Introducing the new Sustainable Food Places Counties Guide

Find the new Counties Guide here & also in the toolkit

Sustainable Food Places began as Sustainable Food Cities, and grew out of movements within UK cities to build more sustainable local food systems. As the movement grew, our work expanded out across the UK, and now there are 114 food partnerships, almost half of which are county-based food partnerships.

Read more about what Food Partnerships are and what they do

The work of a food partnership is always unique to its particular area, and no two food partnerships are the same. But the work of county food partnerships often looks very different to city food partnerships – they have different political systems, nature and landscape context, different stakeholders, and different identities to those in cities. 

Find all of our members here

To recognise this, since early 2021 we have brought together food partnerships working at the county level to discuss issues and challenges particularly relevant to those working at this scale and with a more significant rural dimension. This county cohort is specifically made up of English county partnerships with county partnerships in the devolved nations being supported by their own focused networks. The county cohort sessions have always been led by the participants and facilitated by us  with the aim of providing a platform for partnerships to showcase their work as well as an opportunity to bring in external contributors to share specific experience and expertise. County-specific topics covered in the sessions include: governance; engagement with local authorities; community representation and engagement; food producers; dynamic procurement; and bioregional clusters to name just a few.

In 2024 Alex Britten-Zondani, a consultant working for Food Matters (and previously the coordinator of the Islington Food Partnership), was tasked with bringing together learning from the counties cohort sessions, gathering specific case studies from around the network, and facilitating county cohort co-production workshops. These provide the basis for this Sustainable Food Places County Food Partnerships Guide.

Find the new Counties Guide here & also in the toolkit

The guide provides advice to those starting or already delivering county food partnerships on how to make them a success. The guide is also extremely relevant to existing city, town or municipal borough food partnerships that are looking to broaden their geographical scope to their rural hinterlands – in particular the food producers and smaller communities around their place.