains and communities. And Wales is being used as an exemplar as evidence for the UK National Food Strategy in this regard. Tomorrow the Future Generations Commissioner will launch Food for Our Future – tailored advice to Local Authorities on what actions they can take to make their local food systems better and to support LAs with setting their well-being objectives. 

More Ripples. 

Back to the Sustainable Food Places pilot – one of those places from that SFP pilot becomes Food Cardiff. Food Cardiff goes on to innovate and pilot: 

Food Cardiff pilot – The School Holiday Enrichment Programme – a multi-award winning programme that involved 5 schools, 4 determined women (that wouldn’t take no for an answer), the HB, LA and Sport Cardiff. Ten years on – hundreds of thousands of children and their families have and are benefiting from the Food and Fun programme across all LA areas in Wales – a programme for Government commitment to support children and their families over the summer holidays. The ingredients – collaboration, innovation, determination and celebration.  

Ripples. 

Then take Food and Fun Cardiff – add some courgettes and what do you get?  The Courgette Pilot. 

One tonne of courgettes in Cardiff – 3 years later becomes 30 plus tonnes of locally grown organic veg available to schools across 13 local authority areas becoming –  Welsh Veg in Schools. Increasing the organic horticulture sector, building resilience and developing a deep understanding of the challenges in our supply chains. The ingredients – collaboration, innovation and determination, celebration.  

Ripples turning into waves of activity – with each ripple generating more of its own.  

These are my examples, and I know many more will be shared throughout the next 2 days starting Bridgend Food Partnerships story. My ask of the conference is that we take those wins, celebrate them, feed off them and generate waves of positive energy that become an unstoppable force for good food.  

For a flavour of the conference, watch the highlights film here:

You can also read the poem that Katie wrote, reflecting on the discussions had and the connections made during the conference below.