Realising the potential of public procurement for supporting local, agroecological farmers

Venue: Digital Hub, Cheng Building - Jesus College (Market Street)

Chair: Sofia Parente (Sustain)

Speakers: Pearl Costello (Food Sense Wales), Gavin Fletcher (Good Food Leicestershire), Jono Hughes (Horticulturist), Raksha Mistry (Food for Life Leicestershire), Kelly Parsons (University of Cambridge)

This session will highlight the huge potential hidden in public procurement for delivering healthy and sustainable food to communities, creating routes to market for agroecological farmers as well as the role of food partnerships in joining the dots between procurement and other local agendas. The session will kick off with an outline of the opportunities as well as common barriers in sourcing more local and sustainable food in public procurement. It will be followed by case studies illustrating the importance of local infrastructure, building relationships between the public sector and farmers, and the role of programmes such as Food for Life in transforming food culture. Delegates will have the opportunity to respond to the panellists and ask questions from the floor.