Have your say on the development of a Community Food Strategy for Wales

The Welsh Government is in the process of developing a Community Food Strategy and would like to hear from individuals and groups already involved in community food projects/enterprises in Wales.  The team leading on this work is keen to understand what community food means to you and to learn about your experiences of being involved in Community Food projects/enterprises.

This is not a formal consultation and there will be further opportunities to engage but as Welsh Government looks at shaping the strategy, the Food Division team would be grateful for your input through this short survey.  It should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete ⬇️

Arolwg Strategaeth Bwyd Cymunedol Cymru 2022 (Welsh Community Food Survey 2022) (smartsurvey.co.uk)

Why it’s important to share your thoughts:

And at the start of this Senedd term, the Welsh Government made a commitment in its Programme for Government (2021-2026) that it would develop a Community Food Strategy to encourage the production and supply of locally-sourced food in Wales.

Food Sense Wales believes the Community Food Strategy has the potential to create a more resilient, diverse and connected food system for communities across Wales. It has the capacity to support sustainable food production as well as developing agroecological supply chains; to increase the amount of local food being served on the public plate and to encourage food citizenship and participation within communities across the length and breadth of Wales.

We’re already very much aware of the plethora of ‘on the ground’ food-related activity taking place in communities and know that there’s a ground-swell of support for place-based action through our Sustainable Food Places work.  We now have an opportunity to garner this knowledge; the local intelligence, and the lived experience of people working as part of food related businesses, projects and initiatives across Wales, to help shape and inform future developments.  A Community Food Strategy could help bring this work together, sharing best practice and encouraging more areas to come-together to participate in food-related activities and projects in a co-ordinated way.

This strategy could also provide Wales with the ideal opportunity to integrate food policy across all areas of government including health, education, climate change and the economy at a local level. We, at Food Sense Wales, are very excited to see how this strategy develops and we look forward to highlighting the action, knowledge and experience of those already working within this space to help inform and develop a meaningful and impactful approach.  We would encourage partners and stakeholders to do the same.