Pause and breathe
Sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do is simply to pause and breathe.
Amidst the flurry of urgent emails, endless meetings, and ever-growing to-do lists, it’s easy to lose sight of the amazing progress taking root across the UK’s food and farming sector. From vibrant community gardens blossoming in Bristol to dynamic food hubs in Belfast, passionate people and organisations are quietly – and determinedly - reimagining our food system. Those of us working in the sector don’t pause nearly enough to celebrate these victories, or to reflect on the journey that’s unfolding.
But we must. Pausing is also about self-care and staving off burnout, which the food and farming community must take more seriously. Crucially, pausing also enables us to zoom out, reclaim perspective and understand where we fit in a much larger ecosystem of change. That’s exactly where the Food Issues Census comes in.
What is the Food Issues Census 2024-25?
Think of the Food Issues Census 2024-25 as the sector’s health check: a pulse-taking exercise capturing the scope, scale, and aspirations of civil society organisations shaping the UK food system. Yes, it’s a survey at heart - asking who’s doing what, where, and with whom, and what support they need to go further. But it’s also much more: a living resource, a roadmap for action, and a spark for collaboration.
Led by the Food Ethics Council and kindly supported by a number of trusts and foundations, including The A Team Foundation, the Census is now in its third edition. We carefully designed and coordinated the survey, anonymised responses, crunched the data, and are sharing the findings openly.
You’ll find the full results, reports, and raw data available for all to use, adapt, and act on. The full set of questions we asked is also available.
Who can use the Food Issues Census?
Two groups can gain the most from the results of the Census:
Funders and potential funders: The Census shines a spotlight on what desperately needs more support. With climate, biodiversity, health, and social justice all at stake, directing resources wisely is more urgent than ever. These insights can be used by funders to influence boards, shape priorities, and make the case for long-term investment.
Civil society organisations: Whether you’re seeking funding, laying out a strategic vision, or building fresh advocacy campaigns, the Census provides insights and evidence that strengthens cases for support and inspires strategic planning.
What does the Census tell us? Five (of many) insights about what the sector needs
1. Long-term, flexible and inclusive funding
Civil society organisations were clear: five-year-plus commitments are essential for escaping the relentless short-term fundraising treadmill. Real change takes time and networks - sprints may create headlines, but marathons build systems.
2. Fair pay for people’s time and lived experience
Why do we expect those making a difference to do so for free? Funding mechanisms should include participation fees and inclusion funds (like the inclusion fund we set up for the Census project), so that everyone, particularly those that would otherwise be excluded, can participate and be fairly compensated for their time and lived experience.
3. Core funding is vital, plus support for policy & advocacy, and land access & justice
Unsurprisingly, the most popular answer to what needed funding was core funding (as it had been in the previous Census). Beyond that, more funding was called for to go towards policy work and advocacy, in light of the huge amount of policy change post-Brexit. Another set of issues that feature in the top few funding gaps, that hadn’t in previous Census, was ‘land access, ownership and infrastructure’, something that Ecological Land Cooperative and others highlighted at one of the Census launch events in Bristol. If we want more new entrants into food and farming and want to address a key barrier behind racial injustice, we must tackle the land issue.
| Thematic Area | % of Participants |
|---|---|
| Policy Work and Advocacy | 20% |
| Community Leadership, Food Justice and Local Food Systems | 14% |
| Sustainable and Ethical Farming | 14% |
| Food Security, Economic Equity and Intersectionality | 11% |
| Land Access, Ownership and Infrastructure | 10% |
| Innovation, Research and Development | 9% |
| Workforce & Capacity Building | 8% |
| Health, Diet, and Nutrition | 7% |
4. Research rooted in community knowledge
Research should be co-created from the outset, drawing on community knowledge and wisdom. Funding is need not just for community-led initiatives, but also for the infrastructure that sustains them – including effective facilitators, as well as anchor organisations and alliances that provide vital networks and resources.
5. Smarter, more agile ways of working
Looping back to the fundraising treadmill that so many in the sector find themselves on, civil society organisations, funders and researchers need to become more agile and savvy, not just pooling intelligence, but increasingly pooling resources and finding creative ways of working together differently.
Source: “Food Issues Census 2024-25: Biggest Issues Facing the Sector.” Food Ethics Council.
And finally…
As the Census report concludes:
“Most of the solutions are already out there. The food and farming civil society sector is rich in knowledge, collaboration, and persistence. It is not rich in financial resources. How do we change this? Respect people working in the sector, recognise their resolve and energy for collaboration, support resilience (at individual and sector level), and properly resource the work. Building these four Rs together – respect, resolve, resilience and resources – will be a powerful recipe for change…. The best time to start funding, collaborating, and working differently was 20 or more years ago. The next best time is now.”
So, pause. Celebrate. Breathe. Only then can we truly roll up our sleeves and build the future we all deserve.
P.S. We’re eager to hear how you’re using the Census - what’s working, how it’s helped, and what could be better. Please do share your feedback with the Food Ethics Council by filling in this very short feedback form here. Thank you!