ECI lead: Dr John Ingram
Global Food Security Programme (GFS), the UK’s cross government programme on food security research, funded 13 collaborative research projects which produced new evidence and recommendations for policy and practice.
The Resilience of the UK Food System in a Global Context (GFS-FSR) was a £14.5 million, five-year research programme, which led to results identifying and developing interventions to strengthen UK food security.
Our work
The research addressed three themes:
- Optimising the productivity, resilience and sustainability of agricultural systems and landscapes
- Optimising the resilience of food supply chains
- Influencing food choice at individual and household level to both improve health and enhance food systems resilience
The Programme aimed to help policymakers and practitioners improve the understanding of where the major vulnerabilities of the UK food system lie and how its resilience to environmental, biological, economic, social and geopolitical shocks can be enhanced.
Final report
Resilience of the UK Food System in a Global Context: key messages for stakeholders
This report contains insights from a major interdisciplinary research programme to enhance the UK’s food security in a changing world. Undertaking collaborative research spanning UK universities, research institutes and many other stakeholders, 13 projects produced evidence and recommendations for policy and practice to help to identify and develop interventions to strengthen UK food security.
Policy briefs
Making community-scale food systems more resilient
Better digital networks, accessible venues and nutrition-based subsidies could all help community-scale food providers play a greater role in making the UK food system more resilient and nutritious. This policy brief explores the barriers to market faced by three community-scale food provision models – farmers markets, salad suppliers and community growers – as Covid-19 changed food consumption patterns.
How can SMEs enhance resilience of the UK food system?
Collaboration with larger institutions could untap the potential for small and medium sized enterprises to contribute to greater UK food security, according to a policy and practice brief from the GFS FSR Programme. The briefing note examines how specific interactions between SMEs and larger players in the food system could result in greater food system resilience.
Resilience of the UK food system regarding demand for soy
A policy and practice brief from the GFS FSR Programme examines the risks associated with soy dependency in the food industry and shares recommendations on how those in the food system can mitigate exposure to current and future risks.
Transforming the resilience of UK grazing livestock systems
The GFS FSR Programme policy and practice brief recommends actions for enhancing the resilience of grazing livestock systems. Transforming the resilience of UK grazing livestock systems presents an integrated set of system-level interventions for transformational change in UK grazing livestock systems to improve their resilience to environmental, social and economic shocks and stresses.