Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership

Holiday watching, reading and planning for 2025: https://lnkd.in/eqdpvBMU - there's so much going on that we had to publish a second December newsletter! Including: Stories from the Lincolnshire Food Summit 2024: videos with Food Partners on the day Lincolnshire Food Summit gets recognition in the BMJ, by Dr Michael Craig Watson BSc (Hons), PGCE, MA(Ed), MPH, PhD, MIHPE Reflections on the Food Summit, by panelist, Matti Colley The determination to transform Lincolnshire’s food future, by Alex Wright We'll be speaking at the Lincolnshire Financial Inclusion Conference 2025 Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership at the Oxford Real Farming Conference 2025 Nose-to-tail dinner at Doddington Hall & Gardens, with Pasture for Life, Isobel Wright, Hannah Thorogood, Rich Summers, Jimmy Woodrow Happy Christmas, with love from all of us at the Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership

“The right to food is a human right and food produced within our food system should be as healthy, nutritious and affordable as possible,” writes Matti Colley in her latest article over on the blog. The very fact that too many people are going without decent food is a harsh reality. Especially at this time of year. It isn’t something we think about happening on our own doorstep and yet, it is very much a current issue. Weeks on from this year’s Food Summit, the question Matti poses in her blog is ‘How do we change the food system for the better?’ Head on to https://lnkd.in/gPK_fWUF to read Matti’s takeaways from the Summit and see how she feels change can be made. #foodpoverty #timeforchange #foodeducation #foodskills #foodsystem #foodsummit

We are excited to be collaborating! Emergent Generation, Sustain, Roots to Work, and Soil Association will hold a special programmed event as part of the Oxford Real Farming Conference 2025. Are you a new entrant or young person with an in-person ticket for the Oxford Real Farming Conference? If so, join us for this informal, inclusive, and engaging networking opportunity. It’s for anyone passionate or curious about the politics and practice of #food and #farming. Come along to meet new people and build new connections! We aim to foster #intergenerational cohesion by welcoming those newer to the movement and those established in it. We'll have members of our teams and people already established in the sector to create an informal, inclusive, and engaging space. Come and meet: 🌱 Jenny Phelps MBE, FWAG South West 🌱 Deirdre (Dee) Woods, The Landworkers' Alliance 🌱 Rachel Phillips, The Apricot Centre 🌱 John Meadley, Pasture for Life 🌱 Sarah Palmer & Luke Cox The National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs 🌱 Amy Cartwright, Soil Association 🌱 Dan Crossley & Beth Bell, Food Ethics Council 🌱 Alex Mackaness, (LCEF) Labour Climate and Environment Forum 🌱 Josiah Meldrum, Hodmedod 🌱 Harry, G's Group 🌱 Olivia Oldham, Farmerama Radio 🌱 Eric Walters, Good Small Farms Ltd ....and more to be announced! There will be dedicated spaces to discuss: 🛤️#Careers 🏛️#Policy / Politics 🚜Farming/Growing 👩🌾Land & Food #Justice 🏡#Local Action Where and When: Policy Hub, Cheng Building, Jesus College. Thursday 9 January 2025, 18:00-19:30. More info and details can be found at https://lnkd.in/e5fpgP6i #oxfordrealfarmingconference2025 #oxfordrealfarmingconference #ORFC25

“In a region as rich in agricultural heritage as Lincolnshire, the depressing irony of food poverty and inequality casts a long shadow. Yet, if one thing was clear from a recent gathering of changemakers, at the Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership’s recent Food Summit it was that there’s a palpable hunger - not just for food - but for change,” writes Alex Wright, author of our guest blog now live over on the website. Entitled, ‘Speaking up for change: The determination to transform Lincolnshire's food future’, it was eye-opening to read Alex’s take on the event, after his first time attending. For us, and many of those in attendance, the awareness of the challenges we are facing are ever-present, so it’s always interesting to discover what those who aren’t directly working in this niche take away with them. We know Lincolnshire’s food crisis is not an isolated problem. It’s part of a broader network of issues that demand immediate attention. As Alex highlights, one attendee noted: "’Every international movement started as a local movement’. The work being done by grassroots organisations, charities, and volunteers is nothing short of heroic. But it shouldn’t fall solely on their shoulders. Why is it left to volunteer-led initiatives to scrape together funding to tackle such an urgent issue?” Read the full article over on the blog: https://lnkd.in/eZMRDXxn

