The event
Surviving a Food Crisis – Who is responsible locally? Assess, Plan. Collaborate, Thrive.
Date and Venue
14th October 9:30am-4:30pm in Chichester at 104 The Hornet, a modern conference facility which is a short walk from the railway station, bus station and the Cattle Market car park. Map of location of 104 The Hornet.
Summary of the Purpose, Programme and Organisation of the Conference
In this era of escalating crises, collaboration is vital. The UK is not self sufficient in food, particularly fruit and vegetables and we rely on just in time delivery and long supply lines which are increasingly subject to disruption due to climate breakdown and other difficulties.
The Food Security Conference brings together policy makers with local authorities as well as with communities, farmers, growers, food organisations, distributors of both local and imported foods and other stakeholders to map out practical, actionable steps to strengthen our resilience to withstand future food crises in Chichester, West Sussex, East Hampshire and neighbouring areas within the South Downs National Park. In so doing we will work towards building coordinated, robust and secure local food systems for the benefit of all while addressing the lack of a statutory framework.
Draft Programme
9:30-10:00 – Gathering and Networking
10:00-10:10 – Welcome & Introduction
10:10-11:55 – Keynote perspectives:
• Prof Tim Lang – Just in Case: Why Britain Needs Food Resilience Planning
• Ffinlo Costain – From Food Insecurity to Food Resilience: What Communities Can Do
• Martin Lines – Food Security Starts on the Farm: Building Resilient Local Food Systems for the Future
• Arun and Chichester Food Partnership – The Role of Councils and Local Food
Partnerships in Strengthening Resilience
11:55-12:10 – Break
12:10-1:00 – Panel discussion and questions
Theme: “What would a resilient local food system look like, and how do we get there?”
1:00-2:00 – Lunch
Lunch by UK Harvest
Table discussions:
• Farming and local food production
• Food poverty
• Community growing
• Local supply chains
• Council responsibilities and their limitations• Emergency planning
• Communication
2:00-3:00 – Workshop session
Theme: Shaping the Chichester Declaration on Food Resilience
3:00-4:00 – Whole group discussion: From recommendations to action
Keynote Speakers
Prof Tim Lang
Tim became Emeritus Professor of Food Policy at City St George’s University of London’s Centre for Food Policy in 2021 and has been a Professor of Food Policy since 2002. He founded the Centre in 1994 and also founded the Cambridge Forum for Sustainability and the Environment. In February 2024, Prof Lang authored a report for the National Preparedness Commission on food security, specifically discussing civil resilience in protecting the UK food supply. He has also been a consultant/advisor for the WHO, FAO and UNEP on sustainable and health-related food areas. His interest is in how policy addresses the challenge of establishing a food system that supports the environment, health, social justice, and citizens, with specific interests in food resilience, modern food security, and sustainable diets. In addition to the work above Tim Lang is President of Garden Organic, a civil society organisation promoting low-impact food production.
Ffinlo Costain
Ffinlo is the chief editor at 8point9.com, a multi-media new channel providing knowledge for those working in land-based sectors, including those that are involved in food production. He has worked in farming, sustainable food and land business policy and presented a TEDx talk titled ‘We can’t solve the climate crisis without cows’. He founded the Food and Global Security Network in 2020 with the aim of identifying threats, proposing mitigation and promoting solutions to secure global access to food.
Martin Lines
Martin is a third-generation farmer and contractor on his family farm and rented land. He focuses on combinable cropping, growing commodity crops, aiming to find a human food home for the products. He is Chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN) with a particular interest in farm conservation management. This has included trying to improve the natural habitat for wildlife on his farm by planting hedgerows, establishing grass strips and creating wildflower areas. This has shown an increase in a wide range of species including turtle doves, yellow wagtails and corn buntings. He is interested in how we transition away from the use of artificial inputs and find a low-impact system of farming.
Arun and Chichester Food Partnership
The Arun and Chichester Food Partnership brings communities, organisations and the local food industry together to help make food accessible to all. Food projects include community food growing groups and free food events, all focusing on sustainable food security for all. They also produce and disseminate information to help communities become more knowledgeable about food security and the current and future resilience issues.
Conference Objectives:
- Raise Awareness and Informing
- Share Knowledge and Good Practice
- Build Connections
- Explore the Coordination Gap
- Develop Practical Recommendations
- Create a Declaration to be used to generate much needed Change.
- Inform Future Policy and Instigate Immediate Action
Our Partnership and Our Purpose
The conference is a collaboration bringing together local Climate Action Networks and other environmental groups across West Sussex and Hampshire. The partnership formed initially as an interaction between Transition Town Chichester’s climate action network group, ChiCAN and other nearby Climate Action Networks, together called CANDo.
CANDo includes:
- PeCAN – Petersfield Climate Action Network https://petersfieldcan.org
- HartingCAN – Harting and surrounding villages Climate Action Network https://www.hartingcan.org
- LipCAN – Liphook Climate Action Network https://facebook.com/groups/341838884670455
- AltonCAN – Alton Climate Action Network https://altonclimatenetwork.org.uk
- ChiCAN – Chichester Climate Action Network https://www.transitionchichester.org/chichester-climate-change-group/
- ERA – Eco Rother Action https://ecorotheraction.org
In addition to individual work within these groups, CANDo meets quarterly. Over the past year, particularly through efforts in raising awareness around achieving net zero, CANDo has initiated collaboration with relevant teams within East Hampshire District Council, West Sussex County Council, and Chichester District Council. Engagement with councils is essential to driving meaningful change. Also, a lot of time has been invested in building relationships with local politicians, working with MP Watch (https://www.mpwatch.org) and Hope for the Future (https://hftf.org.uk), whose guidance has been invaluable.
We are awaiting confirmation that Chichester District Council will be matching the funds applied for by Transition Town Chichester. South Downs National Park Authority has stepped forward to support this event already with funds approved directly to CANDo following a presentation to the authority.
The primary purpose of this event is to raise awareness of the current and growing risks to food security – both among the public and among those in positions to take action. Equally important, we aim to present practical solutions and actionable pathways so that concern is matched with meaningful opportunities for engagement. We are well aware, as this summer’s wildfires and droughts illustrate, the timeframe is increasingly urgent.
Our aim is not simply to discuss the challenges but following our conversations with Professor Tim Lang, to identify meaningful actions that can strengthen food security across our communities. One of the objectives, having identified a worrying gap in that there is no duty for Local Authorities to respond to a food crisis, is to create a Declaration that can be used to carry the theme forward into a much larger campaign.
Our strategy for the conference is to bring together, multiple layers of government alongside consumers, growers, journalists, and influencers at all levels to see what common cause there may be. We would like a broad consensus to press for a much better fit for purpose approach to food security and resilience to match the times we now live in.