Key issues

The Sustainable Food City network says sustainability is a broad concept and is about direction of travel rather than a specific destination. However, it is useful to think about food across six areas:
  1. Promoting healthy and sustainable food to the public 
  2. Tackling food poverty, diet-related ill health and access to affordable healthy food
  3. Building community food knowledge, skills, resources and projects
  4. Promoting a vibrant and diverse sustainable food economy
  5. Transforming catering and food procurement
  6. Reducing waste and the ecological footprint of the food system
Sustainable Food Cities take a joined-up approach to tackling all the many challenges in which food plays a part. They do so by bringing together as many of the different sectors involved in a cross-sector partnership to look at these issues together.

In Wells Food Network we have representatives from health promotion, district county councils, economic development, community and voluntary organisations working in food campaigning as well as food producers and food suppliers. We believe this joined-up approach offers a positive way to: 
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  • Enhance public health and well-being – by enabling more people to benefit from access to healthy, affordable, sustainable and nutrient-rich diets.
  • Build community cohesion – by forging closer connections between people throughout an expanding local food supply chain.
  • Conserve our countryside – especially by sustaining more smaller / family farms and championing food which is grown locally in sustainable farming systems: with biologically active soils, which respect animal welfare, avoid the prophylactic use of antibiotics and are rich in wildlife.
  • Underpin local economic prosperity –by stimulating local enterprises and keeping a higher proportion of the money in local hands.
Picture credits, clockwise from top: Herbs, by Weebly; Apples by Sally Crossthwaite; Bowl of apples by Kelly Garbato; carrots by Dr.DeNo; Seedlings by Susy Morris.