It’s hard to believe nearly two weeks have passed since this year’s Food Summit. On 21st November, the event brought together more than 70 delegates from across Greater Lincolnshire, with the purpose of working together to end food insecurity and ensure access to healthy, sustainable food for all. That’s 70 people choosing to dedicate a whole day out of their schedule to the critical conversations that need to continue around the topics of food health, education and poverty. The team has put together their key takeaways from the event, to shine a light on the vital challenges we hope everyone can work towards solving. From stopping to normalise hardship and the ecosystem that needs to exist to improve food, to how we can better work together to get to a place where foodbanks are no longer a necessity. Dive into our thoughts now, over on the blog: https://lnkd.in/dcW-Vcpt

If one thing was clear from our recent gathering of changemakers, at 2024’s Food Summit it was that there’s a palpable hunger - not just for food - but for change. From moving panel discussions to hands-on mapping exercises, attendees worked to expose the challenges faced by Lincolnshire’s most vulnerable communities while charting paths for meaningful action. Why? Because what we’re collectively doing isn’t enough. There has to be a next step to make sure we’re addressing the cause as well as the ripple effect it is sending out across our communities, something that Mark Waby from Bardney Community Grocery & Open Door Coffee Shop spoke to us about on the day. “After 18 months, we've already come to a point where we are sustainable. Our next challenge is having a place to feed and distribute the food from. What we need now is the ability and space to grow that food, so it becomes totally sustainable with very low food miles. And so we're looking to acquire some land or explore vertical growing. What do we need to do now to make the leap from just supplying food to those who are hungry to supplying local food seasonally?” https://lnkd.in/dBh3584K

Paul Ward at Business Lincolnshire has lined up a cracking panel of experts to answer farmers' questions about Net Zero Solutions for Agriculture Cost Savings - (also it's free!) - Tuesday 10th December 10am, details here: https://lnkd.in/eYMKyexm Turners of Bytham PECT David Knight LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) Soil Association James Milne

Last week’s Food Summit wasn’t just a chance to network and catch up with those working to support our Partnership goals. Far from it in fact. While it absolutely facilitated communication between those in the thick of it, this event gave everyone in attendance the chance to reflect differently on the importance of food, which in this most agricultural of counties is often surprisingly forgotten sometimes. For us, Amanda Baxter from Boxes of Hope in Holbeach summed it up perfectly: “By collaborating with the food banks and other organisations in our town, we can give as much support as we possibly can. I really do believe that that is the way forward for all of us. Coming to the Food Summit this year has made me see that we're all in the same boat; we really have all got to pull together. We need full visibility of the support that is available so that we can help put out these fires and continue to help our community.” Of course we’re thrilled to say that the feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive, but not how you may think. The main takeaway from those in attendance seems to be inspiration, ideas and encouragement from panelists and one another, and even better than that, that there is a tangible desire to action real change. Catch up on the Summit, here: https://lnkd.in/eXyehBvH

Last week the second Lincolnshire Food Summit took place. It was a hugely stimulating roster of sessions, with superb speakers and a fascinating roomful of delegates. It achieved the perfect balance of listening and talking and sharing. The Summit started with a round-up of what has happened since last year’s Food Summit, including news from across Greater Lincolnshire. You can watch this here: https://lnkd.in/eN62J73M

Only 1 day to go until the Lincolnshire Food Summit 2024! We can’t wait to hear from all our speakers on the day, about how we can all work together to end poverty and ensure access to good food for all. Changing the Status Quo is our most collaborative session of the day. Together, with the help of Dr Carolina Camacho from the University of Lincoln, we will be mapping the Lincolnshire food support network, to develop local solutions. Carolina is an interdisciplinary researcher studying topics such as traditional farming systems, agrobiodiversity, technological change, local agri-food systems. For three decades, she has participated in development projects in the Global South and North studying the enabling environments facilitating technological transitions and promoting gender equity and social inclusion. Her experience has been focused on working with indigenous communities and small scale producers from whom she learned the importance to work on social, climate and food justice. Find out more about the Summit here: https://lnkd.in/eYRKQ279